It's As Easy As Pulling Teeth..

OK, WHO came up with that comparison?

Pulling teeth does not seem like it would be something easy and uncomplicated. Otherwise I could do it myself and save $800! Yes, that is the estimate that my dentist gave me on Wednesday. It gets better...I can't have my wisdom teeth extracted until the INFECTION is dealt with. So I am on a fast-track antibiotic for five days. I go back to the dentist on Monday.

So now I have all weekend to imagine all sorts of horrible dental scenarios. Can you tell that I absolutely loathe going to the dentist? Just sitting in the waiting room made me extremely uneasy. Then the dentist came out and was talking with the mother of another patient about EXTRACTING WISDOM TEETH. Only the terminology he used was, "So we're just going to yank those babies out of his head." OK, hyperventilating a little bit more now! And I waited an hour until I oould go back, so I had mentally worked myself up a bit.

"I'm an adult. I can handle this. I've given birth to three children WITHOUT epidurals."

The internal dialogue got louder...

"You know, my teeth don't really hurt today. Maybe I can just get out of here. Maybe I was imagining all of that oral agony the past two weeks! I think I'm going to be fine."

Then the mother in me spoke up...

"You stay put! You need to go see the dentist. You could have an infection and it could be heading toward your brain. You do know that people have DIED from oral infections, don't you??"

(No my mother doesn't sound like that..I guess it was a combination of mother-voice and all those scary ER real life shows I have watched..lol!)

So I stayed put. Endured the x-rays, which normally would be painless but with those plate things poking me in my oh-so-very-inflamed gums, not so much fun. Then I met the dentist, took a deep breath and said "AHHH." He poked around in my mouth a little (again painful!) and proceeded to announce to me that I had an oral infection and that my wisdom teeth needed to come out. I remember hearing that somewhere first, don't you? lol!

I hop out of the chair and skeddadle (what a funny word!)to the appointment desk. As I am writing out the check for services rendered, I am slightly shaking. I could chalk that up to not having enough to eat because it hurts so much to eat, or to dental chair jitters. I think it was a combination of both. What an adrenaline rush! But I am not an adrenaline junkie, so I did not enjoy the experience at all! LOL

Trying not to obsess about my appointment on Monday...ah, but going to the dentist is as easy as pulling teeth, right?

The Nitty Gritty of Homemaking

As I was blog hopping today, I ran across some blogs that extolled the virtues of being a homemaker who didn't need a list to tell her what to make for dinner or what needed cleaning in that day. Some of the comments were downright rude toward those of us who do. Rather than leave a nasty anonymous comment, I decided I would comment about homemaking on my blog. So here is what homemaking means to me.

For me the definition of homemaker is... someone who makes a home. Period. Homemaking is so much more than just cooking, cleaning and doing chores.

If I have a clean home but my children are relegated to their rooms to play, then who am I cleaning for?
If all of the laundry is washed, dried, ironed and folded, but I have neglected time with my husband or children, who did I do the laundry for?
If I make four-course meals completely from scratch, with no recipes, but I work myself into a frenzy and am a stressed out housewife, who did I make the meal for?
A homemaker is patient (even when her children threaten to step on the last little bit of her sanity), kind, is not envious (because she is content with what God has blessed her with), is not boastful (because she realizes that pride comes before a really big fall and that true greatness need not be advertised), is not rude (she holds her tongue even if it means biting it off), is not self-seeking (her family's needs come first), is not easily angered (even when spending all day alone with preschoolers..), she keeps no record of wrongs (even when he forgets to pick up his socks for the zillionth time...but who's counting?), she does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth, always protects (guarding the gate of the home...setting the atmosphere with praise and prayer), always trusts (trusts in the One Who is proven trustworthy), always hopes (never lets disappointment keep her down for long), always perseveres (holds on with tenacity to that which is most important).
Lest I seem sacrilegious, my point is that a homemaker is supposed to be the LOVE of the home. The Mexicans call homemakers, ama de casa--"love of the home." I think they have it right!

So I may have to make a meal plan in order to have healthy, frugal meals for my family. I definitely need a list of things to do throughout the day. I was not born organized or without the tendency to get sidetracked. I make a list to keep me on track and accomplishing my goals for the day. This does not make me less of a homemaker.

For goodness sake's, are homemakers now defined by their back to the pioneer days mentality, or lack of? Everyone has to have a label it seems and there is even competition within the domestic ranks? How sad.

I prefer the plain, unadorned label of homemaker. Because that is what I am doing, day in and day out, making a home for my husband and three children. But I am doing it for them, not in spite of them. I refuse to see them as a nuisance, the final hurdle to get over before I can have that picture perfect home that I see in Better Homes and Gardens. Instead, I choose to focus on those things which have eternal value..the people in my home.

"Cleaning and cooking can wait 'till tomorrow

For babies grow up, as we've learned to our sorrow.

So quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep,

I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep."

--Author Unknown

What We're Up To

Over the weekend we decided to start a few projects...



(Don't you love the very seventies-ish linoleum in our garage? I know I do...LOL..just kidding..that is going bye-bye sometime very soon! Another project for our to-do list.)

Anyway, back to the task at hand!

Take yellow and blue leftover paint, mix them and what do you end up with?




Well, the photo doesn't really show it well, but if you mix Behr's Scotland Road with Behr's Golden Chalice you get Do-It-Yourself-Spring-Green! Which of course is covering up Behr's Lagoon as the boys' room is now the music/media room.



And if you take leftover Behr's Summer Heat...



Slap it on the walls of the bathroom that is currently like this...



Replace the hideous light fixture that was there when we bought the house, almost two years ago, with this...



What do you think we'll end up with? You'll have to wait and see as I am painting much slower due to the pain in my head (my impacted wisdom teeth) and my foot (my broken toe)...stay tuned for further home renovation updates!

OK, OK, I know that it is not really considered home renovation unless you are knocking down some walls or something, but this is what we can afford right now. We are determined to make our home what we want it to be without going into debt (www.daveramsey.com). Wait, maybe we are renovating...

Our yard before my hubby and tiller got ahold of it...





And after..

Hard at work helping daddy clean up the mess...



Mr. Independent was the only one helping, JM decided that riding the tricycle was more fun than raking up dirt...lol!

Mr. Independent decided that he wanted to take a break and take a ride with his brother, Mr. Dramatic..



All things considered, it was a very productive home improvement weekend. :)

Look What I Did!

This is what I also did over the weekend...
Even though I didn't go to the doctor, I'm pretty sure it's broken. The more fun part was I had to go to Easter Sunday service in jeans and flipflops...classy. Querido decided to wear jeans too, just because I couldn't dress up he didn't either..how sweet!

It's even more fun to try limping around with three children under the age of five! I am so afraid I am going to hit my toe on something again. Cleaning house takes on new challenges.

Oh, also, I have at least two impacted wisdom teeth. I am so thrilled to go to the dentist on Wednesday! No, seriously, I am excited, for the first time in my life, to be seeing a dentist and that is because my mouth hurts soooo badly. I have been on a relatively liquid diet for the last two weeks. On this diet I have lost at least five pounds...so that could be the silver lining, right? I am so looking forward to being able to enjoy and CHEW my food. A girl can only drink so many nutritional supplements! Plus, I am nursing AJ and I am not sure I am getting enough nutrients for the both of us. At any rate, I will be rid of this problem one way or another! Going to have my teeth extracted...YAYYYYY!!! Can't wait until Wednesday..maybe I'll be able to get pictures.

Hope your weekend was less eventful than mine...lol!

Easter Fun

UPDATE: Please see my post "Ensuring Their Safety" for why photo(s) have been deleted from this post.


HE IS RISEN...Thank You Lord, that our Redeemer lives!

Happy Easter!

We went to Grandpa and Grandma's to celebrate...

Then we dyed Easter eggs...

Don't dye your fingers...







What beautifully dyed eggs! We have to let them dry..



All ready for the egg hunt!

The boys closed their eyes and waited for the go-ahead. Then they ran around trying to find the hidden eggs. JM got the hang of it quite quickly but IE had to have some clues. They finally found all the eggs and then turned in their bounty for some booty...CANDY!

AJ slept through the whole egg hunt, even the chaos of two little boys frantically finding hidden eggs didn't wake her up! lol :)

Here she is in her beautiful Easter dress that Grandpa and Grandma got for her...

My little princess..

We ate Bunny Cake, lots of candy and finally it was time to go home. We had a fabulous Easter...how was your's?

Everything and Nothing

Wish I had batteries...I could have shown you before and after pictures of my bathroom. It was the room I decided to take on today. I gave it a thorough scrubbing from top to bottom. Especially the shower. I even rearranged my decor in there. Once I get batteries I can show you my quick and easy way to make it look like a hotel spa!

As I mentioned, the Spring Cleaning Bug has hit the FITPH (Five in the Potter's Hand) household..OK, really it has just hit me..not really anyone else has been affected...of course, my husband is a total neat freak (so he is an assumed participant , our children are all under the age of 5...but our boys do like to organize their toys! Wow..that was a long pig trail...lol! So the SCB has come to our home, we rearranged the rooms so that the kiddos have the biggest room. (Is there a law that says you have to have the master bedroom if you are the parents? Besides, what benefit is there to having the master, if there is no master bath? Not much!) The boys love their new room and I love our (Querido and my) "new" room :) Now I just have to paint the boy's room, the music/media room and repaint the bathroom (I am sick of the green...lol). Yup, I have a lot of painting to do!
I will post pictures once I can!

Querido got a raise...PRAISE THE LORD!! And this month, we have money left over after the bills are all paid, groceries are accounted for, gas is allotted, etc! God is so good, all the time!

A pile of laundry is calling my name, so dear readers, I must bid you adieu!

Do You Know Your Colors??

Found this while looking around other blogs. Give it a try, you won't beleive how many colors you can forget when you are asked how many you can name in five minutes...lol!

43

DeterrANTs

Dead-ANT, Dead-ANT, dead-ANT, dead-ant, dead-ant, dead-ant,dead-AAAANNNNNTT, da, da, da...
Sugar ants are quite persistent! No matter how many I send to an early demise, more come to replace them. They are EVERYWHERE...my kitchen, my floors, my bed (yes, I found a couple of them IN MY BED!!!!), my bathroom, and my shower
(IS NOTHING SACRED??)!!!!!
Every spring they come in by the ever-so-organized droves...which in turn drives me CRAZY!
I got fed up and I started looking for home remedies against ants (well besides spiders...EEK). As I was perusing different websites today I came across a natural, non-toxic, non-fatal remedy! (I really hate to kill the little guys, they are just doing their job) CINNAMON...or even cayenne pepper!!!!!!!! Just so happens I have both in my cupboard. If you sprinkle a line of either around the outside of your home, the ants will not cross the line. It keeps them outside where I am more than happy to have them be! Well, I had forgotten that we did that last year at the front door..guess what insects are extremely smart? They haven't come in the front door at all! So I sprinkled some at the back patio door. I felt kind of sorry for the ones on the other side of the cinnamon barrier---they looked so confused and lost. Nevertheless, they would not cross the line! Yipee!

Saturday, I am going to implement this plan on a larger scale, OUTSIDE!

Praise the Lord for natural remedies!

By the way, cucumbers are supposed to have the same effect. Also if you soak a string in citrus juice, that is purported to work as a deterrent as well. I haven't tried those yet, so I'm not sure they work. But cinnamon works great!

Things That Happened To My Camera...

UPDATED: Please see my post "Ensuring Their Safety" for why I have deleted certain photos from this post.



So I went to see if the batteries on my camera had magically recharged themselves (not rechargeables, so that would have been a miracle) and this is what I found...


Smile for the camera...





Apparently I have some budding photographers in my family...LOL! The boys got ahold of my camera (without my knowledge, I might add) and took some pretty good shots for a 5 year old and a 3 year old. They also had the foresight (or deviousness??) to turn the camera off and place it back on its spot on the table...it's dangerous to have children that smart...LOL!

When We Get Bigger And Other Lessons

Right now my two sons are discussing the benefits of getting bigger...
"Mom, are we gonna have kids when we get bigger?" JM questions me.
"After you get married, I am sure you will have kids." I reply
At this point JM and IE are laughing so hard they can barely speak (apparently having kids is funny...lol)
"I'm going to have two boys!" JM enthusiastically announces.
"Me too!" IE chimes in.
At this point I get the distinct impression that they are planning to marry each other when they grow up...(ahh brotherly love and such innocence)
"But you have to marry a girl when you grow up." I clarify for them.
"I'm going to marry AJ!" JM states matter-of-factly.
"Um, you can't marry your sister honey."
"Why not?"
"God doesn't want you to marry your sister. He wants you to marry someone else."
"What is her name?"
"I don't know, only God knows."
The boys laugh and move onto other pressing matters, like what car we are going to buy for them when they get older...hah! (I informed them that they would be buying their own cars.)

It just made me think of how family truly prepares us to love other people. And also, how you can start building solid family values at any age. They don't need to know about homosexuality or incest right now. All they need to know is the basics: you can't marry your sister or your brother no matter how much you like them and only God knows who you will marry.

Actually, it made me kind of proud that they had even considered marrying their sister...lol...at least the lesson of loving your siblings has set in!

Spring Bug Hits Again :)

The Spring Reorganizing My Home Bug has hit me again. I never do anything truly permanent in the way of home decorations, because I know I will want to change it up sooner or later...lol.

My latest project is going to be the kids' room. I decided that the boys needed a bigger space and so we are going to put them in the master bedroom. (Where are Querido and I going to crash you ask...in the spare room, of course!) I was speaking with my ever-so creative mother and I decided I am going to make the bedding for the boys and for my daughter's crib as well. That way I can make it harmonize and NOT spend a fortune. I am excited about this little venture because I think it will turn out awesome!

I am itching to reorganize and rearrange the living room too. That will wait for another time...

Thankful Thursday

Today I am grateful that I know Jehovah-Jireh and that He cares about me... down to the smallest detail. There is nothing that escapes His notice. And that thought alone is staggering! He knows my needs and wants before I even voice them...wow. The Almighty Creator of the universe is concerned with my needs...me, the lowly clay vessel. I am esteemed in His grasp and made into something valuable by His touch.

On this day of thankfulness, I am thankful that my children and I are feeling better! My boys are back to their rambunctious selves and my darling daughter is her smiley self again (still teething).

I am especially grateful that my sister was here to help nurse me and the kiddos back to health....THANK YOU SIS!

I am thankful that I have a lovely house. Being a homeowner sure beats renting an apartment. We have such awesome neighbors across the street too. God just keeps blessing us!

I am thankful that He wants to bless us...thankful that the Lord of Heaven cares so much about our lives.