Lava, Grand Slams, and Abortifacients...

-Ella called me while I was at work. She was hanging out with her grandparents. She left me the sweetest voice mail. Why does that precious child love me so much? It seriously made my day to hear her little voice calling to check on me and see how my day was going. For real, yo, she has the most precious phone voice ever. 

-Little man is all about tennis right now. I am not entirely sure why because he has never shown an interest in it until recently. He ran and ran and ran at the farm a few weeks ago playing tennis. He finally had to sit down and chill out because he was so tired and hot. Yeah, we play in the grass or on the driveway. We are grassy, old school folks.

-I do like tennis though. I took a few lessons when I was a kid. Not many. Enough to know that I would have enjoyed it had I spent more time practicing. Layton wants to go to the tennis courts every day and play. I keep telling him "tomorrow." Maybe he won't notice that tomorrow actually means April 16th...

-I let a stream of profanity escape my mouth the other morning. Sweet Shelia at work told me to get the soap and wash my mouth out with it. Do you think she would let me use Johnson's baby soap? Given what came out of my mouth, I think she was leaning more toward Lava brand. I was stressed; throw me a bone. 

-It snowed earlier this week. It didn't stick, but there was snow. I am over Winter. I am ready for Spring. The snow needs to stop. Stat. 

-Let's talk Hobby Lobby. What say you regarding the argument presented to the Supreme Court this week? Do you believe that Hobby Lobby should be exempt from the Affordable Care Act based on the religious beliefs of the owners? I have (personally) thought about a number of different positions regarding Hobby Lobby. 

I have come to the conclusion that the least dangerous result would be for the court to enforce the ACA on Hobby Lobby. I think that allowing Hobby Lobby out of Obamacare is a bit of precedence that I don't necessarily like for the future. Sure, the owners of this privately owned business have the right to be conservative Christians, but should I find myself desperate for a job and employed by them, they do not have the right to enforce their beliefs on me and my health care options. Right?

Also, I can totally see Donald Trump claiming that paying taxes is against the religious beliefs of his corporation. Um, this was meant to be humorous.

I only have a few beliefs that are absolutely concrete in my heart. One of those beliefs is that there must be a clear separation between religion and government  - "not to protect religion from government but to protect the government from religious zealots."

Where do you stand on Hobby Lobby? Even though I don't like the Affordable Care Act the way it is currently in place, I still can't go to bat for the Lobby. 

-Also, I really like strawberry ice cream but rarely buy it.

Skinny Wednesday...

Hello! I hope you are all having a marvelous day. I am hoping for a good day, myself. The last several days have been full of adrenaline and busy stuff. I like busy though. Time at work passes faster if I am super busy. Although, the longest hour of the day is the last one in the office. 8:00 - lunch feels like :30, and even the few hours after lunch pass pretty quick. That last hour though....will suck the life out of anyone. Am I right? 

I have been doing much better with my diet. I don't mean diet as in I am on a diet. I mean that my overall diet is healthier than ever. This has been a long time coming. I feel better when I eat good food. I have lost a few el bees as a result. I have quite a few more to lose before I reach my goal. I am getting borderline obsessed with what I eat. I'm not going to go full on Christina Ricci or anything. 

There have been a few days recently that were weather wonderful. I am ready for more outside time. There is nothing better than a day that is not too hot and not too cold. A day when I can walk around outside all day without freezing or sweating. I love nice weather...

Things I do not love? Broken bones. She was surprisingly calm while we were at the hospital. 

She was riding and jumping and having a great afternoon with all things horse. The horse stopped. Hadley did not and went end over end off the horse.

 The first thing she asked was, "When can I ride again?"

The first thing I asked was for narcotics. For me. Ok, I'm just kidding about that part. I will admit that I had a whiskey drink after getting her home and settled in bed that night. My nerves were fried by the time the whole thing was taken care of that night. Everything will be fine though. Boot, crutches, cast after the swelling goes down, etc. Bones heal. 

In the night I took her pain medicine to her. I said, "Don't do drugs, but here is a loratab." 

I filled out my application for a new reality show about super moms right after that. 

Take it easy friends. Feel great about yourselves. :)

Cheeze It, I Have Lost What Little I Had....

-It is official. I have lost the last bit of normalcy I had going for me. Check with me on April 17th to see if I have recovered any...I feel kind of like Ella looks in this picture. Boy thing was particularly high energy and full of himself that day.

-Friends. I think it is important to make really, really good friends. I happen to have some friends that I, well, this - cannot fathom how boring life would be without them. I realized that I had made the kind of life long bosom buddies that writers base movie characters on quite a while back. Sometimes midnight rolls around, and we will all still be sitting on the porch talking and laughing. These are the people I call and text when my day goes to hell. These are the people I force to buy tequila shots on my birthday. These are the people who will always lift my spirit. If you only take one thing away from this blog ever, take this piece of advice. Find a few people who love your guts even when you smell bad, and make yourself the fungus on their roots. 

-Should I be worried that J and I email each other in haiku? For some reason, this seems like it might possibly be outside the box marked normal. It's not something that we do all the time though, so we're still okay...right? 

-This little fellow stays up way too late at night. He has trouble waking up in the mornings as a result. When I wake him up, I sit down on the edge of his bed and rub his back. The other morning he moved from the bed to my lap and went back to sleep immediately. I didn't want to leave the house after that. Sitting with him curled up in my lap was the best thing that happened to me all week. It's been downhill ever since. 

-I tried to explain the solstices and equinoxes to the youngest two. That went about as well as the time I tried to explain the nuclear plant to them. For the record, young children cannot understand fission. Or how to eat without leaving crumbs all over the floor.

-Layton can say anything he wants, and somehow, it never makes me mad. I think it is because of the dangerous combination of curls and dimples. If you don't look directly at the dimples and curls, you will get mad when he calls your belly squishy and booty big. BUT. If you allow the dimples and curls into your field of vision, you will think it is adorable that he compared your pants to the sails of the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria. I even said thank you once when he told me that I smelled like wet goat.
Even with the sun in his face, he is glorious.

-I have so much more to spill, but I don't have time right now....

On What Planet...

Ella. Sweet Ella. She is my middle child and is full of wonder and joy. She is a curious person who asks lots of questions - some about things of which she needs no knowledge. Ella is without a doubt one of the most interesting souls I have ever been fortunate enough to know and love. 

I present to you...Ella's latest obsession...the lawn mower...

The good news is that anytime the farm needs a thorough mow, Ella will be more than happy to take out the weeds and grass.

But seriously. What 10 year old girl spends an hour and a half riding on the mower WITHOUT ACTUALLY CUTTING THE GRASS????? Child just cruised around on it like it was a four wheeler or RTV. 

You can thank me for making your children seem so normal later.