Befuddlement

So, uh, HI!!

It's been awhile.

Again.

But it's not just you, bloggies.

And it's not just my IRL friends, whom I've also been neglecting.

It's me.  I've been resting my fingers on the pause button of my remote control for life, wanting the world to stop spinning momentarily so I. Could. Just. Gather. My. Thoughts. Just. ONCE!  Seriously, I feel a bit ADD lately, starting chores, only to think, "Oh, but wait, I forgot to pray with God!," and turn to do that and then say, "Oh look, a Cheerio!  Hmm...I'm hungry," and that's just on my own, without the kids interrupting.

They magnify this distractedness I've been feeling about 10,000 fold.

I've gotta get a grip on summer.

And my head.  There's so much rolling around in it that I can't seem to grab a coherent moment with myself.

working on it.

But that means I may be taking a summer break from rambling.


© 2006-present Ramblings of a Red-Headed Step-Child. All Rights Reserved

Better Late Than Never, Right?

I, uhm, seem to have fallen behind in a lot of things lately.  It is hard to keep up with all of the kids at home 24/7!  Kinda miss school, but not terribly.  My kitchen floors, however?  Miss school in a BIG way.

Saturday was my IL's 40th wedding anniversary, y'all - can we get a hearty round of applause for that?  That is a serious milestone in today's day and age, no?  They're very real people who work for a love that shows, not all Ward and June and yet not that loveless couple that trudged on through, either.  They've been a great example to us of how to keep on keepin' on and have a good time while doing it.  We'd have loved to have been with them for this milestone, as previously was entertained, but the cashflow was an issue.  Besides, our inability to go lent us the opportunity to stay and be part of our church's marriage seminar (it is SO GOOD!!!  Life changing whether you are single, married, divorced, in a struggling marriage or one that rocks your socks...if you're local and want to know more, just shoot me an e-mail!) that kicked off yesterday - giving us yet more tools to match my husband's parents in longevity of matrimonial bliss.  Seth got to talk to them last night, while I was on a night run with a friend from church, and tell them both how he felt about their abiding love and its impact on us.  I did not, so better late than never - 

I love you too Mom and Dad.  Words fail me to describe the blessing you've been to us.

Also sitting on my to-do's was a tag that Headless Mom sent my way, about a month ago.  Can you believe me?  It's terrible I know.  SOooo...I have to answer her questions and then come up with my own...I may just answer the questions she gave me as so many of my bloggies are either on sabbatical or I have been lurking and not participating on their blogs much.

1- Which celebrity to you want to tell to "Shut up, already!"?  

Hmmmm...all of them?  Seriously, there aren't that many Hollywood voices that I listen to these days.  A few years back it would've been Tom Cruise in his whole public denouncement of post-partum depression and psychiatry in general.

2- What is your favorite happy hour drink? 

I do love a good margarita, white zins, and never met too many beers I didn't like.  But lately, I've been so health conscious that my happy hour drinks are the same as my all day drinks: WATER.

3- What is your favorite thing to cook/bake?  

Hmmmm.....I like to cook, so picking a favorite is going to be hard.  Probably homemade bread, it's so rewarding and smells the house up nicely.

4- What is one thing that you wish you had more time for?

Well, it's not so much that I don't have enough time for it, rather than I let other things come before it - but I wish I spent more time in prayer and meditation with God and His holy word.

5- What is the FIRST thing you would do with a jumbo lottery jackpot?

Give to my church so that they could pay it forward what was done for us last year.

6- What song/artist do you always turn off when it/they come on the radio?

I listen to Christian radio pretty much exclusively these days, so there's not much objectionable content, but I really don't like Mandisa's voice/style and will usually flip to another station when she comes on bellowing about it only being the world.  Also?  Michael W. Smith's New Hallelujah gets the click of death from me too.  Love him, hate that song.

7- What one household chore is your favorite? (Or at least the least hated?)  

Going with the least hated approach, vacuuming.

8- What is your favorite flower?

Oh dear....I love flowers of all kinds.  Not sure I can pick just one. I have a thing for big showy blooms like lilies, clematis, peonies, etc., but for smells it is hard to beat lilacs, roses, or honeysuckle.

9- What food do you like that most would say "Eeeeew!" to?

Spinach smoothies.  Almond milk (sweetened vanilla is really yummy, but plain is good too), honey, banana, spinach and ice = a clean tasting green for the palate.

10- Is there something that you refuse to blog about? Why?

Hmmm....I don't know if there is a topic I REFUSE to blog about, but certainly there are some that I tend to avoid now - marital strife and/or family fights between the FoO or the IL's .  Why?  Because I used to freely vent about them here and when the blog got more public that was very hurtful.  I'm a lover not a fighter.

Well....as for tagging more, think I'll pass for now.  

© 2006-present Ramblings of a Red-Headed Step-Child. All Rights Reserved

Foodie Friday - Un-souping the casserole

This Foodie Friday is going to be a wee bit different, i.e. a simple link-up to the recipe/blog-post from which I gleaned the creamed soup replacement method.

This week, I'd signed up to make dinner for our church's Wednesday night "family night."  Family nights only go on in the summer, and we love them!  There is a meal, usually prepared by a team of people, and then later there is a more informal devotional time than we have during the school-year, i.e., we sing some songs of praise and then there is a speaker with a short message.  This summer's theme is 2nd Peter 1:5-9

I'd forgotten to grab a partner when I signed up - and then time got away from me, so I was cooking for 150 people on my own.  It was fun, in a culinary adventure sort of way.

I decided to make King Ranch Chicken, and sought out a good recipe for it.  I found the Homesick Texan's blog with a soup-free version (as most versions employ both cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soups), and made that, x15!

It was fabulous, and even my ever-picky Kelsey devoured it, despite the presence of peppers, onions and 'hot', that is cooked, tomatoes.  Sooooooo yummy and well worth the time.
© 2006-present Ramblings of a Red-Headed Step-Child. All Rights Reserved

Slamming Doors Shut and Prying Open Windows

Yesterday   well, given that it is now almost two days later, MONDAY, I officially gave myself permission to say "This isn't working," regarding my stint as a lia sophia advisor.

I just didn't have the knack for getting the right people to host, much less attend parties for me.  And while I TOTALLY LOVE their jewelry, and stand behind their quality, the biggest part that didn't work for me was trying to sell people on the idea that they Needed. More. Stuff.  I mean, the whole Material Girl scene has never been mine, but this sale was especially hard to make when I myself have been in no position to buy jewelry, let alone store-bought laundry soap, new clothes that aren't second-hand, etc., and I KNOW that I'm not the only one given our knock-down economic state of affairs right now.

I've been praying for a long time about this, and I thought that a recent inquiry from out of the blue was a sign to not give up - but when my hostess went incognito on me and all other newly rekindled attempts to drum up leads were snuffed out, I kindly got out of the way before God let the door hit me in the heinie.

I'd pretty much made my mind up about this on Friday, but this weekend sealed the deal.

In a really ironic way, a simple phone call with my mom opened up a whole new world of opportunity for me. I was telling her about being on the verge of kissing lia sophia goodbye and she suddenly POOF! transformed into a veritable career advice fairy godmother!

Turns out, she's been moonlighting as a Court Appointed Parenting Coordinator and as she told me all about it, it is totally up my alley.  It's basically a free-lance case manager type of deal; parents have to pay a retainer to her and then she bills the hourly rate set by the judge from it as she works for the family (I for one love that paid in advance deal, don't you??)


Not only could I see myself doing this and being successful with it, but I WANT to do this and be successful with it.  And not just for my fiscal benefit.  You see, if I do a good job in that kind of venue, EVERYONE wins - me (cha-ching money never hurt anyone), the child[ren] in question, the family, etc.  And I do love me some good win-win set-ups.

So, to get started?  I am re-writing my resume and writing cover letters to query local attorneys about their need for PC's as well as for referrals. And, because I am all about diversifying the eggs and not putting them all in one conservative portfolio, I'm also using the same tactic with local therapists and counselors re: case management for their clientele.  I did it for the non-profit sector, but never thought to think outside that box and extend my services to self-payers in the private practice system.

Also in the back of my mind has been the dream of writing for keeps.  You know, to be a for-reals kind of writer, the kind I just knew I would be when I was whipping up some fantabulous 6th grade literature (some pieces of which my teacher confirmed via facebook is still in her possession because she used them for every succeeding class post-1991 as examples...now if only she would send them to me as she promised!) the kind that lands magazine deals and culminates with BOOKS.  Yeah, that.

So long ago I shelved that dream on the premises that I didn't get an English degree - nor did I really take all that many writing classes period since I placed out of them during college entry - that I hadn't done any writing extracurriculars (e.g. college newspaper), and that I simply didn't know how to get started.

And now?  Now I am saying to that logic, "SO WHAT?!?!"

I'm going to go for it!

Going for it, reaching for my dreams and all that other clichéd verbiage looks something like a wild maelstrom of the creative process known as brainstorming.

And know what?

It feels really good.

For a long time now I've lamented the feeling of having lost some of myself in this SAHM chapter.  Not losing my SELF as in "Me Time," or "Grown Up Stuff" or ambition or whatever guise that selfishness might wear - not that.  But that sparkle, that feeling of knowing that I'm competent at what I'm doing and what I'm talking about, because this parenting gig?  Isn't exactly the most affirming thing when you feel like you're just cracking out the how-to books 5 minutes after the exam began.

Right now, I'm visioning and trying to figure out branding myself.

I'd like to offer myself up as a free-lance writer, editor (seriously, I was so peeved that the Francine Rivers trilogy I've been reading goofed on a character's name - it was Octavia in book 1 and most of book 2 when she suddenly morphed into Olympia - because, DETAILS, people!  And, despite the conversational, informal grammatical style of my writing on this blog, wherein run-on sentences and those beginning with 'and,' 'because,' 'but,' and other improper introductions abound, I really am a syntax and spelling SNOB who, however wrongly so, tends to deduct IQ points when I see bad grammar, misspellings/typos and other butcherings of the English language), and case-manager - sort of an odd mix, but all have the purpose of bettering one's communications and relationships in the world, be they corporate, personal, or something in between.

I've thought about business names and I really am enthralled with the idea of playing off of the 3 R's of education theme that many are aware of.  Something like 3r Solutions, Media, etc., with a tagline/explanation that the 3r's I focus on are Reading (editing), wRiting, and Relationships (case management/communications focus).  I don't know if it is as catchy as I think though, as so many people are becoming less familiar with the original meanings of the 3R's.  So we'll see.

I'm meeting with a local information architect Friday to further discuss and brainstorm.

In the meantime, I'm drafting cover letters and have secured some prominent people's support in being references for me.

I had the passing thought when all of this started to form in my mind, "How come I never considered this all before?"  I mean think of the heartbreak we could have been spared regarding the finances!

But God answered in my heart almost instantaneously.  Not audibly [I wish!  wouldn't life be so much easier then?] but with that inexplicable sense of utter revelation. You needed to grow as a mother and re-set your priorities.  You're now at a place where the mundane tasks of SAHM-hood are just life and not giant and tedious obstacles.  Now the desires of your heart are prioritized and you will ask for them to be given unto you in the manner that I will, not how you will.  Besides, had you had a caseload and deadlines when you were so ill, what would have come of you then?  You've come so far, my daughter. 

Now it is time for a lot of hard work and fervent prayer!

© 2006-present Ramblings of a Red-Headed Step-Child. All Rights Reserved

Spontaneity is Overrated

So the other night me and some gal pals are sitting at my kitchen table, after a long day of me decluttering the house when I say," Ladies, I think it's time to go all Dave Ramsey and have me a garage sale.  I found a lot of unnecessaries today and we need the cash, right?  Anyone in with me?"

Friend #1 pipes up, "Oh yeah, I still have a stash in the basement from last year's To Be Garage Sold pile, count me in!"

I say, "Alright - well we should do it then.  Soon."

As in, give me a week or so and then we'll make it happen, when all of a sudden:

Enter Spontaneous Epiphany!!!


Friend #2 realizes that her swanky neighborhood is having their annual neighborhood garage sale This Saturday (as in some 8 1/2 hours from NOW)!  She won't be home, but her hubby will, so we could totally use their space, and it's already advertised, cool huh?

Friend #1 and I glance at each other, weighing the possibility.  She's gonna have her boy (nearly 2) since her hubby's got a golf date, and I'm gonna have my 3 as Seth has a date with his employer, but we shrug, yeah, we can do this!

Today after sorting, and tables and price tags, oh my! I'm thinking that spontaneity is highly overrated, if not the cause for some massive productivity, as our weather forecast is in the Garage Sale Pits right now.....

Praying fervently that all this work was not in vanity - that rain will go away (it can continue doing what it's doing tonight but move along in its merry way once we hit dawn, thankyouverymuch), and that we will have a successful sale tomorrow - I got me a lot of stuff to get rid of!

**Edited to add.... That forecast picture isn't accurate - it has changed every day to match the CURRENT forecast, which is now gorgeous, but last weekend was pouring buckets.  I made a whopping $4 and Friend #1 made $7.  Gonna try again this weekend.

© 2006-present Ramblings of a Red-Headed Step-Child. All Rights Reserved

Coming down from that runner's high

I did it!!!!!!

It's been over a week now, but what a HIGH.  It has taken me awhile to come back down.

I ran (as in ran the WHOLE way - well, barring two little walk steps on the hill as we all narrowed up and crowded into the stadium right after the 6 mile marker, wherein I then said, "Self, uh, what the hay-ell Are.You.Doing???  You have not RUN this far in the HEAT to WALK any or all of the remaining .2 miles, so no no no, none of that!  Get you butt back to running," and so I re-commenced with a gait that was running-ish until the finish line) the Bolder Boulder.

It was crazy - as evidenced in this stunning eyewitness footage:

BTW....does the creepy dude in the bathrobe, on his stationary bike, at 3:58 - 4:14 remind you of the same guy I thought of? :shudders:

Anyway, the day was not without glitches - I mean, we are talking about ME here, right?  When was the last time everything sailed smoothly???

First, Seth's stopwatch and I were so poorly acquainted that I hit the wrong button to start so that when  I looked down at the first mile marker I saw a big, fat 00:00:00 staring right back at me.  So there I was, running, intermittently looking and fiddling at my wrist instead of keeping my eyes fixed straight ahead of me - which is just begging for disaster, but lo! the Lord's angels were with me and a human stampeding calamity was averted - when I figured out the right button to push and time started ticking away.  I figured that I would just add the start time to current time and voila! I'd have the total at the end.  I never thought that perhaps the Boulder clock and mine might perchance differ in opinion with each other (which they did, come to find out) and felt pretty good thinking that my first mile was in the 9 minute vicinity.

Then there was the issue of my thighs.  They're uh, pretty meaty still.  Particularly on the insides.  And they pretty much always touch.  This led me to the observation of two things.

1.)When you wear shorts to run in, as opposed to spandex, when dealing with this particular plight, well, you wind up with what looks like a sort of wedgie in the front as the insides of the thighs push your shorts higher and higher.  When you're running a race, even with the full knowledge that you will not win said race nor even your wave of the race, you don't have the time to constantly be pulling your shorts out of your crotch.  Which led to some fantabulous photos of one Ramblin Red, bib number GK544.  But hey, at least I wasn't wearing a RED UNITARD WITH A VERY OBVIOUS BLACK THONG underneath, right? All I could think was, "That's a guaranteed recipe for a hemorrhoid!"  I mean, one word: FRICTION!  Ouch.  Or a stripper-style German Barmaid costume.  I kid you not!  Because this is a race and I was properly attired in athletic garb, even if it malfunctioned slightly.

2.) While I'd trained for this day, I hadn't given much thought to the impact on my performance when the sweat would inevitably begin to seep into the heat rash that is ever present in the summer months due to said thigh rubbage affliction.  I pretty much tried to shower at every hose/sprinkler offered along the course to keep the stinging at minimum.

This is just the first mile too - you see where it was distracting?

After mile 1 I got into a groove and hung there. Until midway between 2 and 3 miles when the hill came, along with the blazing sun.  I slowed and got hot.  Then kicked back up again.  At the 5k marker I started to get all dejected, thinking, "I still have another HALF to go!"  And shortly thereafter was a church, whose congregants had a tent with Switchfoot playing, which was SUCH a Godsend to me.  I meditated alternately on Philippians 4:13 and my rather paraphrased and personalized version of the introductory lines of the 23rd Psalm, "The LORD is my Shepherd, I shall not want.  He brings me to green pastures...called FOLSOM FIELD!"

And before I knew it, I was at mile 4, then 5.  And then began the ascent up that final hill, where I met with mile six.  My legs were rubber coated lead weights by then.  But I could SEE the stadium, and aside from that brief moment of self-sabotage, I was determined to finish.  Once I got into the stadium, and realized the finish line was not right inside the stadium, but 3/4 of a lap around the track, my heart sank a bit, but only momentarily.

And just like that it was over.

I'd crossed the line.  And slowed to a walk.

It didn't hit me until I'd walked up the stadium bleachers to the drink station at the top.  And whose bright idea is that anyway?  Sending people who are virtually drunk on endorphins - seriously, I felt as if I'd had 5 beers, ok, 3 as I'm a lightweight since I don't drink that much, and could hardly stand up straight - to navigate stadium steps with their elevation and weird half-step cadence and not a railing to be had to get water?!?! I got my water, and stretched my muscles, which were already stiffening, when I got the shakes.  Just like I'd had after each one of my babies were born, only with a fraction of the intensity.

And then the tears came.

And I lifted my eyes to the hills, those beautiful flatironed hills of Boulder, and hiccupping through the sobs, whispered, "My help comes from the LORD...my Deliverer, how much you've brought me through...thank you...thank you...thank you..."

My week after that was kind of a mixed bag.  Kind of like wowed meets "Now what?"  But I've decided that Monday wasn't the end-all for me, despite having been a destination goal.

Now that I've attained it, I say it is only the beginning.

I'm thinking if I could go from hospital bed to 5k in a mere 4 months, and double that in 7 months, there is no reason why I couldn't double it still and do a half-marathon next year.

For now, I've just been going when I can and loving it.

© 2006-present Ramblings of a Red-Headed Step-Child. All Rights Reserved