I think my heart can smile

Last night, while eating our grilled cheese and french fries, the girls began discussion about what they wanted for Christmas. Maddie was shouting something about a DS, and Hailey quietly mumbled something. In the second it took Maddie to take a breath, I heard it again: "I want a hug for Christmas".

Crying Gets You Nowhere

What changed? What changed, I shout!! Two year and three month old Hailey has never, ever, ever had trouble taking a nap or going to bed. Not in her entire life, save for our trip to my in-laws, when she refused to sleep in a small dark room because she could hear everything we were doing in the next room. But that's not my point. There's nothing new about our house. She's been sleeping in her room since the day she got home from the hospital.

Now, suddenly, she's afriad of the wind and wants me to hold her. Only today it's not windy. It's fine outside. And she's so overtired it's not even funny! I'm trying to get "stuff" done, so if she's somehow in tune with that and is trying to sobtage my plans, she's succeding!

So, we continue with the cry-it-out plan. I go in every 10 minutes, 20, etc. to give her a quick comfort, then I leave. And she's back at it. Crying, sobbing, talking (or should I say shouting). I've been doing this for 8 years, people! Can we be done already? Can they just go to bed when it's the day is done or when it's nap time? And while we're at it, not talk back, follow directions the first time, and eat while sitting in a chair? Don't even get me started on potty training. So not interested. Oh, she is, but I'm not!

48 inches of Meredith

And, now, what you've been waiting for. My opinion of Grey's last night. First of all, I think that was the first time I've seen Grey's on a 48" screen TV. Wow, Meredith and the like are enormus! I spent several minutes trying to figure out if the entire cast put on 10 pounds since the spring, but decided that no, I got a new TV since it was last on. Makes perfect sense. My favorite part of the entire show was the last word: acceptance. It's ironic, because I was just reading about acceptance yesterday in the book I'm reading.

It also brought more to mind. Like, isn't it ironic in real life how God brings you to and through situations? And then when that one is finished, you're stronger, smarter, more humble, and changed forever? What if you don't really have time to reflect on that one and you're tossed into something else? What if you can't see the big picture until several years later? What if you don't know the big picture until your picture is at the end? Or what if you never know the big picture? I'll sum up this paragraph by using the word obedient. That's how I would like to be remembered and known for. Even if what I'm doing doesn't make sense to anyone else, if I'm obedient to the Creator of life, I'm doing the right thing, wouldn't you think?

I heart change

Another stint of silence. This time I can't blame memory loss. It's just pure laziness. I haven't felt like writing anything new to this blog that no one reads, so I haven't. But today I got the brilliant thought of actually telling people about this blog of mine for others to actually ... get this, read. Whew. What a concept.

So today's thought is based on a facebook status I wrote earlier this week. It said: "I heart change". I had several comments -- what's changing? are you rolling change? cashing in on change? First let me address the "heart" in my comment. It means love. It's a little code word I like to use instead of actually committing to the actual act of "love." It's deep, I know.

But really, this time of year is exciting. About to enter a brand new school year brings on more change. The daily routine will change. I'm thrilled about this. If you've known me for any length of time you know I like variety - change. But don't worry, I'll get sick of that "new" routine by Halloween and be craving a new one.

Speaking of, the girls want to play Yahtzee now, so I need to change my original plan of writing a blog post, and go play a game. This is my life. I'd like to embrace it and not fight it.

My Memory is Failing

Actually, my memory isn't really failing, it's just that I have too much to remember. Take passwords for example. Every single thing in my life has to have a password. And if you're like me you might have, say, two or three passwords and then several variations of those words. That gets really confusing when you're updating a few blogs, logging onto your bank accounts, paying bills, and just shopping online.

So is the answer writing them down in an address book? What if someone found that book? Would they really care enough to log onto blogger and write the blog? Doubt it.

In case you haven't already guessed, that is the reason for my 6+ month silence. I couldn't remember my password! The dog ate my homework!

Hope

I'm sick of politics. I'm sick of receiving those stupid postcards in the mail. I'm sick of seeing slandering commercials on TV. I'm really looking forward to next week when we can see who "wins" and just get on with life! Of course there will be changes - a new person in any situation always brings changes.

I'm hopeful. I'm hopeful that the prayers of many will be answered this week with whoever ends up in office. I'm hopeful that so many kids will be affected by tonight's trunk n treat at church that they drag their parents to church to meet God. I'm hopeful that my girls will have so much fun with their friends this weekend. I'm just hopeful. I'm speechless, but know that God is in me ... and if you go to TFH, you know I'm going to say

the hope of glory

.

A lot of milage for those points

I'm sucked into the rewards of credit cards. It's evil. I got a catalog today advertising all the stuff I could order with my "miles". Yay! The thing is, I haven't used that card for years. In fact the only reason I kept that card open is because I saved up 19,000 points. I know, I know, you're thinking I'm really in debt. Almost out of it, thanks for asking.

So my point. Because I haven't used that account for so long, I no longer have the card or statements or anything. I probably do - somewhere - but didn't feel like digging through a bunch of junk at the moment. I tried to log onto the account online, but of course couldn't remember my username or password. I clicked on the "forgot username" button, where I was prompted to enter my 16-digit account number. See the problem?! I phoned them twice (the first time was hung up on), and finally got to speak with a barely-english-speaking customer service agent. After asking me all but my first born, he was allowed to tell me I have just over 19,000 points. I asked for my account number so I could go online and make the transaction to "puchase" something with my hard-earned points. But he was only allowed to give me the last four digits of the account number. I can see -almost- why they would do that, but if I provided ALL the correct answers to the security questions, wouldn't it seem like he's really talking to me, the account holder? Humph. The best he could do is to mail me a copy of the statement (that will include the account number). So, I'm excited to spend my 19,000 points in the next month or so. After all, I probably spent $8,000 in real money for the $50 "reward" I'm going to get. By the way, I will be closing that card so fast afterwards! I hope they don't go out of business before I have the satisfaction of doing so!