Filled With Gratitude

If I could only move through ignore get over let go of set aside the anxiety and worry I feel thinking, "when will the other shoe drop?", I could maybe actually just be HAPPY that things are OK right now.

I am happy.

I am so very grateful that my husband is still with us.

After all that he's been through, I look at him lately and am filled with gratitude and happiness.

He is AMAZING.

Not in the off-handed way people use the word "amazing".

More like this, quite literally:

There are so many instances when he could have died. Times before I even knew him, let alone since. He has been fighting to live for SO LONG. And so far, it's working.

Diabetes has not been kind to Mark. It seems that no matter how hard he tries he is plagued by one complication after another. This isn't likely to change. He will probably never get another transplant and the disease will continue to take its toll.

Now, though? Right now? He's doing fairly well. He is constantly struggling with his blood sugars, made more difficult by insulin antibodies and electrolyte fluctuations due to being on dialysis....

But he is holding his own. He is happy and living his life as fully as possible. Still working, taking care of everyday things, cooking, being a dad, husband, son, friend, handyman...MARK.

I am so grateful!

I'm just so happy he is HERE.

It is a gift. An AMAZING gift.

I will never, ever take it for granted.

Connecting with Pour Your Heart Out, The Happiness Project and iPPP.

Food, Y'all

Ooh, what is that?

It's Hot Crab Dip topped with avocado.

My husband made it yesterday.

You want the recipe?

You gotta go over to my BFF's meal planning blog,

Mom Rocks Mealtime,

where I guest posted for her today.

I did a top 10 best of her posts

AND

included a link to the recipe for that delicious crab dip you see up there.

So go check out

The Best of Mom Rocks Mealtime

and let Jen (yes, another one) know I sent ya!

And don't forget to PIN something that sounds good to you!

Summer Sanity Saver

This is a super simple, just wanna throw this out there little post.

Today was the very last day of school. Commence summer vacation!

Alright, before we get underway, I need to do a little something to help save my sanity over the next 12 weeks.

I once wrote about how much I get sick of feeding my kids during the summer.

Three times a day, plus possible snacks, EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Yes, I know I did this for five years before they started school, but now I'm used to not worrying about feeding them lunch everyday of the world (we do school lunches), so by the time we hit the dog days of summer I am DONE with it.

DONE with the constant "I'm hungry"s and "what do we have?"s.

Therefor, this year I have decided to write up a "Summer Lunch Menu" for the kids to refer to each day.

For example:

Made in PicMonkey
(just found a free white background & sized according to their 8.5x11 print guidelines)

Here's a handy template you can right click and save if you'd like:

So now when my kids tell me they want lunch and ask what we have I can simply say "Check the list", instead of rattling off the choices EVERY DAY because information retention has vanished. Poof!

Yeah, I know it probably won't completely eliminate the food whines, but here's hoping it will considerably cut them down!

Do you have any summer sanity saving tips?

Tween to Teen

My daughter Camryn will turn 13 in a month.

Yeah, I know.

THIRTEEN.

She was halfway through her childhood at 9. Now she is just 5 short years away from legal adulthood.

FIVE.

I'm not sure we're ready for this.

I remember at the younger ages from about four to seven or so.....this push and pull thing going on. Like, I'm getting big, but still little enough to need my mommy a lot.

They call it autonomy.

This age involves a lot of push and pull too.

It's always about a month before Camryn's birthday that I start noticing changes in her. It's like her biological clock is perfectly timed to her birth date. She will suddenly acquire a new skill or a fresh new understanding of something. She will gain a new perspective or form a new opinion. Something will click that hadn't before.

I remember one year it was being able to cook eggs all by herself. Another year it was switching from a kiddie party to a big girl slumber party.

Now? Now it's the beginning of parental embarrassment. The beginning of sarcastic sassyness that knows-no-boundaries-but-she-better-damn-well-learn-them.

One day last week we went to Red Robin for dinner and my little girl who really doesn't want me to call her Cami anymore refused the kid's menu.

Push.

A few days later we headed to Payless for some new sandals for summer. Camryn spent the majority of the time we were there trying on fancy high heels we would never let her buy nor wear. Her dad was beside himself, leaning over to me and whispering, "I'm really not OK with this."

We sized her foot, discovering she and I are currently the same size. I thought this could be rather convenient because we could share shoes.

But my darling daughter wants nothing to do with sharing shoes with her mother.

Push.

Turns out her feet are skinnier than mine so she can squeeze her little tootsies into shoes I cannot. Whatever. She still has feet way too big for a 12 year old, so there!

But her big feet make me think back to when I was pregnant with her and the day I had my 20(ish) week ultrasound. We got a picture of her foot, which the tech commented on being big. When she was born, a friend of ours called her feet skis.

There are a couple of things leftover from littlegirlhood. Cami still calls us Mommy and Daddy. Since I know every other kid her age (and younger) is using the shorter Mom and Dad, I find myself asking her when she might make the switch. She seems to be unconcerned with it.

Pull.

Cami still likes to be tucked into bed at night. She is utterly offended by the idea that she could just go up to bed on her own.

Pull.

On the other hand, Camryn is asking me about the possibility of riding her bike places. Like outside of our neighborhood and by herself.

(I was doing that much younger than her, but we all know how parenting and childhood have changed.)

Push.

I'll take this push and pull right now, even though it might give me a little whiplash.

I will cherish the moments I hear, "Mommy, I need to talk to you about something." And when she sits right up next to me on the couch. Or when she looks back at me as she's walking up to the fast food counter to get more ranch for her fries....

I will keep encouraging her to stick with Girl Scouts for as long as absolutely possible.

Because I know it's all going to change. I know my daughter; maybe it will be slowly. But the saying goes, "slowly but.....surely".

Also connected with Memories Captured and Pour Your Heart Out.