Blog Your Heart Challenge

Good morning everyone!  It's still super-early here.  Three outta four peeps are still asleep (but I hear several alarm clocks/phones going off).  I've snuck out to the living room to hop on my computer and get a sneak peek of what has been going on in the world while I was asleep.

I checked my email and then snuck over to my new found <3 Twitter....I know, I know....I was anti Twitter for a long time.  But I have to admit.  I am really enjoying reading  the quick one liners from the people I know, would love to know, and those I just admire from a distance. One of the first one's I read was from Stephanie Howell.  It mentioned Ali Edwards, which immediately caught my attention.  It said, 'thanks @aliedwards for inspiring my blog post today'.  Well, I knew it was going to be a great post. . .because I read Ali's post yesterday.  I really don't have the proper words to explain how open-heartedly and 'real' (as she put it) Ali's statements about her life were.  So.... :) I zipped on over to Stephanie's blog to see what she had in store for us.

She posted a 'Blog Your Heart' challenge...and shared some really truthful feelings and examples of her everday -right now.  Her challenge was for us to do the same. 

{k, I'm back...had to get one off to work, and 3 off to school}  :)
So, here is what is on my heart right now. . .minus any 'rainbows and unicorns':

1.  I am so thankful that Nathan seems to be adjusting well at kindergarten.  His bout with seperation anxiety seems to be over.  However, the sight and sound of him screaming, 'Mommy!!! Huggie-Kissie, Huggie-Kissie' as his teacher peels him away from me still chokes me up.
2.  I am thankful that Cody seems to be thriving and rising to the challenge his new school is offerring.  Although some days he really misses his old friends, he is making new ones.
3.  I am glad that my 'Big Kid'...aka the 6 foot 2 inch beast that is eating us outta house and home...is liking high school.  He is sooo stinkin' smart and is a really good kid.  It saddens me to think that in just a few years he could choose to leave us and start a life of his own.  -Oh great, now I'm crying.
4.  The hubby....where do I start.  We've been so lucky to have had such an easy ride when it comes to our relationship.  We stuck together when Chase died...although so many were quick to warn us that many marriages fail when there is a death of a child involved.  I guess I'm just pretty lucky to have him (even though he messes up my routine when he comes home from his shifts -LOL!)
5.  My lil' daycare peeps.  I love 'em to pieces.  I love playing with them.  I love the excitement and laughter they bring into the house.  I do however, struggle with the fact that all my babes are now in school and wonder if this is what I am supposed to be doing at this stage of my life.
6.  I am frustrated with our finances to the point of not sleeping well at night.  I feel like a hamster that keeps running in her wheel and gets nowhere (minus the benefits that all that exercise would give!).  I'm tired of cutting and cutting our budget, only to have some other door slam in our faces so that we have to cutting even more. 
7.  I'm mad at Gerry Brown (CA state governor)
8.  I'm 'besties' with the school nurse at the littles new school.  School has been is session 1 month and I've been summoned 4 times.  One kid fell in the mud, one peed his pants, one bent his finger back playing at recess, and one came home sick with a stomach bug.  -LOL!  I warned  her that she'd be seeing a lot of me after I made my first appearance...she thought I was kidding! :)  -Oh, and I love the fact that Nathan calls the nurse's office 'The Hospital'  :) -LOL!  4 year olds are so cute!
9.  I am LOVING scrapbooking again.  The ju-ju is back!
10.  I like this Twitter thing...I am however having a dilema making friends.  I read 'tweets' from all the scrappy peeps (no pun intended) that I like....and often want to chime in and respond to their posts....but am having difficulting doing so without feeling like I'm 'butting-in'.  I don't want to be that 'weird stalker lady' -you know what I mean??
11.  Loving God.  Love that I look forward to attending church.  Love finally reading and understand the stories in the Bible.  Love that my family has been open to everything that having faith offers.
12.  Not liking how messy my boys are. There is 'stuff' everywhere. Clothes, shoes, hats, homework papers, backpacks, toys, nerf darts, trains, cars, video game controllers, empty dvd cases, dirty dishes, pee on the toilet seat-floor-and adjacent walls, supper-heroes in my shower, athletic cups in the hallway....I could go on and on. ugh.  I can't keep up.  And yes, I do have them pick stuff up too. :)
13.  Not liking my fitness level AT ALL right now.  I am not moving enough.  I am at my heaviest right now, know I need to work at it, know that others know I need to work at it, but still for some reason....have not found the motivation.  I'm gonna cry.
14.  Missing my Mom.  Today she would have been 62.  It's been a loooooong nearly 8 years without her. Headed to the cemetary with my sister. -ok pretty much sobbing now.
15.  I need to learn to say 'NO' better.  I am all for helping out the less fortunate, and volunteering when I can.  However, being a wife, Mom, homemaker, daycare provider, scrapper, etsy shop owner, community garden member, football team assistant A.D., little league board member, hospitality ministry member at church, kindergarten classroom volunteer, carpooling person (just off the top of my head) is leaving little time for what is most important....me, my family, faith and friends.  Getting burnt out.
16.  Lastly, to leave you on a happy note.  I am LOVING all of the amazing fruit and veggies our garden has provided this season.  Corn, strawberries, cucumbers, zuchinni, yellow squash, tomatos, herbs, boysenberries, raspberries, onion, eggplant, peppers galore, and watermellon.  Yum.  In fact I have about 16 lbs of San Marzano tomatos on my kitchen shelf that will soon be the most amazing pasta sauce....I call it 'kitchen sink spaghetti sauce'  :)  ...simply because I put everything except for the kitchen sink in it! :) -lol!!

Wow, this challenge has really been therapeutic! -LOL!  I'm done crying now.  It's just been an emotional day...

I hope to see you soon! 

love, lisa
*image above via www.stephaniehowell.com