Father's Day

Father's Day is always a bittersweet holiday for me. Since my dad was killed when I was a child, I only remember celebrating Father's Day for my grandpa. Its a day when I am reminded that my dad is not here. It always makes me sad, but as I have gotten older, it has become more wistful than actually sad. However, now that I have kids, I am sad for them for what they are missing out on. I don't have alot of memories of my dad, but I know he would have been an incredible grandfather. Thankfully, my kids have a wonderful grandpa in my father in law. In fact, my brother in law's father died before he and my sister in law got married, so their kids and our kids only have one grandpa. We have told him that he has to be the best grandpa ever since he is all both sets of kids have! And he is! But, on days like this, I really miss my dad and really wish he was still here on earth. It makes me think about how different my life would have been if he would have been around. I know that was never God's plan for my life, but I still wonder about it sometimes. I know its not up to me to understand God's timing. Its just hard not to wish things had been different. I have always believed that one of the reasons that Ben was the right person for me was because he has such a great dad, and God knew that I needed a father figure in my life. I am so thankful for him. I am also very thankful for my uncle CurCur (Curry) who was my father figure growing up. On this day, I hope that all of the wonderful fathers and surrogate fathers know they are loved and appreciate. And daddy, I love you and look forward to the day when I can see you again!

Dear So and So

I saw this on a blog I read and thought it sounded like a fun way to vent your frustrations. Lets try it out and see how it goes.

Dear lady at the Cricket store,
It was very un-cool of you to run in the minutes they opened the doors and get the coveted first in line spot, even though myself and 5 other people had been there waiting for 15 minutes longer than you had. You should learn some etiquette.
Thanks, woman with the boy in the pink stroller

Dear Princess,
When mommy is trying to nap on the couch, please refrain from continually taking the pillow off of my head (yes, I sleep with a pillow over my head!), and asking me questions I have already answered. No spongebob, no friends' house, just let mommy sleep!
Love, Mommy

Dear Mr. Wright,
You need a new sense of time. Please stop telling me that a quick errand will take one hour and then be gone for 3 hours. It makes me want to strangle you.
Love, your incredibly patient wife

Dear mom and sister,
Please stop putting me in the middle of your fights. You both confide in me and its too hard for me. Leave me out of it!
Love, Amber

That felt good! I may do that one again!

Not Me! Monday

WARNING: THIS POST IS WRITTEN BY AN ESPECIALLY CRANKY MOMMY.

I did not waste 30 minutes of my day talking to a women who argued with me about what my organization does. Seriously lady? I think I know what our beliefs are a little bit better than you do.

I did not take 2 tylenol pm last night when I went to bed, even though I was totally exhausted, because I had a headache and I wanted to be able to sleep through the night. I did not have a tylenol pm hangover all day today.

My daughter did not back out of another VBS this morning with a friend, while the friend and her mom were waiting for KK in our driveway.

I do not feel as if my children are punishing me for being gone all weekend by being whiny and clingy. I also did not have one of the best weekends EVER!

I am not about to put my especially cranky son to bed an hour earlier than normal, to save my sanity and help him feel better.

I am not mad at my husband because he accidentally lost 6 years worth of files and half of my pictures when he was re-building our computer. I know it was an accident, but he didn't lose any of his stuff, did he?

That's all the bitching I am going to do for now. Hope your day was better than mine!

Also, on a horribly sad note, I ask that all of you pray for the family of Courtney, a friend of my little sister's, who was killed in a car accident. She was 15 and her 17 year old sister was driving. Claremore Daily Progress has the story on the accident. I hope that you will all also remember that cars are deadly weapons. Please remember that just one moment of texting, not paying attention, etc can cause you or someone else to lose their life. (I do not know the details of what caused the accident and am not implying that anyone was irresponsible. This is just a reminder.)

Frugal Friday

Okay, let's see all of the frugal things I did this week.

First, we made it until June 1st before we turned on the AC! Actually, I broke down on the evening of May 31, because it was super hot and Ben was gone for the night and I did not want to have the windows open at night while I was home alone. However, we actually ended up turning it off just two days later and have not turned it on since. I got my bill in the mail and it was not nearly as low as I would like, but I was forgetting that we are running the pool, hot tub, and aquarium along with everything else.

For the last three weeks, I have made all of our meals from the pantry and freezer. Usually when I do my menu plans, I find recipes that I have 3/4 of the ingredients and shop for the rest. These last 3 weeks, I did not shop at all; I just made the recipes work with what I had on hand. Sometimes simply staying out of the store saves money. And to be honest, I have a tiny kitchen that was bursting at the seams with my stockpile and we really need to get some of the stuff used up.

Tomorrow, I am having a last minute garage sale in an attempt to raise some more money to help with our bills. I have had boxes of stuff to take to Goodwill and the pregnancy centers, but my plans kept falling through and I did not want to hold on to it all for my mom's garage sale in July. I have never had a garage sale by myself (without my mom) and I will also have both kids by myself for the last half of the afternoon, so wish me luck! I actually got Ben to get rid of some of his junk, so that's a huge plus!!

Well, I am off to get some sleep before the big garage sale! If you are in Tulsa and want to come by, email me for my address!