The big question of the day seems to be, "What would you do if you won the mega millions lottery?"
Well, a lot.
First, I would try not to pass out. Or stroke out. Especially since dead people can't claim lottery tickets. I mean goodness gracious--$640 million dollars. Minus tax, you'd still be richer than Lady Gaga. Instantaneously.
Second, I would hire a lawyer/financial advisor.
Third, I would lay low...for a reeeeeeeeeally long time. Like, until it wasn't in the news anymore. And then add 6 months. Or more.
Fourth, I would buy the best security system on the planet. My biggest fear is someone kidnapping my child, or loved one for ransom. (Just thinking about it makes my heart race, and I would give up all my money in a heartbeat).
And then some fun stuff.
We would love to make a HUGE donation to the Barnard Trust Fund at Siteman Cancer Center. They paid for ALL of Robbie's cancer treatment because he had no health insurance at the time. All surgeries, all chemotherapy sessions, all prescriptions, all doctor's visits, all CT scans, everything. It would be such a blessing to pay that forward for many, many, people. I cannot even begin to express the amount of stress that was taken off our shoulders. The enormous stress of having & treating cancer is more than anyone should have to deal with, let alone the cost of it.
We also decided that we would stay in the same house. Mostly for our son and dog, since that's the only place they've ever known. And we really like our house. But we would finally be able to take the carpet and wallpaper from the 1980s out and redecorate. :)
We would pay off all our debt, and all our family's debt. Set our parents up for a great retirement they could enjoy instantly.
Invest for future generations.
That's pretty much about it.
It's so crazy to even fathom coming into that much money, overnight. It's scary, actually. It seems like more of a burden than anything. So I kinda hope we don't win!
Friday, March 30, 2012
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Still here, I promise!
We've been so busy around here! I've had a different work schedule the past couple weeks, but now we're finally back to normal. I've taken a gazillion pictures of things to blog about it, but haven't found time. Or if I have time, I'm too exhausted, haha!
We've been using our "free" time working in the yard. Our poor yard. It's an epic battle. Especially this giant crop of poison ivy growing in the backyard. I've sprayed it a few times with some heavy duty stuff, but the little bright green buds on the vine are mocking me. I'm sooooo allergic, so I'm thinking I either need a hazmat suit to pull it out or get someone else to do it. It is growing up behind the siding too, so goodness knows what kind of damage it may have done. Stupid poison ivy! (calling it names makes me feel better)
Mav really loves to "help" us with yardwork. He uses a small shovel and helps dig out weeds (well, moves some dirt around, ha!). Our house is a corner lot, so it's a lot to keep up with. We have 7 trees, 2 full sides of bushes, 3 lawns to mow, and a backyard with lots of love needed. It doesn't help that we are completely surrounded by retired people who spend ALL day working on their houses. Although they are all sweet people and say they remember "those days" of trying to upkeep a house with a little one around.
The other day Mav and I took a trip to our newly remodeled library! We haven't been to the library since the old one was torn down, so it's been a long time. Last time we went was in June of last year:
This was in December, so they worked pretty fast! I guess having a really mild winter helped.
All finished! It's twice as big!
The new library is beautiful!! Mav spent almost all his time in the foyer looking at this water sculpture and up at the giant skylight. :)
He wasn't too interested in sitting down with a book. He wanted to explore every nook and cranny. I guess my only "complaint" is that the children's area in the old building had comfy pillows for kids to lay and read on. Now it's just tables & chairs. I guess it was too hard to keep the pillows clean. :)
We ventured upstairs where its mostly meeting rooms and computers. Mav's favorite part was the stairs, of course.
Of course I've been keeping my weather eye to the sky. This particular day there was a lot of circulation in the upper atmosphere, and I got some cool shots of rotating clouds. Thankfully nothing dangerous, just pretty fun to watch!
We've been using our "free" time working in the yard. Our poor yard. It's an epic battle. Especially this giant crop of poison ivy growing in the backyard. I've sprayed it a few times with some heavy duty stuff, but the little bright green buds on the vine are mocking me. I'm sooooo allergic, so I'm thinking I either need a hazmat suit to pull it out or get someone else to do it. It is growing up behind the siding too, so goodness knows what kind of damage it may have done. Stupid poison ivy! (calling it names makes me feel better)
Mav really loves to "help" us with yardwork. He uses a small shovel and helps dig out weeds (well, moves some dirt around, ha!). Our house is a corner lot, so it's a lot to keep up with. We have 7 trees, 2 full sides of bushes, 3 lawns to mow, and a backyard with lots of love needed. It doesn't help that we are completely surrounded by retired people who spend ALL day working on their houses. Although they are all sweet people and say they remember "those days" of trying to upkeep a house with a little one around.
The other day Mav and I took a trip to our newly remodeled library! We haven't been to the library since the old one was torn down, so it's been a long time. Last time we went was in June of last year:
Yes, I was dork enough to take some pictures of tearing down the old one, and building the new one. :)
This was in December, so they worked pretty fast! I guess having a really mild winter helped.
The new library is beautiful!! Mav spent almost all his time in the foyer looking at this water sculpture and up at the giant skylight. :)
He wasn't too interested in sitting down with a book. He wanted to explore every nook and cranny. I guess my only "complaint" is that the children's area in the old building had comfy pillows for kids to lay and read on. Now it's just tables & chairs. I guess it was too hard to keep the pillows clean. :)
We ventured upstairs where its mostly meeting rooms and computers. Mav's favorite part was the stairs, of course.
Of course I've been keeping my weather eye to the sky. This particular day there was a lot of circulation in the upper atmosphere, and I got some cool shots of rotating clouds. Thankfully nothing dangerous, just pretty fun to watch!
Friday, March 16, 2012
Melt My Heart
Okay, so this is a record--TWO posts in one day! Well, technically by the time I'm done typing this it will probably be past midnight. But I just wanted to record for myself something special that happened twice today.
Mav's Nana and Papa went on a cruise to Alaska when he was an itty bitty baby, and bought this book while they were there. It is called "Kiska and Kobuk: Ready to Run". They bought it because one of the dogs looks exactly like our dog Belle, plus as a souvenir from the trip.
Mav has always been enamored by this book and it's fun to think back to how his literacy skills have grown with him. At first he just enjoyed being read to. Then he was able to point things out after being asked. Then it was him pointing and describing the pictures. Lastly, he would run his fingers along the words while I read.
Today he did the cutest thing! I know he can't actually read, ha ha! But he sat there and "read" it to me by reciting the story from memory. Amazingly, he would recite almost word for word with the corresponding page, and even point to the script as he was reciting from memory. It just melted my heart. :)
Tonight before bath time, he did the same with his potty book. Our poor copy has been dropped in the bathtub, so it is all water warped and taped together, ha! I've been meaning to find a new copy.
He was sat there on the potty for 20 minutes doing the same thing--reciting the story almost word for word on the correct page, over and over again. Mostly it was a stall tactic to avoid the bath, ha! But precious nonetheless. It is truly amazing to watch your child develop before your eyes!
Okay--just remembered a third awesome thing about today! This is the second night in a row that Mav has walked himself straight into his room, and got into bed all on his own with no fussing!!! I can hardly believe it's the same child. It must be the hymns we sing before bed. ;)
Mav's Nana and Papa went on a cruise to Alaska when he was an itty bitty baby, and bought this book while they were there. It is called "Kiska and Kobuk: Ready to Run". They bought it because one of the dogs looks exactly like our dog Belle, plus as a souvenir from the trip.
Mav has always been enamored by this book and it's fun to think back to how his literacy skills have grown with him. At first he just enjoyed being read to. Then he was able to point things out after being asked. Then it was him pointing and describing the pictures. Lastly, he would run his fingers along the words while I read.
Today he did the cutest thing! I know he can't actually read, ha ha! But he sat there and "read" it to me by reciting the story from memory. Amazingly, he would recite almost word for word with the corresponding page, and even point to the script as he was reciting from memory. It just melted my heart. :)
Tonight before bath time, he did the same with his potty book. Our poor copy has been dropped in the bathtub, so it is all water warped and taped together, ha! I've been meaning to find a new copy.
He was sat there on the potty for 20 minutes doing the same thing--reciting the story almost word for word on the correct page, over and over again. Mostly it was a stall tactic to avoid the bath, ha! But precious nonetheless. It is truly amazing to watch your child develop before your eyes!
Okay--just remembered a third awesome thing about today! This is the second night in a row that Mav has walked himself straight into his room, and got into bed all on his own with no fussing!!! I can hardly believe it's the same child. It must be the hymns we sing before bed. ;)
Life Lately
We've been pretty busy around here! Mostly enjoying the ah-mazing weather. I love that Mav has been able to be barefoot and in shorts already! Shoes and socks are a pain, ha! I just uploaded a ton of pics sitting in my camera, so I guess I'll just thumb through them chronologically as a catch up.
I love having a fenced in backyard. Mav loves to play fetch with Belle and I just lay in the warm sunshine. After a while, Mav even came and laid next to me and we just stared at the puffy cumulus clouds in the sky...pure bliss!
He is growing into such a little man! I was hoping his 2T clothes I bought at the end of last summer would make it through this summer...but they are all pretty tight. Except the ones in this picture, ha!
This is my most favorite time of year! I've been such a weather geek since high school and it's just one of those things that truly fascinates me and always will. Even though I've seen a gazillion cumulonimbus clouds like these, I get so jittery every time! I wish something I loved so much wasn't so destructive. That's the awful thing.
I check the Storm Prediction Center website at least once a day and love to track storms online. When storms are forecasted for our area I get really excited, it's almost embarrassing, ha! I'm going back and forth between the radar and window to see what's going on. To say I'm disappointed when storms go a little north or south of us is pretty accurate...and probably really weird to most people, lol. Oh well, it's what I love.
Mav's life goal at the moment is to drive. He l-o-v-e-s cars (hotwheel size and bigger). Now that he refuses to be put in, or taken out of his carseat, he tries sneaking into the driver seat. He says, "Mamick drive!" to which I reply, "No, Maverick rides in the back seat and mommy drives!". Occasionally I let his dreams come true and let him sit there. It is freakish how well he knows to do everything.
He knows that his feet push the pedals to go & stop, how to put it in gear (terrifying!), and much easier things like turning on lights, wipers, etc. I kid you not---while we are traveling he tells me how to turn the wheel, shouts "Green, go!" and "Red, stop!", and if I've been sitting too long at a stop sign he shouts, "Go jeep, go!"
Scary.
This picture was taken yesterday, when we had some pretty convective storms move through. These are mammatas clouds (the circular clouds, bottom right), and they show the cold air trying to sink through the warm moist air. We only got pea sized hail at our house (I say "only" but really it's nice not to have damage!). About 10 miles from us had baseball size! Robbie called me during the storm and I thought he was driving in it, but it was noise from hail hitting his work building roof (golf ball size).
Half of our porch is covered, which is great for storm watching. Mav was getting really excited about the storm, too. He was running around saying, "Bunder (thunder)! White-ning (lightning)!" I think my weather nerd gene may have been passed on, ha! But we went inside when the lightning intensified. Technically--you can be struck no matter how far way the lightning is (or even if its just distant thunder). Did you know that lightning is hotter than the surface of the sun?
Let's see, I guess we're up to today now! Today my sister cashed in part of her birthday gift--a date with us to Chick-fil-A. Until today, she has never tried it. My sister had never eaten the Lord's chicken!!!!! We brought my mom too, because my parents haven't either! Honestly, I knew I was adopted from the beginning and this just confirms it. :)
Mav loves the "chicka-bil-a pay-gound" as he calls it. I love it too, because I get a seat next to it and watch him play from my seat...while enjoying some me time. He plays in there forever, and does a great job climbing around in there.
Monkey Mavs.
Showing off his jumping skills.
Annnnnnnnnnd the ride home makes for an easy nap. He must have been really tired because he never falls asleep with my sister and mom in the car because they are so exciting. And yes, Mav loves to use the Boppy as a regular pillow, ha! I kept putting a regular toddler size pillow in his bed, and he'd switch it. At least it's getting some use!
No matter how old he gets, I love just staring at him while he sleeps. Maybe I'll stop by the time he's 17. :)
I love having a fenced in backyard. Mav loves to play fetch with Belle and I just lay in the warm sunshine. After a while, Mav even came and laid next to me and we just stared at the puffy cumulus clouds in the sky...pure bliss!
He is growing into such a little man! I was hoping his 2T clothes I bought at the end of last summer would make it through this summer...but they are all pretty tight. Except the ones in this picture, ha!
This is my most favorite time of year! I've been such a weather geek since high school and it's just one of those things that truly fascinates me and always will. Even though I've seen a gazillion cumulonimbus clouds like these, I get so jittery every time! I wish something I loved so much wasn't so destructive. That's the awful thing.
I check the Storm Prediction Center website at least once a day and love to track storms online. When storms are forecasted for our area I get really excited, it's almost embarrassing, ha! I'm going back and forth between the radar and window to see what's going on. To say I'm disappointed when storms go a little north or south of us is pretty accurate...and probably really weird to most people, lol. Oh well, it's what I love.
Mav's life goal at the moment is to drive. He l-o-v-e-s cars (hotwheel size and bigger). Now that he refuses to be put in, or taken out of his carseat, he tries sneaking into the driver seat. He says, "Mamick drive!" to which I reply, "No, Maverick rides in the back seat and mommy drives!". Occasionally I let his dreams come true and let him sit there. It is freakish how well he knows to do everything.
He knows that his feet push the pedals to go & stop, how to put it in gear (terrifying!), and much easier things like turning on lights, wipers, etc. I kid you not---while we are traveling he tells me how to turn the wheel, shouts "Green, go!" and "Red, stop!", and if I've been sitting too long at a stop sign he shouts, "Go jeep, go!"
Scary.
This picture was taken yesterday, when we had some pretty convective storms move through. These are mammatas clouds (the circular clouds, bottom right), and they show the cold air trying to sink through the warm moist air. We only got pea sized hail at our house (I say "only" but really it's nice not to have damage!). About 10 miles from us had baseball size! Robbie called me during the storm and I thought he was driving in it, but it was noise from hail hitting his work building roof (golf ball size).
Half of our porch is covered, which is great for storm watching. Mav was getting really excited about the storm, too. He was running around saying, "Bunder (thunder)! White-ning (lightning)!" I think my weather nerd gene may have been passed on, ha! But we went inside when the lightning intensified. Technically--you can be struck no matter how far way the lightning is (or even if its just distant thunder). Did you know that lightning is hotter than the surface of the sun?
Let's see, I guess we're up to today now! Today my sister cashed in part of her birthday gift--a date with us to Chick-fil-A. Until today, she has never tried it. My sister had never eaten the Lord's chicken!!!!! We brought my mom too, because my parents haven't either! Honestly, I knew I was adopted from the beginning and this just confirms it. :)
Mav loves the "chicka-bil-a pay-gound" as he calls it. I love it too, because I get a seat next to it and watch him play from my seat...while enjoying some me time. He plays in there forever, and does a great job climbing around in there.
Monkey Mavs.
Showing off his jumping skills.
Annnnnnnnnnd the ride home makes for an easy nap. He must have been really tired because he never falls asleep with my sister and mom in the car because they are so exciting. And yes, Mav loves to use the Boppy as a regular pillow, ha! I kept putting a regular toddler size pillow in his bed, and he'd switch it. At least it's getting some use!
No matter how old he gets, I love just staring at him while he sleeps. Maybe I'll stop by the time he's 17. :)
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Big Boy Undies! (sort of)
For a couple weeks now Mav has thrown tantrums about wearing a diaper. Every mom's dream, right?! It is exciting, yet so frustrating. First--I think it's more of a power struggle at the moment, than actually wanting to potty train. Oh well, I'll use it!!! Second--he still doesn't tell us when he needs to go potty. He'll tell us as he is doing it, or afterwards. I am hoping one day (preferably before he's 20) he'll be able to let us know.
So yesterday we hit a crazy milestone, very unexpectedly. We were getting the house ready for some friends to come over for some barbecue, and Mav was being SOOOOO adamant about not wearing a diaper. I was at a loss for what to do, so I just sort of freestyled it. I let him run around half naked and asked him every few minutes if he needed to go potty. At this point I think he knows what that means--but doesn't recognize the feeling of needing to go, in time to reach the potty.
Of course, the minute I have my back turned--I hear, "Poo poo uh-oh." I quickly turn around and see Mav standing over a little ball of poo poo on the carpet. I said, "Oh no!! Mav you need to go poo poo in the potty! Going on the floor is bad!! Mommy is sad!"
I don't even know if that was the right thing to say, but Mav had a remorseful look on his face. We went to the potty just in case he had anything left. He was rewarded for sitting on the potty. (I guess that's okay? We reward him for sitting on the potty, and give him an extra reward when he actually goes potty. I figure we can wean it down to only getting a reward for going potty on the pot?!)
By now he's been sans clothes on his bottom half for almost 2 hours. His poor little hiney was getting red from sitting on the floor. Thanks to some advice from my FB friends, we decided big boy undies were worth a shot. We haven't even dreamt about big boy undies, so we didn't have any in the house. Mav was really excited about the idea of big boy undies. Every time someone walked in the room he asked them for big boy undies.
At this point, it was T-minus 25 minutes until our friends came over. Agh! Robbie was at the grocery store getting charcoal, and Mav was not excited about putting clothes on unless he had big boy undies. Soooooo Grandma to the rescue!! I called my mom who lives just a couple streets over, and she came over to sit with Mav so I could run to the store for big boy undies.
I ran into the store, frantically looking for big boy undies. I must've looked ridiculous since I had no clue where they were, ha! I finally found them and decided to pick up a thing of pull-ups too. I don't know why. I guess I just figure if you're potty training then you need pull ups right?!
At home Mav is chuckling in laughter at the sight of his big boy undies. He picks out the pair he likes the best....puts both feet through...and that's all! He doesn't want to pull them up. Sigh. So I just let him play with them to get more comfortable. He wears them on his head. He bites them while shaking his head like a dog. I got some pretty hilarious pictures of all this. But they are inappropriate to post since he's still half naked, ha!
Finally, he puts them on all the way. Robbie and I cheered and said he was SUCH a big boy and we were SO proud of him. Then we reminded him 12, 367 times that if he needs to go pee or poo, to tell one of us. Right about then our friends came over.....so I was a little afraid how crazy the evening would be. Our friends have a son 7 months older than Mav, plus they are like our really great friends we've known forever--so I wasn't afraid of embarrassment, just afraid of the unknown. Our first time ever in big boy undies!!!
My expectations weren't high. Mav was waaaaaaaay too excited and distracted about playing with his best friend (as he should be) than to be thinking about telling one of us to go potty. So I just waited for the time bomb to go off. He actually stayed dry for almost 2 hours!!! And luckily, he was out on the porch when he did wet himself. Kinda funny how the pee pee wet all his clothes AND sprayed a foot in front of him, ha ha!
He didn't seem to notice or care that he was all wet. I'm thinking because he was busy playing with his buddy, but also probably because he might not be ready yet. Who knows?! Just when you think you have this whole "parenting" thing down...there's always a new turn in the road. Such is life I guess. :)
I changed him into new clothes and a diaper. Mostly because he didn't care that I was putting a diaper on him at the time, and I wanted to enjoy our evening. Is that selfish?
And of course he wore an overnight diaper, and has been wearing a diaper all day today. Epic parenting fail? I'm not sure, but he isn't asking for big boy undies today. Maybe we'll try harder tomorrow. We're all kinda in a funk with staying up really late with friends, plus losing an hour of sleep.
To make up for the lack of pictures, here are some pictures of what Mav likes to do 20 hours a day:
Mav LOVES his Hotwheels. Like, we really don't need any other toy in the house. First thing in the morning to last thing before bed. He always asks, "Mommy pay (play) cars? Daddy pay cars? Belle pay cars?" I love playing cars with him, but sometimes mommy needs to get housework done, haha!
One of the coolest things is that most of these are mine or Robbie's from our childhood. Yes, I had lots of Hotwheels! Except mine are pretty banged up because I'd always play with mine outside in the dirt. Robbie's are in great condition because he took good care of them. Robbie has also taught Mav all the types of cars. We can ask, "Go get the Ferrari, or Bugatti, or Lamborghini, etc" and he knows which is which. Plus, he knows which ones are Formula One, Rally racecars, and BMW circuit racers. (We watch a lot of Top Gear U.K. in our house)
This little car wash was mine when I was 9 or 10. Again, I love that my parents kept most of my toys because it's so awesome to watch Mav play with them. You turn that little knob and the car is pulled along by a conveyor belt (Mav calls it the "car eskadator (escalator)") through the wash.
Mav loves his Hotwheels! :)
So yesterday we hit a crazy milestone, very unexpectedly. We were getting the house ready for some friends to come over for some barbecue, and Mav was being SOOOOO adamant about not wearing a diaper. I was at a loss for what to do, so I just sort of freestyled it. I let him run around half naked and asked him every few minutes if he needed to go potty. At this point I think he knows what that means--but doesn't recognize the feeling of needing to go, in time to reach the potty.
Of course, the minute I have my back turned--I hear, "Poo poo uh-oh." I quickly turn around and see Mav standing over a little ball of poo poo on the carpet. I said, "Oh no!! Mav you need to go poo poo in the potty! Going on the floor is bad!! Mommy is sad!"
I don't even know if that was the right thing to say, but Mav had a remorseful look on his face. We went to the potty just in case he had anything left. He was rewarded for sitting on the potty. (I guess that's okay? We reward him for sitting on the potty, and give him an extra reward when he actually goes potty. I figure we can wean it down to only getting a reward for going potty on the pot?!)
By now he's been sans clothes on his bottom half for almost 2 hours. His poor little hiney was getting red from sitting on the floor. Thanks to some advice from my FB friends, we decided big boy undies were worth a shot. We haven't even dreamt about big boy undies, so we didn't have any in the house. Mav was really excited about the idea of big boy undies. Every time someone walked in the room he asked them for big boy undies.
At this point, it was T-minus 25 minutes until our friends came over. Agh! Robbie was at the grocery store getting charcoal, and Mav was not excited about putting clothes on unless he had big boy undies. Soooooo Grandma to the rescue!! I called my mom who lives just a couple streets over, and she came over to sit with Mav so I could run to the store for big boy undies.
I ran into the store, frantically looking for big boy undies. I must've looked ridiculous since I had no clue where they were, ha! I finally found them and decided to pick up a thing of pull-ups too. I don't know why. I guess I just figure if you're potty training then you need pull ups right?!
At home Mav is chuckling in laughter at the sight of his big boy undies. He picks out the pair he likes the best....puts both feet through...and that's all! He doesn't want to pull them up. Sigh. So I just let him play with them to get more comfortable. He wears them on his head. He bites them while shaking his head like a dog. I got some pretty hilarious pictures of all this. But they are inappropriate to post since he's still half naked, ha!
Finally, he puts them on all the way. Robbie and I cheered and said he was SUCH a big boy and we were SO proud of him. Then we reminded him 12, 367 times that if he needs to go pee or poo, to tell one of us. Right about then our friends came over.....so I was a little afraid how crazy the evening would be. Our friends have a son 7 months older than Mav, plus they are like our really great friends we've known forever--so I wasn't afraid of embarrassment, just afraid of the unknown. Our first time ever in big boy undies!!!
My expectations weren't high. Mav was waaaaaaaay too excited and distracted about playing with his best friend (as he should be) than to be thinking about telling one of us to go potty. So I just waited for the time bomb to go off. He actually stayed dry for almost 2 hours!!! And luckily, he was out on the porch when he did wet himself. Kinda funny how the pee pee wet all his clothes AND sprayed a foot in front of him, ha ha!
He didn't seem to notice or care that he was all wet. I'm thinking because he was busy playing with his buddy, but also probably because he might not be ready yet. Who knows?! Just when you think you have this whole "parenting" thing down...there's always a new turn in the road. Such is life I guess. :)
I changed him into new clothes and a diaper. Mostly because he didn't care that I was putting a diaper on him at the time, and I wanted to enjoy our evening. Is that selfish?
And of course he wore an overnight diaper, and has been wearing a diaper all day today. Epic parenting fail? I'm not sure, but he isn't asking for big boy undies today. Maybe we'll try harder tomorrow. We're all kinda in a funk with staying up really late with friends, plus losing an hour of sleep.
To make up for the lack of pictures, here are some pictures of what Mav likes to do 20 hours a day:
Mav LOVES his Hotwheels. Like, we really don't need any other toy in the house. First thing in the morning to last thing before bed. He always asks, "Mommy pay (play) cars? Daddy pay cars? Belle pay cars?" I love playing cars with him, but sometimes mommy needs to get housework done, haha!
One of the coolest things is that most of these are mine or Robbie's from our childhood. Yes, I had lots of Hotwheels! Except mine are pretty banged up because I'd always play with mine outside in the dirt. Robbie's are in great condition because he took good care of them. Robbie has also taught Mav all the types of cars. We can ask, "Go get the Ferrari, or Bugatti, or Lamborghini, etc" and he knows which is which. Plus, he knows which ones are Formula One, Rally racecars, and BMW circuit racers. (We watch a lot of Top Gear U.K. in our house)
This little car wash was mine when I was 9 or 10. Again, I love that my parents kept most of my toys because it's so awesome to watch Mav play with them. You turn that little knob and the car is pulled along by a conveyor belt (Mav calls it the "car eskadator (escalator)") through the wash.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Couch!
I keep piling up the things to blog about, but never get around to it! Stuff like how funny Mav counts to 20, or how he loves his hotwheels. Oh well. I've been working on a list of things Mav is up to lately, just for my own record, since he is doing lots of fun and cute things. If it never gets posted, at least it will be sitting in my 'unposted' folder, ha!
One kinda cool thing is our new-to-us couch. And really, an answer to prayer! It made me think of something my World Religion professor said a long time ago that has stuck with me. He once said, "God doesn't care about all the small, insignificant things. People are foolish to think He cares about all that crap. Like a parking spot. God doesn't give a crap where you park."
I think the biggest reason why I remember it all these years later was that on that particular day I was running super late to class. On the way there I prayed for a good parking spot...and got a front row, closest to the door spot! It just made me chuckle in my seat. Now, it wouldn't have shaken my faith if I ended up in the last spot, in the last lot. After all, I was the silly one running late. But I really do think that God cares about each little detail in our lives.
A small-ish need we've had for a while now, was buying a new (or gently used) couch. Besides our tv and refrigerator, every single piece of furniture we own has either been given to us new as a gift, or used. Which is cool with us, no biggie. We do have aspirations for decorating, so eventually it would be nice to buy some cool stuff.
My in-law's, in-law's (Johanna's in-laws, ha!) gave us a really cool leather couch they were wanting to get rid of about 5 years ago when we first bought our home. It was pretty "loved" when we got it, so add the stress of a dog, toddler...and well, life...it was getting pretty ragged.
We kept blankets on it to keep the stuffing from leaking too badly, especially when company was over, ha ha! Aside from that, it is super comfy and was lasting us until we could find a new one.
The biggest concern was the cushions and arm rests tearing apart. As you can see, the staples and nails were poking out...yikes!!!!!
We started setting aside money for a new couch. But you know how that goes--there's always something that needs to be fixed, etc. Our other Jeep is finally (legally) back on the road again! $1200 and a new catalytic converter later, of course. I can think of better ways to spend that much money other than a 1 inch sticker on our license plate. (shaking fist at government)
The other night Robbie was browsing Craigslist and stumbled upon some really cool couches we liked. We were really wanting another leather couch, but didn't have our hopes up since they are pretty expensive. There were 4 couches that caught our fancy, and all of them were just over our budget. Robbie decided it wouldn't hurt to contact them with a smaller offer, just in case of a miracle. Everyone turned us down, except one couple. They didn't turn us away--but said they might contact us later if they had a hard time selling it. With that, Robbie told them he hoped they got what they were asking and thanked them for considering.
The very next day we got a very unexpected phone call. I was thinking weeks, or even months down the line (if at all) to hear from them. The lady and her husband said they talked it over, and decided that they really wanted to help our little family out. So they sold us this beautiful, almost brand new leather couch and ottomans for only $200(!!!). I was completely flabbergasted. Brand new, this set retails for $2700. I just about had a heart attack and prayed all evening for that sweet couple. I kept praying for God to bless them SO much for their generosity.
A sort of blurry picture of Mav still waking up to the new couch. He was asleep when the old one went out, and the new one came in. He didn't react much, ha!
He does love playing on the ottomans though. Especially since they open and close. I hate to even type it, but if there was one TINY, tiny complaint it would be that they are a little heavy to move on carpet. They have felt feet for hardwood floors. Someday we hope to have hardwood floors, ha!
Thank you Lord for answering our small prayer. I know there is so much more in this world that needs his attention, but He is faithful to supply our needs. In this case--way more than our need!
One kinda cool thing is our new-to-us couch. And really, an answer to prayer! It made me think of something my World Religion professor said a long time ago that has stuck with me. He once said, "God doesn't care about all the small, insignificant things. People are foolish to think He cares about all that crap. Like a parking spot. God doesn't give a crap where you park."
I think the biggest reason why I remember it all these years later was that on that particular day I was running super late to class. On the way there I prayed for a good parking spot...and got a front row, closest to the door spot! It just made me chuckle in my seat. Now, it wouldn't have shaken my faith if I ended up in the last spot, in the last lot. After all, I was the silly one running late. But I really do think that God cares about each little detail in our lives.
A small-ish need we've had for a while now, was buying a new (or gently used) couch. Besides our tv and refrigerator, every single piece of furniture we own has either been given to us new as a gift, or used. Which is cool with us, no biggie. We do have aspirations for decorating, so eventually it would be nice to buy some cool stuff.
My in-law's, in-law's (Johanna's in-laws, ha!) gave us a really cool leather couch they were wanting to get rid of about 5 years ago when we first bought our home. It was pretty "loved" when we got it, so add the stress of a dog, toddler...and well, life...it was getting pretty ragged.
We kept blankets on it to keep the stuffing from leaking too badly, especially when company was over, ha ha! Aside from that, it is super comfy and was lasting us until we could find a new one.
The biggest concern was the cushions and arm rests tearing apart. As you can see, the staples and nails were poking out...yikes!!!!!
We started setting aside money for a new couch. But you know how that goes--there's always something that needs to be fixed, etc. Our other Jeep is finally (legally) back on the road again! $1200 and a new catalytic converter later, of course. I can think of better ways to spend that much money other than a 1 inch sticker on our license plate. (shaking fist at government)
The other night Robbie was browsing Craigslist and stumbled upon some really cool couches we liked. We were really wanting another leather couch, but didn't have our hopes up since they are pretty expensive. There were 4 couches that caught our fancy, and all of them were just over our budget. Robbie decided it wouldn't hurt to contact them with a smaller offer, just in case of a miracle. Everyone turned us down, except one couple. They didn't turn us away--but said they might contact us later if they had a hard time selling it. With that, Robbie told them he hoped they got what they were asking and thanked them for considering.
The very next day we got a very unexpected phone call. I was thinking weeks, or even months down the line (if at all) to hear from them. The lady and her husband said they talked it over, and decided that they really wanted to help our little family out. So they sold us this beautiful, almost brand new leather couch and ottomans for only $200(!!!). I was completely flabbergasted. Brand new, this set retails for $2700. I just about had a heart attack and prayed all evening for that sweet couple. I kept praying for God to bless them SO much for their generosity.
A sort of blurry picture of Mav still waking up to the new couch. He was asleep when the old one went out, and the new one came in. He didn't react much, ha!
He does love playing on the ottomans though. Especially since they open and close. I hate to even type it, but if there was one TINY, tiny complaint it would be that they are a little heavy to move on carpet. They have felt feet for hardwood floors. Someday we hope to have hardwood floors, ha!
Thank you Lord for answering our small prayer. I know there is so much more in this world that needs his attention, but He is faithful to supply our needs. In this case--way more than our need!
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