Jlogged

Two days ago Aaron quit his job.  Now we are in the biz full-time for OURSELVES.   Four days ago I had a life changing experience. One day ago our downstairs bathroom flooded a third of the lower level of our house.  In two days home owner’s insurance is paying for my dream flooring.

I want to cartwheel, cry, scream, hug someone, and eat cheese all at the same time.

School’s out.  No, wait….lem’me rephrase.  *Ah hem*  SCHOOOL IS OUUUUUUUUUUTTTTT!!! Yes, that’s better. I’m finished until fall.  Taking the summer off (oh yes, oh yes I am.)  I made straight A’s in all my classes.  *insert cartwheel*

So here’s an update:

~My kids have longer hair than I do right now….this distresses my father-in-law greatly.  I can’t wait to see his reaction to the green mohawk I promised Jo on the last day of school : )

~I want to buy your Toyota Sienna or Mazda MPV (I’m dead serious…spread the word)

~Aaron and I started VOW, and it rocks…this is good pork people.

~I still don’t have cabinet doors

~At the end of this month we will be hosting a fundraiser garage sale, so the school can buy another special needs swing for the playground.

~My house is so messy that I am considering moving out and starting over

~Today is the last day of teacher appreciation week…so, go hug a teacher

~This weekend involves backyard movies, a tent, and s’mores…it’s a beautiful thing

We are going to my Grany’s tiny Southern Baptist church in the country.  I love that little church (attendance never over 30 on any given Sunday.)  Nothing changes there.  It looks exactly like it did when I was a child…same smells, same faces, same hymn books, same 1960’s fisher price toys.   There will be homemade fried chicken, gravy, and pecan pie to be sure.  I love country food.  Love it.

Happy Easter!

My favorite Sedaris story, in which multinational students who barely speak French try to explain Easter in French.

Remember me?

I have been busy digging holes in the earth, and planting things in them.  Exciting times.  I have an herb garden, a veggie garden, and several flower beds in the works.  I loooooove this time of year in Texas.  Last night I grilled Salmon and mozarella chicken sausage.  Tonight, I threw beef fajittas on the grill from the Mexican meat market, and watched the littlest Lea sleep in his hammock swing I bought him in Mexico last summer.  I CAN NOT BELIEVE it’s almost summer again.

The past year I  made a conscience decision to live my life every day….really live it.  We have made priority shifts so we can marinate ourselves in life’s sweet abundance.  Like I said in my last post, I’m guarding my mouth from negative words.  Taking the time to think before I speak, and focusing on the plethora of good (instead of the minuscule amounts of the unpleasant)  made a HUGE difference in my (and my family’s) quality of life.

This semester of school is wonderful.  I love every class.  When I was younger, school was more of a chore, but now I am enjoying the privillage of having knowledge poured into me like I never have before.  How cool is it that I get a grade for going to see a play?

Every day is a compromise.  Just ask the nine loads of clean laundry waiting to be put away.  *confession:  I ran out of baskets to put the mounting clean clothes in, and started using a cardboard moving box.  I did get my carpets steam cleaned and potty’s scrubbed though.  Hurah for small victories!

Now, all you super people go buy yourself something nice.

Governor’s Island

Maria Von Trapp’s paper work @ Ellis Island

Alexander Hamilton is burried here.  First treasurer of the U.S. of A.

Times square, in which I surpressed a medium sized panic attack

…aaaaand the craptop is d-o-n-e.  I’ll try again later folks.  My husband bogarts our TWO macs, (I’m kidding honey) and I am left with the archaic, crusty, slow, computer.  

It’s all good.  There are rumors of a mac book for mama floating around casa de Lea.  We’ll see.  

Until then, life calls.  I have so many obligations that trump blogging.  Life is good.  All is well.  I am happy, happy, happy these days.   Just busy, with a capitol B.  There are garden plans in the works, and we are in the process of selling off some vehicles, I’m towing solid A’s in school, and on top of all that we are planning a trip to Californ-I-A this summer to visit Aunt Wendy (and legoland.)  I’m also still on a media fast. Saying “no thank you very much” to all the negative doom and gloom, and spreading as much looooooove as I can to those around me because sitting in front of the boob tube spewing hate never got anyone anywhere.  Love is bi-partisan don’cha’ know?  Choose optimism over cynicism.  When the right and wrong things seem murky, just love your neighbor (and attend the tax payers tea party.) 

Love, light, peace…

Jen 

PS:  If you have constructed a koi pond on the cheap, I want to know alllll about it.  I’m sick of my baren back yard

PPS:  Holy netflix batman!! We’ve had the SAME movie for TWO months!  Yeah, like I said busy.

NYC was a dream.  Everything lined up.  No kinks.  Only fun-ness (even when we got lost and ended up at battery park.)  It was good to go, and good to come back.  Heaven.

Pics to come.

We were the victims of a T.P.’ing last night.

Gosh knows I had this one coming.

I was a straight hood in the 7th grade.

That bologna frozen to your window?

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Me.

Shaving cream on your sidewalk?

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Me.

Your garden gnome dressed like a drag queen?

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Me.

I better go check my mail box now.  The in box flag is up, and it’s Sunday morning.  Pleasedon’tbeabagofpoopleasedon’tbeabagofpoo.

My oldest has an affinity for cavities.  I have spent the equivillent of the cost of a nice vacation, a mini van, or new grass for our baren yard on his little filling pit we like to sometimes call his mouth- or reverse ATM.  And people we are not even talking about braces yet.  So, we save 60.00 by foregoing the “happy juice.”  Happy juice=serious knockout drugs plus+juice.  Only, I think it should be called watch Jack try to explain the entire history of poke’mon with a pair of hands and a moving drill in his mouth juice. He does waaaaaaay better without narcotics.  Trust.

Besides, it’s just sad when kids are drugged against their will…

After going crazy every single January my whole life, I finally put two and two together.  I suffer seasonal affective disorder, or S.A.D.D. It’s been getting worse every year.  This year has been probably the worst ever that I have felt.  Yesterday I sat in the brilliant sunshine for an hour and half.  I feel so much better that I can’t even describe it.  Before the sunshine, I was weepy and thinking about running away from home.  (I’m not joking.) Seriously, I have not been pleasant to be around.  I was down, down, down.

If you see my husband today, give him a hug.

If the sun is shining, stop what you are doing and go soak up some vitamin D.

Like, now.

Mr. Lea and I  are going to a dressin’ up, special guest speakin’, yummy food servin’ sit-down dinner at our church.  We went last year, and it was fabulous! Plus-BIG plus-there is free childcare offered.  The cost?  Twenty smackers.  Can’t beat it.

What are you guys doing?