The Monday Real

-I don't really buy books anymore--we just don't have the budget for it. So, my reading typically happens from library books or review copies that I'm provided with. For the most part, it works out okay...but sometimes, it doesn't work out so well. For example, I tried to request Stephen King's 11/22/63 the other day...yeah, I gave up. There were over 100 people on the wait list for the book already. But I suppose that even if I wanted to read it, I couldn't because I feel like every single book I've been on the wait-list for in the past year has come up at the exact same time. In my "to-read" pile, I currently have:

1. Crossed by Ally Condie
2. The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
3. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
4. Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati
5. Grace Based Parenting by Tim Kimmel

This is in addition to the three publisher reviews that I'm currently working on.

-The fact that I'd much rather curl up with a cup of coffee and one of the aforementioned books (and that Justin feels the same) is probably directly related to the fact that we have a literal mountain of dishes to do.

-I'm pretty new to the whole Bible Study thing. I grew up in the church, but actually spending any significant time studying the Bible is new to me. That said, I always find myself totally jazzed about a particular study until about half-way through when I start thinking about what I'm going to do next and then want to start it RIGHT THAT MINUTE. Right now, I'm doing Becoming A Woman of Simplicity, and I love the fellowship of the women that I meet with, but the study isn't the most relevant to me personally. Next, I'd kind of like to do Beth Moore's study on James, even if I just have to work through the darn workbook myself--I co-led the study of Esther at my church, and it just didn't seem like many people enjoyed having that level of homework.

-I could eat a MOUNTAIN of chocolate today, and also drink a pitcher of margaritas. Just sayin'.

Want to get real? Go link up with Jess! (Our other fearless host, Brittany, is moving, but I'm hoping she'll be back next week!)

Messy Mom Monday, Week 2

I'm back for another edition of Messy Mom Monday...and my house is still messier than I'd like, which I think will probably sufficiently describe it for the next 16+ years. Anyway, today I thought I'd focus not so much on the actual messiness of our house, but another way that moms can be a little bit messy--emotionally and/or mentally:

1) J and I drove over to the city where my parents live on Saturday because I had a photo shoot of a banquet scheduled. So, I got all my stuff together, dragged out a pair of slacks that sort-of fit, and had Justin drop me off....only to realize that the banquet is next Saturday. All our communication clearly states the 28th, but for some reason, I had it in my head that it was the 21st. So that was awkward, showing up to the venue and talking to the front desk person, who clearly thought I was a dumb blonde idiot. And I felt like an idiot. I don't know what I was thinking, but I'm just SO GLAD that I was a week early instead of a week late. Still, at least we got to eat dinner and visit with my fam!

2) I'm still a little bit of a mess regarding the whole mystery bruise experience. Even though they clearly told me that they successfully removed all the skin cancer, any time I have a stomach ache, or get a bruise, or notice that a softball scar I've had since middle school has a bit of a purple-ish tint to it, I still have a hard time not thinking that it's cancer and that I'm going to die. I know it doesn't make sense, but it's just kind of weird and hard to go from months and months of worrying and being terrified, to one day being fine and not having to think about it anymore.

3) I've disabled anonymous comments on this blog. I had been allowing them because my parents, Justin, and a few other real-life friends who don't have blogs of their own comment every once in awhile, and I like hearing from them. However, after I was left a mean and snarky anonymous comment on my last post about Lizzy, I realized that the vast majority of anonymous comments I receive are either spam, or some sort of snarky/mean comment. All my friends and family should still be able to comment through Open ID, so I just see no reason for allowing the anonymous comments any more. ETA--The Open ID thing is a bit trickier than I thought, so I've just decided to enable comment moderation instead, for the time being. We'll see how that goes!

I wish I could say that the mean or negative comments are easy for me to brush off, but they aren't always, even though the support from my husband and others who know us in real life should easily trump one nasty comment. I KNOW it wasn't that big of a deal, but it still hurts a little.. It makes me sad, because I pride myself on being honest here, sharing the good and bad, the messy and otherwise.

It also makes me sad that as far as I can tell from the stats (because even when you post anonymously, it isn't completely anonymous), this wasn't a troll--this was someone who reads and visits fairly regularly. It makes me sad that that person, didn't just sign in and comment something like, 'Hey, when you tell stories about Lizzy talking, do you translate or paraphrase what she's saying? It sounds like she's saying a lot more than most 2 year old kids I know,'...because that's a question I'd be happy to answer.

You don't have to be nice to me, though it does hurt my feelings when you're not. You don't have to agree with me, or with everything that I write. But the messy truth is that I think that if you can't even stand behind the negative remarks you make, you probably already know that you're in the wrong. I really try avoid stooping to the level of the mean comments, but the messy truth is that in my opinion, if you resort to being an anonymous snark, that makes you a sucky person. Or maybe just someone who has some emotional messes yourself. I don't know. But, I do know that I'm willing to admit that I just don't want to deal with the anonymous snark anymore, so I'm not going to.

Thanks for letting me be real--messiness and all :) Have some messes of your own? Link up at Living in the Moment or Dude and Sweets!

{More evidence that I'm a mess mentally sometimes? I definitely just wrote "Licking in the Moment" Heh.}

Messy Mom Monday

Brittany and Jess are hosting a new link-up called Messy Mom Monday--getting real about the fact that virtually no moms have it all together all the time, even though it may look like it sometimes. I'm not sure if I've ever told this story before on the blog or not, but not too long after Lizzy was born, I remember looking at some other moms that I knew and thinking, I just don't understand how they do it! Their homes were always spotless. They were always posting on Facebook about their from-scratch cooking, the many novels that they were reading, their great 10 mile run, the hilarious TV they were watching, AND the great Beth Moore studies that they were doing. And here I thought it was a good day if I got a shower.

And then when I was talking with a few of the moms one day, one of them mentioned that they had been hiring a high school girl to come clean their house. Another mentioned that she has her kids go to daycare one day a week, and that's when she does her long runs and cleans the house. Another told me that they just shove everything into their back bedroom anytime someone is coming over. It was like an epiphany to me--they aren't perfect, I just thought they were. It can be a lonely place to think that you're the only person who doesn't have it all together all the time, and that's what I think this link-up is all about...letting ourselves be real once in awhile, and hopefully letting others know that it is okay for them to be real too.

.............................................

Here's my sweet adorable girl this morning...she's on the couch watching Dora while I lay in bed and blog.



But let's back up and get a fuller picture of the room, no?


It's amazing what you can hide in photos.

Our laundry situation is out of control right now. I wasn't able to do laundry at all last week and hadn't done much the previous week either, so it was a little outrageous. We made some good progress this weekend, but left two loads on the couch yesterday morning ready to be folded after church...and then didn't end up back home until 10pm. So there they still sit...along with numerous other piles of laundry that need to be washed and sorted through.







The buffet is still a mess from Lizzy's birthday last week. And the photo that I took to show you? I have no idea what happened there, but it ended up looking like this:



And our spare bedroom? Oh my GOSH you guys...it has become the dumping ground lately for everything that we don't have a home for anywhere else. We desperately need to add some money in the budget for Rubbermaid containers to get this under control!

But, Justin only has a week or so left on his high-paying job site, and so I'm leery about actually spending that money instead of putting it in savings. I mean, I can always just shut the spare bedroom door.

Go link up with Jess or Brittany and share your Messy Mom Monday post with us!