favorites of 2012

I thought I'd post a few of my favorite photos from 2012...

Lots of photos of Max. And a few photos of other things. Hahaha...

Happy New Years Eve, friends!
Wishing you many blessings in 2013.
Thanks for stopping by here and reading.
xo

love will show the way.

You say you see no hope, you say you see no reason

we should dream that the world would ever change

You're saying love is foolish to believe

'cause there'll always be some crazy with an army or a knife

To wake you from your day dream, put the fear back in your life

Look, if someone wrote a play just to glorify

what's stronger than hate, would they not arrange the stage

to look as if the Hero came too late?

He's almost in defeat

It's looking like the evil side will win, so on the edge

of every seat, from the moment that the whole thing begins

It is...

Love who mixed the mortar

And it's Love who stacked these stones

And it's Love who made the stage here

Although it looks like we're alone

In this scene set in shadows

Like the night is here to stay

There is evil cast around us

But it's Love that wrote the play

For in this darkness Love can show the way

So now the stage is set.

Feel you own heart beating in your chest.

This life's not over yet.

So we get up on our feet and do our best.

We play against the fear.

We play against the reasons not to try

We're playing for the tears burning in the happy angel's eyes

For it's...

Love who mixed the mortar

And it's Love who stacked these stones

And it's Love who made the stage here

Although it looks like we're alone

In this scene set in shadows

Like the night is here to stay

There is evil cast around us

But it's Love that wrote the play

For in this darkness Love can show the way

 ~show the way~ david wilcox

(you can listen to the song HERE)

twinkly lights.

The lights are up! The husband put them up on the coldest and windiest day we've had thus far. But best be on the roof in cold windy weather than rain, right? I came home from a little holiday shopping and found Max outside helping daddy. He eventually went inside to warm-up and I was left to watch the husband walking around all over the roof (ready to make the call to 911 if need be.)

They are quite pretty. They've only tripped the GFC a half dozen times or so due to the rain.

That's Christmas in the Northwest for you. ;-)

november 365+1 (and some randomness because I know you've missed it)

1. I never, ever put the pizza directly on the pizza rack. MESS. Never.

2. I iron only about every two or three months. Thus my husband has to buy more shirts for work, which means there are more shirts that have the potential of needing ironing. But like he said, he has to have enough shirts for work to last two or three months. Makes sense to me.

3. I think public schools have gone overboard with the whole trying to be PC thing, and not offend anyone with anything they do. In turn I think they are teaching kids that they need to please everybody all of the time, or at least not tick-off anybody. All bad, IMHO. We are going to have generations of people pleasers on our hands in no time at all. I can say this because I am a people pleasers to a fault. Not a good thing. I'm trying to learn to put me first, set some boundaries for myself and those around me, say no, and be okay with knowing that some things I do or say might not be agreeable to others and that's okay. My opinions make me, ME. I hope Max learns to be himself, and that it's okay to disagree and say no. As many a mom has said before, and will say again, "Life isn't fair." So let's try our best to NOT raise a generation of kids who think everything has to be fair and equal. That's not preparing them for the real world.

4. If given a choice, I'd hire a full-time cook over a house cleaner any old day.

5. I'm recorded on vinyl. Twice, actually. Junior High School band. Not sure if I should be proud of this or a little ashamed. ;-) I do still own the records, just don't have a record player to play them on.

6. I will never understand tail-gating before football games. (Oh, who am I kidding?...I'll never understand the fascination with football period.)

7. The years I lived in the dorms in college were some of the best years of my life. I would go back to those years in a heart-beat.

8. I have zero desire to ever live in any part of the country that annually has to worry about tornados or hurricanes. I can't imagine worrying about losing my home every year. Sure, we are overdue for the "big one" earthquake here in the Pacific Northwest, but I'll take that chance. I worry way too much about enough things - I don't need to add worry over losing my home every tornado/hurricane season.

9. I clean the kitchen as I go when I cook or bake. I'm type A like that.

10. Someday when I go back to work and earn my own money again, I will take my mom on a trip to Hawaii. She has never been (nor have I) and I'm afraid she might never go if my brother or I don't take her.

11. I aspire to all sorts of great things, but worry I will never have the opportunity or the resources or the money to chase those dreams. This kind of breaks my heart.

12. I need some intellectual stimulation. I'm craving it. I spend too much time at home doing monotonous house-work over and over. Not that there is anything wrong with housework, but I crave more. And I have no clue what will fulfill that craving.

13. My brother is getting married this weekend and I am in the wedding. As an attendant/groomsman of sorts, I suppose. It will be the sixth wedding in which I've been an attendant. And hopefully the last wedding in which I'm an attendant. ;) Max is one of the ring-bearers. He will be wearing a tux. You can all take a moment now to image the utter cuteness of my Maxwell in a tux....     <pause>     ...Cute, huh?...

14. I finally caved and bought an Elf on the Shelf. His name is Buddy Meisgeier. And he is CREEE-py! Just plain creepy. Those big eyes looking off to the side...Gives me the chills. But Max seems to think he's really cool, and it has been a useful tool for getting Max to behave a bit more. And now I'm desperately searching Pinterest and blogs for cute Elf on the Shelf ideas.

15. My child who was doing so well sleeping all night in his own bed has been getting up and coming in our room again. Ugh. The day school started he started sleeping all night and not coming to get me, and now?... It was good the almost three months that it lasted. What gives?...

16. Apparently Sammy likes noble fir flavored water. I've caught her under the tree, drinking the water. Silly girl.

That's all for now. Too many deep thoughts roaming my mind these days.
Happy Wednesday, friends!