n

Washington DC in the Springtime

by Lisa on April 15, 2013

It would be impossible to tell you everything about the past weekend.  It’s been a flurry of new friends and shuttle buses and Tweets.

I flew on Friday to Washington DC to attend the 2:1 Conference.  It was a last minute decision, as in I had less than a week to prepare!  I got a message from one of the conference coordinators inviting me to go.  They had read my post about the negative conference experience I had and wanted me to come and be loved and see the difference in their sisterhood.  And so I went.

And I want to shout from the rooftops…GO TO THIS CONFERENCE!  It was so loving and generous and oh yeah….informative.  I learned a lot about blogging and social media, but my favorite part was the general attitude.  I could walk up to any group of people and feel welcome.  One of the things I noticed right away is that there were no “big stars”.  Everyone was equal…as it should be!  Of course there were people teaching from their experience and wisdom, but they were just regular joes once they were hanging with the rest of us.  I never got a sense that anyone was greater or smaller.  That was hands down my favorite thing about 2:1.

I also met a bunch of fabulous companies (Wait, can you meet a company? That doesn’t sound right).  I will be telling you about them over the next few weeks.  There are so many people out there creating products for those of us that are homeschooling and trying to raise our children well.  I want you to know about them too!

I was also able to drive around and see the National Cherry Blossom Festival.  It was a swarm of people, but it was definitely beautiful!  I missed my kids so much that I started taking pictures of random DC buildings and texting them quizzes, “One point for whoever can tell me what building this is…” or, “What street is this building on?”  So yes, I’m still homeschooling no matter where I am and even if my children are not actually with me.  In the end I texted them to each find one interesting fact about the capitol building and tell it to me when I got home.

The best news around here though is the end of yet another dreadful tax season.  James got it all done and he’s now going to be in his post-tax-season-haze for the next few days.  He wanders around bumping into walls and mumbling to himself…something about midnight postal service.

Now that I am home I literally have 2 days before I fly again to the SNAP conference in Salt Lake City.  I knew it would be rough, but the kids are doing great and have plenty of food and water for the duration.  And there’s always the promise of extra wii time if worst comes to worse.  (How do you say that? Worse comes to worse? I can’t figure it out)

I hope you all are doing great and I want to hear what you’ve been up to lately!

A Novel of a Weekend!

by Lisa on April 8, 2013

It would be impossible, without writing an entire book, to tell you all that has gone on in my life over the past few days.  The length of “War and Peace” has nothin’ on my weekend.

It started with a quick trip to Round Top on Thursday.  Sara and I got up before the sun and drove 3 hours to the greatest flea market this side of the Mississippi.  We poked around there, picking up a few fun things then headed home.  I was pooped, but felt relaxed from getting a day out with a friend.  She keeps me in stitches.

I am looking forward to hanging my new “e” in the boys’ room next to the “N” and “L”.  I just need an “A” and my collection will be complete.

Friday was a full day with doing school and working in the shop and catching up from a few days of being busy with other things.  I always try to spend some quality time with each of the kids when I’ve been busy.  That means I might ask one of them to run the post office with me or hang out in the shop so we can talk.  When I was getting myself ready in the morning I invited Adam (11) to come in the bathroom to sit and chat with me while I primped.  I asked him what he’d been up to while I was gone to the flea market.  “Oh,” he replied, “the usual.  I do the wrong thing I get in trouble, I do the right thing I get praised.  Same old same old.”

His life in a nutshell.

Saturday was Hope’s (19) turn to spend one on one time with Mom.  We headed to the city for a free microderm abrasion I had signed us up for a few weeks ago.  I really didn’t know what that meant and hoped I wasn’t getting us into some kind of acid wash-face burning situation.  Turned out to be simple and painless except that I had to wear a weird disposable cap in the middle of Ulta.  But I will admit, we both felt all glowy and shiny afterward.

Once I got home I decided to spend the afternoon working…right after a teeny little nap.  Three hours later I woke up in a trance of not knowing where I was or how I got there.  Once the confusion settled I realized I had missed the entire afternoon and wondered what kind of tranquilizer juice was in that microderm abrasion stuff.

Feeling groggy, I decided to just hang out with the kids instead of trying to work.  We’ve been reading “Where the Red Fern Grows” together.  I don’t know why I chose this book except I am a glutton for punishment because I cry through every page and keep thinking of how I wish I had a great big tree for my boys to chop down so they can learn to be men.  Plus Elijah is now wearing our fake coonskin cap everywhere we go, including the office supply store yesterday afternoon.  He also wants to carry an ax.

Don’t worry about him folks….he’s just pretending to be a coon-hunting-hound-loving-tree-chopping-boy-who-cries-a-lot.  Nothing unusual here.

Sunday evening James and I took Patience (16) out to dinner.  He talked with her about purity and giving him her heart and committing herself to staying pure (not just physically, but emotionally as well).  We had a sweet discussion about God’s Word and where she is spiritually and how she can trust us with her struggles.  After the talk James gave her a necklace with a heart and a key.  She gave him the tiny key and he will hold it until her wedding day when he will give it to her husband.  We have done this with all of the girls when they turn 16 and to see them all wearing their necklaces every day is pure joy to a mother’s heart!

After dinner I wanted to just relax in my recliner, but there was daylight left so the kids and I decided to enjoy the gorgeous weather.  We hadn’t done our egg hunt last weekend because of the rain, so Jacob hid plastic eggs all over the front yard and they spent about 2.7 hours trying to find them.  Take it from me, don’t let a 21 year old boy hide your eggs.  He makes it so hard I don’t think a CIA operative could have located them with specialized equipment.  It was super fun for my 5 year old, who basically followed Jacob around begging for clues.

I think that mostly covers it.  If you stuck with it and read all the way through this novel then I want to wish you a very happy and fun filled week.

If you like these pictures, follow me on Instagram!

I am now in a shopping stupor.  Last Friday we shopped for my retail birthday girl and yesterday it was my thrift store girl’s turn.  Sixteen years old and she’d rather go thrifting with Mom than anything in the world.  How precious is that?!

Armed with a list of stores and some heavy duty hand sanitizer, Patience, Faith, Noah and I headed to the big city to see what we could find.  But we didn’t make it 20 minutes before we had to stop on the side of the highway to take some pictures with the bluebonnets.

 

I decided to sit in the grass and have the kids take my picture.  The ground was a bit wet so I called out for Noah to come help me up.  It was on a small hill, so I couldn’t get a good position without exposing my backside to the cars speeding past.  He rushed over and took my hands but instead of pulling me forward, he pulled straight up which caused me to start sliding down the hill.  I kept trying to stop myself, but I couldn’t get traction.  I felt like a cartoon character, digging my heels in and feeling my skirt slip underneath me and trailing behind.  The girls came over to help and all of a sudden what was supposed to be a pleasant stop to take wildflower pictures turned into save momma from the oncoming traffic.  I finally landed on my knees on the road’s shoulder and was laughing so hard I still could barely get up, my 3 children standing there speechless and trying not to laugh (well, one of them wasn’t trying too hard).

After that humiliation we were back on our way to thrifting.  Grass stains and skinned knees weren’t going to stop me from spending the day looking at other people’s cast offs.

We went from one store to another without any more falling incidents.  Everyone found something, including a new lens for my camera which was a huge score for me.  I broke my camera lens about 6 months ago and haven’t been able to use my SLR since.  Expect some great photos soon!

Driving from one thrift store to another the kids would talk about life and faith and their goals for the future.  It was wonderful to connect in with these three and hear how they see their life’s direction.

Hopefully it’s not downhill in a field of bluebonnets.

I still have a couple of busy days ahead, but the birthday celebrations are over for a while and we’re in the last push of tax season.  Being married to a CPA is great when I need to find a deduction for my etsy shop, but it’s a pain February through April.

Have a great day….and don’t forget to stop and smell the flowers!

Follow me on Facebook for more embarrassing updates!

My Shopping Skills Put to the Test

by Lisa on April 1, 2013

Happy April!

I had a relaxing weekend.  I needed it after my week last week.  Mostly Thursday….girls’ day out.

Grace had requested for her birthday that all of the girls go out together and we did it in full force.  I spent my entire life becoming an expert shopper and feel that it would be wrong not to pass the knowledge on to my 4 daughters.

We got up early and made a long list of places to go.  Target, Best Buy, Charming Charlie, Michael’s, shoe stores, book stores, on and on the list went.  It was planned to the minute and required careful execution.  I’d drop the girls at the curb and go park.  No reason to lose valuable time walking to and from the car.  Or I’d drop them and go to a different store, giving them a time limit, “OK girls, you have 22 minutes and 14 seconds in this store….I’ll be right here to pick you up…..MARK-SET-GO!”  We gave new meaning to the phrase “shop ’til you drop.”

In one store I had to go to the bathroom so I told the girls I’d meet them after.  The ladies’ room was closed for cleaning so I had to use the family restroom.  It was a one seater with a door that led straight out to the cash register area.  I pushed the lock, but those locks make me nervous.  You can’t really tell if they are actually locked, so I planned to hurry as fast as I could.

All I could think was someone was going to swing the door open and catch me sitting there in an awkward position.  Sure enough as soon as my Spanx were down the knob wriggled and I had a small heart attack.  Much to my relief, the door was actually locked and it didn’t open.  But now I had the pressure of knowing someone was waiting for me outside of the door.  It’s a wonder I don’t have an ulcer from all of my anxiety.

As we finished up at the last store they were turning off the lights and pushing us out the door.  What’s the fun in stopping before the last possible second?  The very, very best moment of the day was on that drive home.  We all got quiet for a minute so I turned on a praise song.  I was singing and praising and then I noticed….all of the girls were praising too.  Hands raising, heads lifted to the sky, in one accord praising right there in our mini van driving along I-10.  It doesn’t get much better than that.

But I needed three days to recover.

Which is basically what I did over the weekend.  That and playing 100 Floors which I am now consumed with.  I played it off and on all weekend, dragging the kids into my elevator door obsession.  Have you played?  I can’t stop I tell you!  It’s free and fun for the whole family.  (this is not a paid ad, I just really like the game for its simplicity and family friendliness)

We had a lovely, peaceful Easter.  We didn’t do anything big or dressy.  We just celebrated together at home.  Dinner time was a long conversation about what Christ did for us and His sacrifice.  The perfect day in my opinion.

How was your weekend?

If you liked this, you should follow me on Facebook!

 

Texas Roads and Make-Up

by Lisa on March 25, 2013

If you follow me on Instagram then you already know that I have been traveling and playing a lot of games.  Yes, it’s a life of adventure and intrigue.

Last Wednesday I went to Austin, the capitol of Texas for those of you looking for an informational post, to speak with a group there on Thursday.  It’s a 2 1/2 hour drive and the weather was perfection.  I thought I was off to a good start….driving, praying, enjoying the big puffy clouds.

When I arrived I was unpacking my things to spend the night and realized a whole basket had been left at home.  The contents of the basket were some handouts for my talk the next day, a couple of gifts, and most important….MY MAKEUP CASE!

I went into a small panic.  Do I drive 2 1/2 hours home to get it?  That would mean missing a visit with my sister, which was why I went a day early.  But it wasn’t just my makeup, it was all of my toiletries, hairbrush, toothbrush, etc.

I called James and we weighed the options.  We decided that I should go buy more make-up.  I didn’t want to spend that money, but it will get spent down the road anyway so I did it.  Thankfully the girl at the Clinique counter was understanding and threw in as many samples as she could.  My sister provided some of the other necessities and I managed to put myself together the next morning for my talk.  Whew!

On Thursday morning I met with a group of women that were beyond gracious and lovely.  I talked with them for a while and they asked me questions and we had a wonderful time.  It was great for me and hopefully they liked it too.

Of course, I couldn’t just drive directly home.  There’s a IKEA in Austin and I feel it is wrong to go near any IKEA and not stop there.  So I called my friend Lindsay and we met for a few hours of girl talk and power shopping.  There’s nothing like a fellow IKEA-ite to understand the pull of the mothership.

On Saturday morning we had our usual family breakfast and discussion.  I thought you all would like a view from my seat at the table.

We had out of town guests for the rest of the weekend, so it was lots of eating, talking and games.  Our favorite game was called, “Moods.”  Have you tried it?  It’s hilarious!  You have to say a phrase in the mood that it says on the card.  Then the other players have to guess what mood you were doing.  This is me acting “Fussy.”  I had to really act since I am so rarely fussy in my normal life.

Maybe I should have channeled the way I felt when I realized I left all of my make-up at home.

And now I’m tired.  Our company is gone and I need a day of napping to recover from all of my fun.

Have a great week!

Soft Surroundings Make Me Happy

by Lisa on March 18, 2013

Such a lovely weekend!

On Saturday morning I left the house to head to the city while everyone was still asleep. I would normally be grumpy about leaving so early, but the long Texas Hill Country drive combined with praise music and my first sighting of bluebonnets made my heart soar.  I love Texas wildflowers….LOVE!

I had been invited to go to a store at the mall before opening hours.  At first I didn’t even care what store it was because, frankly, going to a store when they are closed has long been a fantasy of mine…..like parachuting or eating an entire chocolate cake.  I could check this off my bucket list.

It turned out to be a beautiful store, which made it even better!  Have you heard of Soft Surroundings?  I’ll confess I wasn’t familiar with the company, but now have fallen madly in love with everything about it.  They have the most beautiful clothes, bedding, jewelry….just gorgeous.

They also sell make-up, which is what we got to play with on Saturday.  They explained all of the products and what they are for, which was great for me because I often wonder what these mystery products do.  I mean, would you know what Blue Copper is?  Me neither!  But I have an inquiring mind.  Now that I know how great it is for my skin I am saving my money to buy some.  And I’m going to enter their Makeup Bag Makeover to win some of their incredible beauty products….you should too! (this is not a sponsored post, I just really liked their things!)

My friend Colleen from San Antonio Mom Blogs snapped this picture of me getting some makeup advice….

And they gave me a coupon for you if you want to go get your own makeup color consultation.

Afterward I was all made up and pretty but I had no where else to go, so I came home and took a nap.  Let’s call it beauty sleep.

On Sunday we had another family canasta tournament, which was even more exciting than last weekend because this time the whole family, including Dad, joined in.   We set up 2 tables with 4 players at each and every 2 hands we’d switch around so eventually everyone was partners with everyone else.  We even had an official cutie pie scorekeeper at each table!

After the tournament was over I went to meet a friend for dinner.  Spending a few hours with a trusted friend was the icing on the cake of a very sweet weekend.

And now that I have a some new makeup tips and the wildflowers are blooming, I’m looking forward to some beauty both indoors and out.

Have a great week!

I always have such high hopes for getting things done over the weekend.  I actually had a chart….a CHART…for what we would do on Saturday and Sunday with each person’s name in different colors.  It was so beautiful.  I could cry thinking about its beauty.

The first part of the plan required me getting up at the crack of dawn on Saturday to go purchase paint.  I’ve spent countless hours on Pinterest studying the best grays.  I really wanted gray walls, but not too dark, not too blue, no yellow tones and perfect with my white trim.  Not too much to ask, right?  I chose.  It was a Benjamin Moore color and I was ready bright and early and on my way to the local Benjamin Moore store.

That’s when the plan came to an abrupt halt.

The Benjamin Moore store in town is CLOSED on weekends.  What?!  What is this?  1979?!?!

A serious, serious dent in my plan considering the main part of it revolved around this can of paint.  This was NOT in the chart.

What could I do?  It was either fret and fuss about it under my breath for two days or just go with the flow, change the chart and move forward.  I chose the latter (I like saying that, “the latter”, it makes me feel all literature-ish and brainy).

Instead of painting, I spent the day Saturday working on my computer and returning emails.  I’m now only about 100 emails behind from getting them all replied to.  I can’t tell you how much I wish I could sit down with each of you that writes to me and have a long talk over a cup of tea and some of Grace’s chocolate chip cookies.  It kills me that I can’t find the time to reply to everyone.  But there children to raise and new charts to be colored in.

On Saturday afternoon about 4:30 I said to Adam (my 11 year old), “Hey, there’s an hour ’til dinner.  Let’s do something….just you and me.”  He grinned and agreed, “Sure Mom…what can we do?”  I said it could be anything as long as it didn’t involve me spending money or running.  This mom doesn’t run.  He just couldn’t think of anything so I suggested we play cards.  Simple, pure, pleasure.

We played a bit and had a great time and after an hour we stopped to eat dinner.  Later that night the cards were still sitting out, so a few of the older kids and I started playing and before we knew it we were having a full on Canasta tournament that lasted until 5:00 the next day.  I mean it.  We sat around that table all day on Sunday playing cut throat Canasta, stopping only to go to the bathroom and wait for me to Instagram. We actually had stand-ins waiting to sub when someone wanted to run to the kitchen and get food.

We are a competitive and passionate bunch.

At around 3:00 in the afternoon we all were so drained from the hours of playing that we started to giggle over everything.  It wasn’t long before we were speaking in foreign accents and belching the National Anthem.  Don’t ask me why we didn’t stop playing Canasta at that point.  At the time it seemed reasonable to keep going.

When the last round was over at 5:00 we all stood up bleary-eyed and stiff-legged and stretched.  I looked around and wondered what the younger boys had been doing all day.  Had anyone fed them?  Was there a Lego disaster in their room?  Do I have to give back my mother of the year award?

Fortunately they were fine and had been so happy to have the day to play that they barely noticed my lack of attention.

And also don’t ask me who won because I am still a bit bitter about the outcome.

So guess what’s on the chart for this week….YEP…..painting!  I already went to the store and got it.  Early bird catches the worm and all.

Have a great week!

 

Shopping with the Girls

by Lisa on March 4, 2013

It was an active weekend here at the Point.  On Saturday I took the girls out for a mom/daughter shopping day.  All of them needed something from shoes to under garments and we all needed to spend some time together.  It was a day of fun, silliness and complete exhaustion.

I am telling you….I was so tired by the time we got home at 7:00 PM that I went straight to bed.  Do not pass go.  Do not collect $200.

Sundays around here have been set aside for us to just chill and hang out.  We play games and talk and nap.  It’s a pretty low key day, which is just what we all need to get ready for the week ahead.

So Sunday afternoon I was just hanging around in my recliner and thinking about a couple of things I have to do this week that I’m mildly dreading.  Nothing huge, just little things I’d rather not do.  So I thought I’d search for Bible verses.  I typed in, “Bible verse about dread.”  I do that all of the time.  Joy, friendship, parenting, the sky….whatever I’m thinking about.  This time a whole search popped up full of links to pages, “What does the Bible say about dreadlocks”.  What?!  Dreadlocks?  Oh I’ve GOT to see this.

There was lots of talk about Sampson and the way our hair grows if we never brush or cut it and how some people feel it’s spiritual to have dreadlocks.  I never knew this.  I live in a bubble.

By the time I finished reading about dreadlocks I was no longer dreading anything.  In fact, I was looking forward to taking a shower since my head started feeling all itchy just thinking about not brushing my hair for years.  And even though I never did go back and look up “dread” verses, the search worked.  I was no longer even thinking about my dread.  Instead I was wishing for a scalp massage.

I spent the rest of the afternoon playing a computer game and talking with the kids. I was planning to de-February the house and get it ready for spring, but I was too worn out from Saturday’s adventure of running between 4 girls in dressing rooms looking for different sizes.

My week ahead includes putting out the spring decor and getting the house ready to paint.  I’ve been planning to paint since the beginning of January, so it’s time to get this show on the road.  No more procrastinating, although procrastination is one of my spiritual gifts.  That and never being out of chocolate.

Have a great week!

A Difficult Weekend

by Lisa on February 26, 2013

My 4 day weekend away by myself was a mix of highs and lows, mostly lows.  I really, really missed my family.  By the last day I was about ready to run home without my car….but it was 250 miles, so I didn’t think that would be such a good idea.

The first 2 days were spent attending a conference.  I want to tell you about it, but I am not going to say what conference I went to because I don’t want to show anything but respect for the work and effort that went into it.  This was just my experience and it could have happened in any number of places.  So I’m not blaming the conference organizers.

This was a Christian conference.  It was billed as being uplifting and encouraging.  I went alone, but wasn’t worried about that.  I have been to plenty of conferences over the past few years and have gotten good at meeting new people and have met some incredible women that way. Some of my best friends now are those that I met at conferences in the past.

For two whole days I walked up to people to talk to them, I introduced myself, made eye contact, asked about people’s interests and lives, Tweeted invitations to meet, etc.  I talked to ladies in the elevator, at the bathroom sink, at the vendor tables.  I asked the ladies in the information booth about meetups.  I did it all.

And no one would talk to me or showed any interest in getting to know me.  No one.

On Friday I asked four different people if we could have dinner together and none accepted.  They all said they were going with their friends and none invited me to join them. By the end of day one I was sitting in my car in the mall parking lot across the street from the hotel eating alone and crying.

Now please understand….I am fine.  I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for me or try to fix it.  I am confident in who I am and I didn’t take any of it personally.  How could it be personal?  They didn’t even know my name.  It was painful….not being able to make a connection.  But I came home unaffected…..just sad that it happened.

The lesson I took away from this lonely, difficult experience is that I never want anyone else to feel like that.  The next conference (or group event) I attend I will be friendly, more interested in others, greeting people, asking strangers how they are doing and anything else God leads me to.  I will set aside my introverted nature and be bold for Christ in case there is anyone there feeling left out.

After every rejection all weekend I would think, “If I was a more delicate person this would have damaged me and been very hard to get over.”

I am sure most of you have had similar times when you felt left out and not valued.  I hope you know that here….on this blog….you are LOVED!  And even better than that, GOD LOVES YOU!!!!

He met me where I was at the conference.  He comforted me and shined His light on me and the nights alone in my room when I prayed and asked Him to draw me nearer to Him were invaluable.  I don’t get alone time very often, so I sure did appreciate that.

Now that I’m home I will put some distance between me and this experience and let God use it for His glory somehow.  Only He knows what beauty He can make from my unhappy weekend.

There were some good things from my weekend: I got to see my favorite sister-in-law and her family for a few minutes; on Sunday I spent time with some women that I am getting to know and growing to love; dinner at In & Out was a new, yummy experience; driving….I like driving so that was awesome; texting with my boys which was so cute!; coming home to a loving family.

Here are some questions I am wondering about you:

1. Would you go to a conference alone?
Honestly, I don’t think I would ever do it again even though I really like alone time.
2. Have you ever had an experience similar to mine last weekend?
I’d love to hear your story if you want to share.
3. What do you do when you are feeling like crying from rejection?
I called a friend.  She cried with me and prayed with me and helped me remember that I am worth knowing.

I also want to say thank you so much for being the kind of people that encourage one another.  I adore you all!

Follow me on Facebook!

I Couldn’t Be a Rodeo Mom

by Lisa on February 18, 2013

Happy President’s Day!

Truthfully, we don’t take much notice of the government holidays around here.  I mean, I have mad respect for the President (I don’t have to agree to have respect) and all of the Presidents that went before him.  But there are still mouths to be fed and laundry to be heaved the 8 inches from the washer to the dryer.  Much like Dolly Madison did 200 years before me.

Friday night James and I went to the rodeo with some friends.  We always have a yeehaw kind of time at the rodeo.  The bull riding does make me nervous though….those bulls are powerful and I don’t understand why anyone would want to put themselves onto the back of one.  I sit there with my hands over my eyes glad I’m not the mother of any of these cowboys who are risking life and limb on a wild bull.  But I think we all know I would not handle myself well, since I can’t even relax when my son gets on a bus.

Saturday morning I slept late since it was the second weekend in a row that I was out after midnight.  It may also have been from the cotton candy I ate at 11:30 on the drive home.  It gave me a rush that made it hard to fall asleep.  You’d think at my age I’d know better.  But it’s cotton candy….if you don’t eat it the same day then it shrinks down to a weird tiny mass of hard sugar.  I mean, I’d still eat it but it wouldn’t be the same fluffy fun.

The rest of the weekend was uneventful.  Just my favorite kind of Saturday, filling shop orders, playing games with the kids and napping.  Perfection.

Seeing that picture and re-reading the cotton candy story, I may be giving the impression I had too much sugar over the weekend.  I really just had those 2 things, but the fact that I took a picture of my Reese’s peanut butter cup might be a sign that I need help.

The coming week is full.  In addition to laundry and school I’ve got a bunch of errands to run in the city.  Plus I’m going to the DotMom conference in Dallas next weekend.  I have to figure out what to wear and how to pack it all and how early I should allow myself to leave on Thursday since even though I will miss the kids I am looking forward to a few days to myself.

Yes I said it.  I look forward to days without my family.  Then I look forward to being with them again.  Nothing wrong with that.

Have a great President’s Day!

Come follow me on Instagram for more picture fun!