When I was little, I was always looking for new ways to make money. I would rub my dad's feet for a quarter, wash cars, and any other odd job that I could find. One time I even set up my sea shell collection on my desk and tried to charge people to walk into my room to see my 'Sea Shell Museum". When my sister tried to come in once, I stopped her at the door and pointed to the sign I had colored and posted on my door. She took one look, rolled her eyes, and said, "I ain't payin you a dollar to walk into your room!". Needless to say that money making idea needed some work.
As I got older, that little entrepreneurial spirit hung around and to this day I still try to think of fun ways I can make a little extra cash. Thinking of ways to make money and actually doing them are two different stories. Usually, I think of them, but don't act on them. Or if I do, I lose interest. Middle Child Syndrome. BUT! you will be happy to know that I have followed through and today I opened my shop Stupid Cute Cards on Etsy! :)
Now before you go to the store, I must warn you....there ain't much in it. Ok, by not much I mean one item. There were two items, but my awesome sister already bought something. :) I could have waited to make more cards before opening up so my store would be well stocked, but part of Middle Child Syndrome is impatience. But by all means, go check it out, and tell all your friends, and buy stuff. :)
Happy shopping,
JRae
Also, while you're on Etsy, go check out my Aunt Cheryl's new shop, Pennants and Pinwheels. She's got cards, and cute hair bows, and I know not what!
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Sunday, May 5, 2013
A Birth Story
Aaaaaaaand here comes, yet another, blogging phase. Don't ask me how long it will last because I don't know. Lately, I have found myself wanting to record this new journey of motherhood that I have begun, so here I am. However, this blog won't just be about motherhood. It's about the stupid good stuff of life, which could include anything from motherhood to card making, married life to baking, and t.v. shows to thoughts on the Gospel. If you've stopped by to read this here stupid blog, thanks. I hope you enjoy what you read and that you will be back.
Eight weeks ago today, I became a mother. I am a mother....wait..what? When did this happen? It was just yesterday that my sister and I would talk about things we would do someday when we were "grown up and married and had kids". Over the years and how much my own life has changed in just the past couple of years. Anyhoo, back to the me becoming a mom thing. Having a baby was the hardest and most rewarding experience ever. There's no way to prepare a first time mom for how painful/hard/wonderful/emotional labor will be. There's also no way to convey how I felt the first time I saw my sweet baby boy. However, let me try to give you an idea.... in honor of Mother's Day coming up, here is my birth story:
On March 8, 2013, I was 40 weeks preggars. I was also pert near tired of being preggars and was ready to get this show on the road and meet my Little Man. So to the internet I went to look for ways to speed things along. Several things I read suggested massaging acupressure points, so my hubby looked went to work massaging specific spots on my ankles, toes, and hands. It felt sooooo good regardless of if it was gonna work or not. At about 11:30 p.m. I felt the first twinges of labor. I wasn't positive that it was labor, but I could tell that it was more than Braxton Hicks. I fell asleep shortly after that, thanks to the massage, and woke up again at 1:30 a.m. At this point I was pretty confident that these were real contractions and some of them even "hurt". I put hurt in quotations because I would later find out that those did not hurt. They were in fact a piece of cake. Anyhoo, I laid there listening to my hubby snoring and using my contraction counter app on my phone. By 3:30 a.m. the contractions hurt more and were consistently 5 minutes apart. I woke Ben up and told him I was about to call Tori, our midwife, and tell her what was up. We had about an hour and a half drive to the birth house and having no idea what to expect with the first baby I wanted to make sure we got there on time. Before I called Tori, I called my mom who was going to be there for labor and delivery and told her that she might want to start waking up and packing. Tori asked me several questions about the contractions and told me to take a bath, eat some food, and try to go back to sleep and get some rest. So I did. But at 5:30 a.m. I was still awake and I was sure the contractions were getting more "painful" (more quotations for the same reasons). I called Tori back and she said that if I felt like we needed to leave, to go ahead and leave. So Ben and I set to work loading the car with the already packed bags, a cooler of snacks, and a very pregnant woman. O and a little bit of a side note: No matter how early on in labor you are, it is not fun to walk down three flights of stairs. Yay, married student housing apartments. Despite what I was expecting, the car ride was not horrible. In fact, it was kinda fun listening to music and talking about the amazing fact that we were about to meet our Little One, FINALLY!
We arrived at the birth house and Tori wanted to check me to see how far along I was. I was not prepared for how painful that would be and I nearly punched the poor woman in the face. :P To my dismay I was only 1 cm dilated. Tori suggested that it might be false labor since I had already been laboring a while with so little progress. I was also a little tensed up from the car ride and having been checked so I got in the birth tub to relax. After I relaxed some the contractions picked up a little. After about an hour of being in the tub, Ben was falling asleep sitting up and my mom had gotten there so Ben went to sleep while mom stayed up with me to help count contractions and fetch snacks and water. I eventually got out of the tub and did some walking around and sitting on the birthing ball. At this point the contractions were starting to get sporadic and kinda dying off a little.
Ben woke up and we went for a walk to try and get them to progress a little. We got back from the walk and it was lunch time by then, so we sat on the front porch and I had my first Coca Cola in 9 months. It was more heavenly than I can describe. Yes I have a problem. Back to the story. I got checked again after lunch (again, NOT FUN) and was only at 3cm. At this point, I was feeling discouraged at the lack of progress, but my awesome midwife politely got in my face and gave me a pep talk, reminding me that pain is good and that I needed to let go. To this day I still am not sure what I was letting go of. I didn't feel afraid or tense and nothing was bothering me, but whatever it was, I was gonna try to let go of it. :P Apparently that pep talk worked, because things started to pick up from there.
Ben and I went on another walk and the contractions were at about a 7-8 on the pain scale. I did not like walking. it hurt worse than any other position at that point. But it helped that my sweet hubby was constantly encouraging me and being super helpful in any way he could. He deserves a medal. After walking for a while, I was hungry again and it was getting cold outside, so we went in and got a snack. Ben did some more acupressure massaging on my ankles while I ate. Then we went on another walk.
By this time it was getting dark and I had thought I would be holding my baby in my arms by now. The contractions were close together and pushing a 9 on the pain scale and I was tired. I had been up since 1:30 that morning and I was running low on adrenaline. My midwife suggested I try to sleep, but stubborn me, was not going to bed. Not only was I afraid it would slow down contractions, but I just wanted to be done. Little did I know, that I was nowhere near done. Ben and I then proceeded to walk around in a circle in the living room for about 4 hours. Stopping every time a contraction came for me to lean on him and make low moaning sounds that sounded like a dying cow. My sweet husband did them with me and my awesome mother kept track of the contractions. I finally broke down and said the words I'd been thinking for the past few hours or so..."I can't do this anymore". So I decided to try to sleep. I had no idea how I was going to sleep but I had to stop standing and walking. I got in bed and was soon dozing in between contractions.
It was almost like my body needed those short little breaks in order to move on to the next stage, because within half an hour, my water broke and the real party started. After my water broke, there was a calm before the storm. I had about 10 minutes of contraction free bliss while I changed into clean clothes. Then the storm broke. That first contraction after my water broke was unlike anything I've ever felt before. Pain like I can't describe. My first thought was, "I really can't do this. It's not possible". Out loud, however, I said something else that I won't repeat on this blog. Ahem. I was gripping Ben's arm like it might fly away and struggling to relax and let the pain do it's work. After about 3 contractions, I was able to get a grip and get in the zone. Within an hour, I felt like I wanted to push and my midwife said to go for it. It wasn't long before I couldn't help but push. Ladies and Gents, I'm here to tell you that I pushed for 4 hours. Oy. Shortly after I told my midwife that I wanted to push, she checked me and said I was only 6 cm and to stop pushing. My thought was "No. No way I'm only 6 cm. Unacceptable. I am more than 6 cm." She then sent me to sit backwards on the toilet to keep things moving along. That was a whole new kind of pain that I wasn't ready for, but I kept telling myself that pain was progress. But I couldn't stop pushing. Tori talked to her helper midwife and they agreed that it was weird that I was only 6 cm and at the point of not being able to keep from pushing. I was acting more like 9 or 10 cm. Tori had her helper check me to get a second opinion. Debbie is her name, and she checked me and said, "9cm". Woohoo! Tori checked again and was like, "Ok that was not like that a second ago when I thought it was 6 cm". Honestly, what I think happened was that I heard her say 6cm, and my body said "no way Jose!" and jumped to 9cm right then and there. In no time at all I was 10 cm and working hard to get my big baby outta there.
After 28 hours of labor, 4 of which were pushing, we finally got to meet our little William. How do I begin to describe how I felt the first time I saw him?...other than exhaustion obviously. All I can tell you is that I believe in love at first sight now. That first look at my son made every uncomfortable, inconvenient, and painful moment in the past 9 months seem like petty problems. Nothing could over shadow the joy and love and relief I felt in that moment.
However, the first time I saw him, I also had a slight tinge of panic, because the umbilical cord was wrapped around his tiny neck 3 times. This explained why it took me so long to push him out because there was no slack in the cord and it was holding him back. We had no idea that the cord was wrapped around him because his heart rate had stayed perfect throughout labor so it wasn't constricting his breathing, thankfully. I had no reason to panic though because this wasn't the first baby wrapped in umbilical cord that my midwife had seen and she soon had him unwrapped.
And then she handed him to me. Seeing my baby for the first time was one thing. Holding him for the first time was a whole new level of joy and happiness and a mother can't help but cry at a moment like that. He was perfect. And it was time to sit back and relax with my husband and our new baby boy. It took William no time at all to figure out where the food was and how to get it. :) Eventually, I realized I was starving and ridiculously sleepy. So after my Little Man had his fill was taking his first nap in the big wide world, I took a nice hot bath, ate a giant bowl of beef stew, drank another coke, and took my own blissful nap. And Ben and I entered a whole new chapter of life. God was so good to us through this whole process and we are so thankful that William is here safe and sound and thriving.
Today he turned 8 weeks old and everyday I look at him and think "O my goodness. I had a baby!"
A very stupid cute baby.
Thank you Lord for the privilege to be a mother.
-JRae
Eight weeks ago today, I became a mother. I am a mother....wait..what? When did this happen? It was just yesterday that my sister and I would talk about things we would do someday when we were "grown up and married and had kids". Over the years and how much my own life has changed in just the past couple of years. Anyhoo, back to the me becoming a mom thing. Having a baby was the hardest and most rewarding experience ever. There's no way to prepare a first time mom for how painful/hard/wonderful/emotional labor will be. There's also no way to convey how I felt the first time I saw my sweet baby boy. However, let me try to give you an idea.... in honor of Mother's Day coming up, here is my birth story:
On March 8, 2013, I was 40 weeks preggars. I was also pert near tired of being preggars and was ready to get this show on the road and meet my Little Man. So to the internet I went to look for ways to speed things along. Several things I read suggested massaging acupressure points, so my hubby looked went to work massaging specific spots on my ankles, toes, and hands. It felt sooooo good regardless of if it was gonna work or not. At about 11:30 p.m. I felt the first twinges of labor. I wasn't positive that it was labor, but I could tell that it was more than Braxton Hicks. I fell asleep shortly after that, thanks to the massage, and woke up again at 1:30 a.m. At this point I was pretty confident that these were real contractions and some of them even "hurt". I put hurt in quotations because I would later find out that those did not hurt. They were in fact a piece of cake. Anyhoo, I laid there listening to my hubby snoring and using my contraction counter app on my phone. By 3:30 a.m. the contractions hurt more and were consistently 5 minutes apart. I woke Ben up and told him I was about to call Tori, our midwife, and tell her what was up. We had about an hour and a half drive to the birth house and having no idea what to expect with the first baby I wanted to make sure we got there on time. Before I called Tori, I called my mom who was going to be there for labor and delivery and told her that she might want to start waking up and packing. Tori asked me several questions about the contractions and told me to take a bath, eat some food, and try to go back to sleep and get some rest. So I did. But at 5:30 a.m. I was still awake and I was sure the contractions were getting more "painful" (more quotations for the same reasons). I called Tori back and she said that if I felt like we needed to leave, to go ahead and leave. So Ben and I set to work loading the car with the already packed bags, a cooler of snacks, and a very pregnant woman. O and a little bit of a side note: No matter how early on in labor you are, it is not fun to walk down three flights of stairs. Yay, married student housing apartments. Despite what I was expecting, the car ride was not horrible. In fact, it was kinda fun listening to music and talking about the amazing fact that we were about to meet our Little One, FINALLY!
We arrived at the birth house and Tori wanted to check me to see how far along I was. I was not prepared for how painful that would be and I nearly punched the poor woman in the face. :P To my dismay I was only 1 cm dilated. Tori suggested that it might be false labor since I had already been laboring a while with so little progress. I was also a little tensed up from the car ride and having been checked so I got in the birth tub to relax. After I relaxed some the contractions picked up a little. After about an hour of being in the tub, Ben was falling asleep sitting up and my mom had gotten there so Ben went to sleep while mom stayed up with me to help count contractions and fetch snacks and water. I eventually got out of the tub and did some walking around and sitting on the birthing ball. At this point the contractions were starting to get sporadic and kinda dying off a little.
Ben woke up and we went for a walk to try and get them to progress a little. We got back from the walk and it was lunch time by then, so we sat on the front porch and I had my first Coca Cola in 9 months. It was more heavenly than I can describe. Yes I have a problem. Back to the story. I got checked again after lunch (again, NOT FUN) and was only at 3cm. At this point, I was feeling discouraged at the lack of progress, but my awesome midwife politely got in my face and gave me a pep talk, reminding me that pain is good and that I needed to let go. To this day I still am not sure what I was letting go of. I didn't feel afraid or tense and nothing was bothering me, but whatever it was, I was gonna try to let go of it. :P Apparently that pep talk worked, because things started to pick up from there.
Ben and I went on another walk and the contractions were at about a 7-8 on the pain scale. I did not like walking. it hurt worse than any other position at that point. But it helped that my sweet hubby was constantly encouraging me and being super helpful in any way he could. He deserves a medal. After walking for a while, I was hungry again and it was getting cold outside, so we went in and got a snack. Ben did some more acupressure massaging on my ankles while I ate. Then we went on another walk.
By this time it was getting dark and I had thought I would be holding my baby in my arms by now. The contractions were close together and pushing a 9 on the pain scale and I was tired. I had been up since 1:30 that morning and I was running low on adrenaline. My midwife suggested I try to sleep, but stubborn me, was not going to bed. Not only was I afraid it would slow down contractions, but I just wanted to be done. Little did I know, that I was nowhere near done. Ben and I then proceeded to walk around in a circle in the living room for about 4 hours. Stopping every time a contraction came for me to lean on him and make low moaning sounds that sounded like a dying cow. My sweet husband did them with me and my awesome mother kept track of the contractions. I finally broke down and said the words I'd been thinking for the past few hours or so..."I can't do this anymore". So I decided to try to sleep. I had no idea how I was going to sleep but I had to stop standing and walking. I got in bed and was soon dozing in between contractions.
It was almost like my body needed those short little breaks in order to move on to the next stage, because within half an hour, my water broke and the real party started. After my water broke, there was a calm before the storm. I had about 10 minutes of contraction free bliss while I changed into clean clothes. Then the storm broke. That first contraction after my water broke was unlike anything I've ever felt before. Pain like I can't describe. My first thought was, "I really can't do this. It's not possible". Out loud, however, I said something else that I won't repeat on this blog. Ahem. I was gripping Ben's arm like it might fly away and struggling to relax and let the pain do it's work. After about 3 contractions, I was able to get a grip and get in the zone. Within an hour, I felt like I wanted to push and my midwife said to go for it. It wasn't long before I couldn't help but push. Ladies and Gents, I'm here to tell you that I pushed for 4 hours. Oy. Shortly after I told my midwife that I wanted to push, she checked me and said I was only 6 cm and to stop pushing. My thought was "No. No way I'm only 6 cm. Unacceptable. I am more than 6 cm." She then sent me to sit backwards on the toilet to keep things moving along. That was a whole new kind of pain that I wasn't ready for, but I kept telling myself that pain was progress. But I couldn't stop pushing. Tori talked to her helper midwife and they agreed that it was weird that I was only 6 cm and at the point of not being able to keep from pushing. I was acting more like 9 or 10 cm. Tori had her helper check me to get a second opinion. Debbie is her name, and she checked me and said, "9cm". Woohoo! Tori checked again and was like, "Ok that was not like that a second ago when I thought it was 6 cm". Honestly, what I think happened was that I heard her say 6cm, and my body said "no way Jose!" and jumped to 9cm right then and there. In no time at all I was 10 cm and working hard to get my big baby outta there.
After 28 hours of labor, 4 of which were pushing, we finally got to meet our little William. How do I begin to describe how I felt the first time I saw him?...other than exhaustion obviously. All I can tell you is that I believe in love at first sight now. That first look at my son made every uncomfortable, inconvenient, and painful moment in the past 9 months seem like petty problems. Nothing could over shadow the joy and love and relief I felt in that moment.
However, the first time I saw him, I also had a slight tinge of panic, because the umbilical cord was wrapped around his tiny neck 3 times. This explained why it took me so long to push him out because there was no slack in the cord and it was holding him back. We had no idea that the cord was wrapped around him because his heart rate had stayed perfect throughout labor so it wasn't constricting his breathing, thankfully. I had no reason to panic though because this wasn't the first baby wrapped in umbilical cord that my midwife had seen and she soon had him unwrapped.
And then she handed him to me. Seeing my baby for the first time was one thing. Holding him for the first time was a whole new level of joy and happiness and a mother can't help but cry at a moment like that. He was perfect. And it was time to sit back and relax with my husband and our new baby boy. It took William no time at all to figure out where the food was and how to get it. :) Eventually, I realized I was starving and ridiculously sleepy. So after my Little Man had his fill was taking his first nap in the big wide world, I took a nice hot bath, ate a giant bowl of beef stew, drank another coke, and took my own blissful nap. And Ben and I entered a whole new chapter of life. God was so good to us through this whole process and we are so thankful that William is here safe and sound and thriving.
Today he turned 8 weeks old and everyday I look at him and think "O my goodness. I had a baby!"
A very stupid cute baby.
Thank you Lord for the privilege to be a mother.
-JRae
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Stupid Cute Bouquets
My mom did my wedding flowers. They were amazing...just like her. She wants to pin them on Pinterest so I'm blogging them so she can pin from there. Never mind that I haven't blogged in who knows how long.
Here's a bridesmaids bouquet:
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
And this is my Granny-in-law. That's probably the best close-up I have of the corsages.
More of the bridal bouquet:
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Happy Christmas! And a Merry New Year!
I love how in the Harry Potter movies they say Happy Christmas instead of Merry Christmas. I don't know why but I guess it's because it just fits with the British accent better. At any rate, I hope you had a Happy/Merry Christmas. :)
My Christmas was grand as it is every year. I love that it was on a Sunday. It just seemed fitting that on the day we celebrate the birth of Christ we should be at church, focusing our attention on and worshiping the God man that came to earth to be born to die for us. My wonderful sister and her lovely family got to be with us Christmas morning and we had a big yummy breakfast. We were supposed to have Pioneer Woman cinnamon rolls...but...ummm...I kinda ruined them. They were pretty stupid....and I don't mean the good kind of stupid. I was supposed to half the recipe because the original recipe feeds 12,263 people (exaggeration). I halved everything but the milk so the dough was more like runny cake batter rather than dough that could be rolled. :/ It was too late in the game to start over so, alas, we settle for pecan squares at breakfast. Tragedy, I know. :P Any-hoo, after breakfast we opened stockings. I don't know why, but stocking have to be my favorite Christmas tradition...next to food that is. Stocking stuffers are just sooooo fun and stuff that I wouldn't buy myself but love to get. Mine was full of owl stuff along with a couple other things that weren't owly. :) I think I'm set for owl stuff for a while. I am by no means tired of them but my collection is growing fast. :P After stockings, we all donned our church apparel (fa la la fa la la la la la), and headed to church. It was fun seeing all of our church family on Christmas day. There was a fun festive feel in the air and all the kids were giddy with excitement and eager to tell all who would listen what presents they opened that morning. My cousin Olivia didn't even say hi to me. She just ran up to me screaming, "JESSIEEEEEE!!!! I GOT ROLLER SKATES!!!!!!" :) After church, we headed back home to don our comfy apparel (fa la la fa la la la la la), pack up the presents and food, and head to Aunt Cheryl's and Uncle Kirk's for the evening festivities. My ridiculously cool Aunt Cheryl had a hot cocoa bar along with the rest of the typical holiday finger food feast. Super fun! For some reason we ate before we opened presents, which I didn't mind much, but I think Ross was about to hyperventilate. We draw names at our house instead of each person buying a gift for each person. It's super fun to focus on one person to get a gift(s) for and waaaay cheaper than buying one for each person. I had my Sister's name. She's kinda hard to buy for but easy to please....don't ask me how she manages that. However the brilliance of wish lists helped me out :) My mother had my name and just wait till you hear what she gave me!!!! Actually, you probably already know since everyone this side of the equator heard me scream with glee. She got me the......wait for it....Owl City album Ocean Eyes on.......(drum roll please)......VINYL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As many of you know I am A) Obsessed with Owl City and B) obsessed with my record player/records. So needless to say this was THE BEST GIFT EVER!!! It's kinda cool how they still make vinyl. I even found a Michael Buble' album on Vinyl too. Mom also got me a new iPod docking station. Score! My old one was shot and this one is way cooler. My aunt pointed out how ironic those two gifts are together :P My awesome brother-in-law just happened to have his record player he just got in the car so he brought it in and we played my new record. I'm sure I don't have to tell you how insufferable I was....singing every word and swaying back and forth to the music, with a stupid, giddy grin on my face.
The evening wore on and we ate till we said, "Ugh I'm never eating again" and played games that made us do embarrassing things we won't go into, and pretty much had the bestest, happiest, merriest Christmas ever! :)
Overloaded with sugar,
JRae
My Christmas was grand as it is every year. I love that it was on a Sunday. It just seemed fitting that on the day we celebrate the birth of Christ we should be at church, focusing our attention on and worshiping the God man that came to earth to be born to die for us. My wonderful sister and her lovely family got to be with us Christmas morning and we had a big yummy breakfast. We were supposed to have Pioneer Woman cinnamon rolls...but...ummm...I kinda ruined them. They were pretty stupid....and I don't mean the good kind of stupid. I was supposed to half the recipe because the original recipe feeds 12,263 people (exaggeration). I halved everything but the milk so the dough was more like runny cake batter rather than dough that could be rolled. :/ It was too late in the game to start over so, alas, we settle for pecan squares at breakfast. Tragedy, I know. :P Any-hoo, after breakfast we opened stockings. I don't know why, but stocking have to be my favorite Christmas tradition...next to food that is. Stocking stuffers are just sooooo fun and stuff that I wouldn't buy myself but love to get. Mine was full of owl stuff along with a couple other things that weren't owly. :) I think I'm set for owl stuff for a while. I am by no means tired of them but my collection is growing fast. :P After stockings, we all donned our church apparel (fa la la fa la la la la la), and headed to church. It was fun seeing all of our church family on Christmas day. There was a fun festive feel in the air and all the kids were giddy with excitement and eager to tell all who would listen what presents they opened that morning. My cousin Olivia didn't even say hi to me. She just ran up to me screaming, "JESSIEEEEEE!!!! I GOT ROLLER SKATES!!!!!!" :) After church, we headed back home to don our comfy apparel (fa la la fa la la la la la), pack up the presents and food, and head to Aunt Cheryl's and Uncle Kirk's for the evening festivities. My ridiculously cool Aunt Cheryl had a hot cocoa bar along with the rest of the typical holiday finger food feast. Super fun! For some reason we ate before we opened presents, which I didn't mind much, but I think Ross was about to hyperventilate. We draw names at our house instead of each person buying a gift for each person. It's super fun to focus on one person to get a gift(s) for and waaaay cheaper than buying one for each person. I had my Sister's name. She's kinda hard to buy for but easy to please....don't ask me how she manages that. However the brilliance of wish lists helped me out :) My mother had my name and just wait till you hear what she gave me!!!! Actually, you probably already know since everyone this side of the equator heard me scream with glee. She got me the......wait for it....Owl City album Ocean Eyes on.......(drum roll please)......VINYL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As many of you know I am A) Obsessed with Owl City and B) obsessed with my record player/records. So needless to say this was THE BEST GIFT EVER!!! It's kinda cool how they still make vinyl. I even found a Michael Buble' album on Vinyl too. Mom also got me a new iPod docking station. Score! My old one was shot and this one is way cooler. My aunt pointed out how ironic those two gifts are together :P My awesome brother-in-law just happened to have his record player he just got in the car so he brought it in and we played my new record. I'm sure I don't have to tell you how insufferable I was....singing every word and swaying back and forth to the music, with a stupid, giddy grin on my face.
The evening wore on and we ate till we said, "Ugh I'm never eating again" and played games that made us do embarrassing things we won't go into, and pretty much had the bestest, happiest, merriest Christmas ever! :)
Overloaded with sugar,
JRae
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Copy Cat Day
I'm christening today...Copy Cat Day. Where instead of using your own brain power to blog about an original thought, or recipe, or what you did for your date last night, you commandeer someone else's brilliance/ thoughfulness/ good thought of the day and post it on your own blog. Of course please, by all means, tell the blog world who you "stole" it from.
Today I shall commandeer from...wait for it...The Rabbit Room. To those of you who know me well, this is no surprise. I copy cat from these people quite often since they are so very brilliant/thoughtful/full of good thoughts. This post is about the true meaning of Christmas and how as Christians sometimes it is easy to get caught up in the presents and stress of the season that we forget to celebrate our Prince of Peace, our Emmanuel, our Jesus Christ. As I read the article I was struck by the thought that we humans are prone to this same mistake every day of the year...not just Christmas time. Each and every day is a battle to put away selfish desires, worries,and meaningless things and put Christ at the center. So read this article and rejoice in the birth of Christ today, and Christmas day, and Boxing Day, International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and St. Patrick's Day, and "OMG I have no energy" day. :)
Merry Christmas, Ya'll. :)
Today I shall commandeer from...wait for it...The Rabbit Room. To those of you who know me well, this is no surprise. I copy cat from these people quite often since they are so very brilliant/thoughtful/full of good thoughts. This post is about the true meaning of Christmas and how as Christians sometimes it is easy to get caught up in the presents and stress of the season that we forget to celebrate our Prince of Peace, our Emmanuel, our Jesus Christ. As I read the article I was struck by the thought that we humans are prone to this same mistake every day of the year...not just Christmas time. Each and every day is a battle to put away selfish desires, worries,and meaningless things and put Christ at the center. So read this article and rejoice in the birth of Christ today, and Christmas day, and Boxing Day, International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and St. Patrick's Day, and "OMG I have no energy" day. :)
Merry Christmas, Ya'll. :)
Give Away!
Re-posting this give-away so I can maybe win it. Never mind that I haven't had a legit blog post in a while.
Lazy,
JRae
O ya, here's the link.
Lazy,
JRae
O ya, here's the link.
Monday, November 28, 2011
I Heart Children's Books
I love reading children's books. Sometimes when I'm reading to my 3 year old cousin or my 1 year old niece, I realize that they are on the other side of the room and have long ago lost interest in what I'm reading and moved on to something else. And yet I keep reading because I want to know the ending even if they don't. I'm a kid like that :P But according to this article on the Rabbit Room by Jennifer Trafton, (author of "The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic) it's perfectly ok to be childlike (not childish). It's a rather lengthy article but definitely worth your time. I hope you read it then go color, or read Moo Baa La La La, or play hide and go seek. :)
Child at heart,
JRae
Child at heart,
JRae
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)