Just So You Know...

I won't be blogging for a little while in preparation for the call. So I won't update until after 7-7-07. I can hardly wait to hear what's gone on in your lives during my little over a week absence. Of course, I go that long without blogging sometimes and I'm sure you hardly notice. But I am pretty good about commenting on others blogs so just know I haven't dropped off the planet and I will still read blogs- in a week and three days. I think this is going to be kind of hard to do.

Love and Kisses,

Amy

I used to dream of stuff like this. Being outside on a warm summer evening, weeding my driveway (funny that wasn't in my dream I just always assumed my driveway would be paved) and finding some cool creature that I could show Chloe- that she wouldn't run screaming from. It was such a nice evening, overcast and humid; the kind of weather that sends Chloe's hair into tight ringlets. Then we found them, slimy and crawly. Aptly named by the queen of naming things- have I ever mentioned that Chloe named the tree in our front yard Sally? Halle danced around us excitedly saying, " I want hold it" and then ran away screaming "I no mant it-it's gwoss!". It's great to be making these memories in our very own home for our very first summer and I love it.

And just a little update on my seedings; the maple tree really tried but didn't make it. The lemon, however is doing quite nicely. It doesn't seem to be a super quick grower so I probably have a while before I have to give it to a FL relative but I'm enjoying it for now.

"I Guess That's What I Get For Thinking So Well Of Myself"

That's a line from one of my favorite movies. And really, it couldn't be more appropriate for me today. I'm watching the Fadely kids tonight so that Eric and Tisra can go out for their anniversary. And in the interest of being declared the best babysitter in the universe I decided I'd get pizza and make cupcakes- and I rented 4 movies-including Justice League- but that has nothing to do with this morning. I also needed to make a Key Lemon Pie for Travis to make up for his terrible Father's Day (I might post on that later and yes, it is a Key Lemon Pie. Make sure you carefully read the label when shopping for Key Lime juice because your husband might just decide he likes lemon better). Since I had a white cake mix that called for 3 egg whites and the Key Lemon pie called for 5 egg yolks it seemed silly not to do both of them at the same time. So I made the Graham Cracker crust, separated the eggs, put the crust in the oven, put all the ingredients into the cake mix, added a whole egg to the remaining two egg whites and put them in a pan to scramble for breakfast later. Then I congratulated myself on my thriftiness and productivity. After I spent a good bit of time congratulating myself I attempted to transfer the cake mix with the yet-to-be-mixed ingredients from the island to the counter (because my mixer cord won't reach that far)but I dropped it. Yes-I-dropped-it. Now, I didn't just let it drop because I had one hand on it but I didn't have a good grip so I went all the way to the floor with one hand on the bowl and ended up with cake mix, butter, and water on my glasses, in my eyes and all over my pants. And of course as I was rinsing my face who should toddle in but miss sassy pants who promptly slipped and fell into the mess. But I couldn't get to her because I couldn't see anything. I'll spare you the rest of the cleaning up details and the incessant screaming and shouts of "I fell!" but since I didn't completely spill the cake, just quite a bit of the water and some butter I decided to just add some water back to the mix until it seemed the right consistency and made the cupcakes anyway. I haven't tasted them yet but if they're terrible I can just toss them out and haven't lost any more than I would have if I just junked it.

So that's my story and now I have a ton of things to do to get ready for the evenings fun. But I hope it gave you a good chuckle.

We Have How Long?

I was checking out SEU's website yesterday and happened to look at the FAQ's and found out that Amanda's application has to be submitted by November 1! That's-only-5-months-away! I actually broke down and started crying when I saw that. Why haven't we looked at this stuff sooner? What was I thinking?!? Of course you have to turn that stuff in early. You need to plan- the school needs to set aside your dorm room. You have to make sure the money is there-they have to make sure the money is there. Wow. This time next year we will (most likely) be getting my baby girl ready for her first year of college. I really though that since Nashville is a college town surely we'd find one close by and she could just live here and commute and I suppose that isn't out of the question. But now I feel behind and I hate to have to play catch-up on something like this. Sigh.

And She's Off!

Well, she did it! We dropped Amanda off at Governor's School this past Sunday. It was an emotional weekend with her excited one moment and dreading it the next. I don't know if you know this about Amanda but she doesn't like new things. As a kid she was always making friends but hated any new adventure I took her on. Most kids like the beach, but not Amanda. Incessant grumbling and whining accompanied every trip. The same goes for the mall or taking her for walks, even though I'd buy a brand new toy for her before the walk. She's just very particular and likes what she likes. Don't try to convince her to like or try anything else because she won't do it.
But back to the story. It was difficult to get all of the Buttons ready to get out the door on time and we barely made it to Murfreesboro before the 11am cutoff. And once we got there Amanda remembered that she'd left her folder full of notarized papers on the kitchen counter despite the fact that Travis had gone through the house and found something else she forgot and asked her if she was sure she had everything and she responded with a very impatient "YES!". I'm not sure where she gets that attitude from. So Travis and Amanda ran inside while Taylor and I got the girls out of the car. Then we found out that they had more papers available for just such an occasion and that they didn't need to be notarized. It would have been helpful to know that on errand day. So we got her all registered and just as a little side note- I was entertaining the little girls and Halle was drinking a bottle of Dasani and said "Mmmm, agua, gracias!" to which I replied "denada". So cute.

Then we took Amanda to her dorm to get her all set up . As I walked in I was so underwhelmed. I'm not sure what I was expecting but I wasn't expecting that. It was old and smelly and icky. But you couldn't tell that from the outside because it was brick and brick ages pretty well. So we found her room and it was just as icky. Terrazzo floors (which have apparently come a long way because I can't find a photo of a 1960 terrazzo floor), cement block walls, leaking a/c, one window, two beds with rubber covered mattresses. Amanda promptly called it her prison cell and got very upset. Of course, at this point she didn't want to stay so the room wasn't helping. But I convinced her that we should make her bed and that it would look more homey and it helped. But we were running out of time before the parent/student orientation and needed to get some lunch before hand. And since we didn't know the area very well we wandered around a bit until we found a Zaxby's. The food was good but the wait to get it was long. But it was pretty crowded with GS parents and after church patrons so we tried to not be too anxious about it. Amanda started feeling sick during lunch, which is normal for her in a situation like this, and we tried to reassure her. Then we were off to the school again for orientation and at the end the speaker said "hug your kids and tell them goodbye and don't come back again until parents day." It was a bummer because we thought we had a couple more hours with her. We were going to go buy a mattress cover and some cleaning supplies but it had to wait for two weeks. There were lots of hugs and tears and hugs and more tears. But in the end she decided that she'd walk back to her dorm by herself instead of us driving her there- poor kid.

The ride home was quiet. Taylor had ridden with us and was riding back with "the parents" so it could have been uncomfortable but we listened to one of Pastor Dale's messages so no one felt like we had to talk. And when we got home I invited Taylor to stay for some pizza but he said he had to go, and really, he looked awful. He seemed to be choking back tears the whole time. Ah, young love!

I've talked to Amanda several times since then and the first couple of days were really rough. She kept saying that she didn't want to be there but she never asked to come home. She never even hinted at it really. She has 4 hours of dance rehearsals or combat training or choreography so she's pretty wiped out by the end of the day. She said that yesterday was the first day she didn't cry and at the end of the week she's going to Virginia to see the Blackfriars Playhouse. I wish I was going.

So we have 9 days until we see her again and we can spend the whole day with her. Then there are less than 3 weeks until we see her again and bring her home. Then she's most likely going to FL with her grandparents, but that's a story for another day.

Oh what fun....

it is to give up sugar! Not really. But I have since this past Tuesday given up sugar and bread and I feel really good. I have made my health issues a matter of prayer and have realized that some of my symptoms, while not serious right now, will become very serious if left untreated. Headaches-every-single-day are not normal. Being sick every time I do any type of strenuous physical activity- even running errands these days- is not normal. I won't list all of my symptoms because I'd like to keep them to myself but just a general feeling of malaise isn't normal.

So I had to make changes. I'm not freaking myself out about this too much for fear of becoming overwhelmed and just saying "forget about it!". So I'm taking it one day at a time. I haven't had any tea sweetened with sugar since Sunday, I think. And can I just say that I would rather drink something fizzy/sweet than eat sometimes. I'm always drinking something. On Tuesday I had 3 cups of green tea with Stevia and 1 cup of a Key Lime flavored ceylon black tea. I felt like I was brewing tea all day long, so I think I only drank water the next day. But in order for me to stay with this I have to have something fun in my diet. I tried Milo's tea with Splenda and I just thought it tasted fake and wasn't refreshing at all. I've been very anti Splenda but thought that I needed something like sweet tea. But I read a women's magazine and found a company that makes a soda called diet steaz. It uses green tea, organic cane juice, and stevia along with some other things but it's fizzy and fruity and only has 30 calories. It tasted OK when I tried it last night but it wasn't cold and had a weird flavor. It tasted like this other liquid detox stuff I tried that reminded me of a not-so-yummy vegetable broth or my detox tea. But after I refrigerated it and drank it while I was eating something it was much better. But I felt better after I drank it. It was refreshing though and it didn't make me feel sick or sluggish or anything like that so I'll probably try some of their other flavors. You may be wondering why I would go through all the trouble? Well, I really, really like flavored drinks.

My dilemma is, of course, how to keep going and what I can eat. For now I'm eating eggs, cheese, nuts, lean meat, veggies, and fruit. And I made a decent smoothie from 1 cup frozen berries, enough whole milk to make it blend well, 3 packets of stevia, 2 tablespoons of flax seed meal, and a touch of orange extract (I miss the orange juice!). It's pretty good and the longer I go without sugar the better it tastes. It also gives me more energy than I would have if I went strictly low-carb. My other dilemma is what to do about the rest of the family's diet. Should I just let the girls go on eating/drinking the way we have been and let them figure out their resulting health problems on their own? Yeah, I didn't think so but I'm not sure what to change. So anyway, this is just another step in my trying to get better and the Lord is really helping me with it. I've never wanted to be a "fussy" person that can't go to someones house and eat what is offered so I don't know what to do about that either. I'm sure I'll figure it out but at this point the benefits are outweighing the negatives.

I can't believe I'm already into week 2 of the girls summer break. Time flew last week when Mom and Dad were here. I dragged them to Hendersonville as soon as they got to our house this past Wednesday. I needed a hair cut and I'm very afraid to try someplace new since I have several bad hair cut experiences. And I also needed to go to Ginger's Health Food store. I was able to stay well for 2 and a half months last year by taking some products from Renew Life and even though it's little pricey I'm desperate. I also wanted Mom and Dad to try them because of some health issues. And Amanda had plans with Taylor before her modeling gig so dropping her off there helped him out a little bit. That night we headed over to Centennial Park for her fashion show and there was a movie in the park as well but since Napoleon Dynamite was showing we decided to skip it. Besides after driving from B'ham to Franklin to Hendersonville to Franklin to Nashville they were pretty well tuckered out- and I was too.

So the next day we went to the Factory and visited the Viking store, ice cream shop, and a great consignment store. I actually meant to tell everybody about it but I got a great skirt and linen top from there for around $20 so the next time I have shopping money I'm heading there first. I also found some plate holders that I can use for the paintings that I've done on canvas board. The one pictured is the one I did for my Mom for Mother's Day. I just gave it to her this past weekend because I felt like a dork by giving her something I painted (picture a 6 year old Amy handing her Mom a scribbled on card). I was really afraid she wouldn't like it because I wasn't completely thrilled with it but she did like it and it looked nice in the plate holder. I'll take a picture of another of my paintings in one so you'll know what I'm talking about.

By Friday we had birthday party errands to run, Travis came home sick with a stomach bug and we had to reschedule the party, more birthday errands because we couldn't send my parents home party-less, and hours of Rook playing. By Saturday everybody was just kind of sick from this or that and very tired from all of the running. I'm afraid it might be a while before they come back.

Much more happened over the weekend including a big health scare with Trav's Pop but God is so good and Pop is much better. He was in the hospital with a heart condition but thankfully it wasn't a heart attack and we are very thankful. He's out of the hospital and is able to go back to work- and workout- today, I think.

Right now I'm planning on feeding the little ones and am going to take them to the mall to play. It is pretty hot outside and it really isn't that much fun for any of us to be outside for long.

Happy Birthday Cocoa Puff!

How can it possibly be 6 years since Chloe was born? I woke up this morning with Halle lying next to me (since she woke up at 6-ish and I didn't feel like getting up) and Chloe burst through the door to say good morning- I don't think she remembered it was her birthday. But I do remember that day six years ago and how it went terribly wrong but by God's grace we came out of it just fine. I couldn't imagine life without Chloe and am so incredibly thankful for her.

Actually, as I'm writing this she's sitting next to me and asking me to write about Amanda too- about how she's special and gives Chloe hugs and puts up her hair. What a sweet girl!

We had a great weekend with my parents in town. I showed them all around Franklin and we had a cookout -of sorts, since it rained- and a little party for Chloe. We had to reschedule her actual party because of a stomach bug that passed through the house- ick. Then we spent the day (today) with the Fadely's and had super-yummy cupcakes with real buttercreme frosting, mmmm. I took my camera and forgot to take pictures of the fun though.


So it looks like despite our best efforts Chloe's birthday, as with a couple of the other Button girls, will be a week long celebration. We're putting the kabosh on that though because we're setting them up for a life full of disappointment when they get to real life- or for a lifetime of frustration and empty bank accounts for their future husbands. But for now we're celebrating with a game of "Dora" themed Candyland- this should be fun.