The ghost hunters!

Has your child ever stolen something from another kid? Have you ever had to call another mom and explain that their child's favorite toy ended up in your child's pocket "by mistake" after a play date? Have you ever threatened to take away your child's favorite toy because they stole from somebody else? No? Just me?? Well, here is the story of my parenting low...

Yesterday one of my girlfriends had my daughters and I over for breakfast and a play date. She wanted to treat me to biscuits and chocolate gravy (HEAVEN!!!!) for my upcoming birthday. We had a good time chatting and refereeing our 4 kids. Zo (my almost 4 year old) was having an obeying problem and ended up in the corner once or twice while there but we got out mainly unscathed.

After we got home and had naps we were getting ready to meet my aunt for some Easter dress shopping when I noticed something in Zo's jacket pocket... I reached in and pulled out a tiny wind up ghost toy from our friend's house! After a chat with Z about honesty, she admitted that she had taken it from their house because "I didn't have one and I liked it." Great, looks like we are going to the library for a book on stealing!

I snapped a picture of the toy and sent my friend a text saying that we had their toy and that I was sorry my child is a thief. I started getting shoes on the girls and changing my clothes when she replied that it was one of her baby's favorite toys and to just stick it in my purse so I could give it to her Friday at my birthday shin dig. I went to the kitchen (where I had taken the picture) to grab it and toss it in my purse but, alas, it wasn't there... I JUST HAD IT 5 MINUTES AGO!? I turn to my 2 and 3 year olds and asked them who had taken it, neither would fess up.

I spent the next 15 minutes retracing my steps all over the house before, exasperated, I gave up and went to meet my aunt at the mall. The whole way to the mall I explain that when we get home they WILL find that toy or we would be giving away one of Z's favorite toys, her beloved beanie bear. She squawked and squealed all the way to the mall. I got there all flustered and chased two wild women all over Dillard's and half of the mall as they ran in separate directions for the next hour and a half.

I got home and showed my husband the picture of the ghost and set him the task of helping the kids find it while I fixed dinner. In between cooking taco meat and making the guacamole, I searched as well. Z looked here and there halfheartedly and announced that she had searched the whole house and it was gone so it must be back at her friend's house... Riiiiight. We put her in her sister's crib and I took beanie bear away. Chris pulled our bed away from the wall to see if it had fallen back there, nope but there was quite a bit of junk we won't speak of! I pulled the sofa across the living room to see if it was under or behind there... I found 5 shoes (only one pair), lots of missing toys, a pad for my steam mop and a (clean) cloth diaper, but no ghost.

At this point I was so mad we had lost this stupid little ghost that I was almost prepared to make Z go to bed without a chance to ignore her supper (because we all know she won't eat it anyway) when my husband asks something about wearing a jacket today, "yes!" I replied, "That was where I found it to begin with." He shook his head and said, "No, were YOU wearing a jacket?" Was I? I wore a sweater to the mall without a jacket because what I had on had a hole in the elbow that made me look like a hobo so I changed... WAIT!! I go to the bedroom and pick up my favorite tattered old Eddie Bauer jacket, that feels .2 oz heavier than normal, and there is that stinking, illusive ghost!

I went to the girls' room and extracted Z from sister's bed and show her the ghost. I explained that I had found it in my jacket pocket and that I was sorry for taking her beanie bear away. I took her to the table and gave her a taco that she scarfed down with a few blue corn chips. I sit there exhausted from frustration and wonder out loud if I have enough sunlight left for a quick run to clear my head... Hubs encourages it and I head for the door for a 1.4 mile jog/run to the park and back.

I got home and Z and I make peace once and for all when she offers to rub my sore legs to make them feel better. Then we cuddled and told each other over and over "I love you".

Have you ever had a "crazy mom moment"? 

Winter honey

I love the idea of finding wellness in God's creation. I use a lot of teas when I'm sick with sinus, allergy junk or when I have cold/flu symptoms. This fall I decided to take an extra step in my wellness with a honey blend of my own thinking.



I start with a fresh, clean canning jar and toss in about 10-15 whole cloves, 5 or 6 cinnamon sticks, and a lemon (quartered and sliced thin) and then fill the jar with local honey. I keep the jar in the door of my refrigerator and give it a good stir every few days.


When one of us has a tickle in our throats we either take a spoon full of it alone (delicious) or we add it to a cup of herbal tea.

Luxury from the kitchen!?

If you are anything like me, you probably suffer from dry skin in the winter. Sometimes my skin is so dry it actually hurts.
A few weeks ago I found an overripe avocado in my refrigerator, it was more mushy than I would have wanted to eat so I decided to make something fancy for my face! I ground up about a quarter cup of oats in my magic bullet, tossed 1/4 of the mushy avocado in with about a tsp of liquid coconut oil, a drop of vitamin E oil and about a tsp of milled flax.
I blended it all up and smeared it on my face...


I let it soak in for about 5 minutes and then rinsed and put my coconut oil moisturizer on. My face felt like butter!!

Drama and all it's nonsense

I hate drama and how it affects me and I am stepping up and saying "no more". I'm not interacting in silly fights on social media because honestly, it's fruitless anyway, nobody cares about what somebody else's opinion is these days. Especially if the opinion is from somebody with more conservative views. I'm tired of being called hateful, judgmental or a hypocrite when I disagree with somebody else's opinions. I am capable of disagreeing without hating or judging. 
So often, people assume that if you disagree you must hate. I don't know about you but I can disagree with you on something and still love you! I can't think of a single person that I agree with 100% of the time... not even my husband (and I'm madly in love with him). If I am friends with you, your view on vaccinations, marriage equality or the color red won't change that. I may disagree with your opinion but that won't mean I hate you!
So, why is it that people are always fighting on social media? Why has it become a place for everyone to passively aggressively (or just aggressively) attack one another? Why have we all become so loudly opinionated? I remember when I was growing up how our parents kept their views on things like politics to themselves. People back 20 or 30 years ago had enough respect for their friendships to not discuss things that could cause unnecessary problems. Trying to convince a long time republican that Bill Clinton was the best choice for president would probably cause more hardships in your friendship than it would swing their vote so why open that can of worms? 
My plea is that we all try a little harder to respect one another, not call names and try to remember that as firm in our views as we are, there are people just as firm in theirs. I'm not talking about not sharing the gospel, that is our duty as Christians, I'm talking about things like vaccinations, politics, parenting styles... Sure, you can say, "If your kids didn't get the flu shot, we may skip the play dates until the spring." You are making a parenting choice there. However,  saying, "I can't believe you didn't get the flu shot, you must like getting the flu." is just asking for a fight and is pretty disrespectful. 
I've been guilty of saying things in the heat of a debate that weren't kind, most of the time it was out of retaliation or defense of my own views being attacked, sometimes because I just wasn't thinking about how it was coming across. Either way, I'm walking away from it. 
Maybe we can all try a little harder to not post rants on social media that we know are going to cause hardships between some of our friends and maybe if a friend does post something we disagree with, we keep our own opinions to ourselves or speak to them privately about it.  After all, aren't our friends important to us?