idontbelieveingrammar

Those were our plans for a girls night out. Our friends were in town from out of state.....and the boys have evenings of movies and video gaming planned we wanted a night of our own. Last year we hit pirahna and then next door for some great wall of chocolate for dessert. We were all dressed up and had a fun evening of laughing and talking and maybe even a few shots. This year -- 2 of us were knocked up -- so the evening plans were tamed down. I was disapointed. I like good coffee and conversation more than the average girl but.........I don't get a fun night out very often and well I had more in mind than a cup of coffee. The evening began w/ 2 very dull and tired girls picking out a baby gift. I was already getting tired and we hadn't even made it to the coffee shop. None of us went decaf. I think this was our downfall. Too much caffeine, no babies to tuck in and we all went wild. Or at least I did. I mentioned the posability of a tattoo and within minutes we were all packed ...

Meet Eric......who was so not amused with us....and when I say us I mean me. Steph, the pro who knows all the names of people on Miami Ink ....was nice enough to hold my hand. Starting to get a little scared before we begin! So different from last year's girl's night out picture ;) The minivan that brought us here.........the guy was actually laughing when we pulled up. The finished product. you have to image all the red puffiness as just plain white. I was going for subtle.

I am thankful that it is not your picture I keep seeing on the news. Don't get me wrong I am very sad for Lasharon's family. But, I don't know her. She isn't in my 7th period class. She isn't why my stomach fell after they announced that there had been a wreck and asked us to pray and that you didn't ever come back from lunch. She doesn't sit on the 4th row, 3rd chair back. But you were both in that car they found wrapped around a tree. She didn't fall asleep during the notes last week. She didn't come in for tutorials yesterday. She didn't tell me about her dreams to go to NYU and be a pediatrician. You did. And although something terrible and horrible happened to you today, soon you will be back in the 4th row. Your world isn't going to back to normal maybe ever. Your world has been turned upside down. But your world is still here. In my 7th period class. Struggling to understand protein synthesis. A chance to fulfill some of those lofty dr...

so did i mention i wrote a book....with some friends of course. it is an advent devotional.....i meant to mail a hard copy to a few of you.....but i avoid the post office like the plague this time of year. you are already a week behind. http://fwwriters.wordpress.com/

Tonight we decorated the tree. I only kind of like this part. I like the idea of decorating. Hanging ornaments, hot chocolate, overall spreading good cheer. That ideallic picture was smashed even before getting everything out of the attic. A broken coffee pot and one fight later we had everything down. Fight quickly forgotten as Owen was climbing all over the reindeer ( or as he called them giraffes) and loved that there was actually a tree in the house. Shaun helped O put the star on top and I stopped him midstretch. "Wait, hold that moment -- let me get the camera". It was too cute with O's little superman underoos showing. TiVo has me spoiled. Sometimes I catch myself wanting to pause or rewind the radio. Just for a minute I wanted to do the same with real life. I found some shoes and my car keys and went searching for the camera. No luck. Back inside, one more rummage through the purse. Still empty handed. O was looking longingly at the tree wondering why he couldn...

usually after a trip i can't wait to get home. after 5 days with my inlaws that couldn't be more true. don't get me wrong. my inlaws are great and in many ways much more sane than my own family. however, things start to get a little crowded after day 4. the twin beds in shaun's old room don't help. almost 6 hours in a car with a small child and dog later i was eager to unlock that door. home. we quickly piled into our own bed, checked the tivo and discussed what toppings for the pizza we were about to order. i was ready to be home, just not ready to be back to reality. out of cat food. ughh. going to the store in the cold drizzle after being in the rain was the last thing i wanted to do. i did. then i get home and realized we were also out of milk. damn. then i rumaged through the mail. turns out i forgot to pay the water bill. they were threatening to turn it off ......uhm 3days ago. quick check and the sink turns on. Must go drop off the check in the night drop,...

Here is a sneak peak from the shoot this morning. Check out my friend Rhonda: http://www.snapshotsonlocation/ . She is a deal and can work with even the most difficult child. ( don't ask me how i know that!)

One of my friends recently got into the photography business. I have capitialzed on the oppertunity for my family and particuarly my son to be her learning subjects. The above pics are from her last shoot. She has gotten really good and invested in some top of the line equipment. This morning she came over to shoot my Christmas card photos. Usually that job falls to who ever is around when the tree is up and we are all in clean clothes ( and never this early in the season). I had it all planned out in my head. My favoite place for everyone in the family to be......the bed. We were all in Christmasy pajamas and I had very convincing props. Crisp white sheets, coffee cups, the morning paper, books, and stuffed animals. I wanted the pictures to display all the warmth and life that I feel in my family. I had images in my head of O jumping on the bed, a pillow fight, reading the paper all with the dog curled happily at the foot of the bed. I haven't seen the photos yet. And she swears s...

Friday night me and Shaun had tickets at the House of Blues. Tegan and Sara. ( they are awesome and you should totally check them out if you are into 2 hip twins from canada -- they almost make up for canada's other 2 musical blemishes: shania twain and celene dion). The night was fun and amazing but full of not so gentle reminders of my age. 1. The show started at 9. as in pm. as in very close to the time i am usually in bed. also that was just the opening act ( northern state who totallly rocked.....you should also check them out...kind of a female version of the beastie boys). 2. What to wear? the House of Blues is a little bit hip. I don't think Ann Taylor Loft counts as hip. I couldn't find one single pair of jeans in my closet with holes in them. paint yes, but holes no. When did i get so grown up that my clothes actually look new when I buy them. 3. Getting ready for my night on the town also included laying out pjs, diapers and leaving insturctions for the babysitte...

I'll admit it. I'm still a Grey's fan. I like the mess that is Meredith Grey and all those hot doctors don't hurt either. I don't particuarly like the way have portrayed marriage.......but I still TiVo it and look forward to my Thursday nights. If you don't watch let me give you a quick summary of part of last week's episode. First a little background: Meredith has a step sister who has suddenly appeared this season. This step sister was never part of her life. It was the life and family her father chose over her. Her step sister keeps trying to connect with Mer -- but she keeps pushing her away and is often downright mean. In this episode a woman comes in with a small child that is injured. The baby turns out to be ok, but the mom is in critical condition. The dad doesn't know what to do. They had just adopted the baby and hadn't even given her a name yet.......and now it looks like the mom won't make it. The dad wants to give the baby back. He ...

Yesterady we took Owen to the Tech/Baylor football game. The weather was amazing and he is still small enough that we don't have to buy a ticket. One of my favorite old friends was in TX and just a row behind us...which meant I spent most of the game catching up with her.......and ignoring the game ( come on it was baylor)...and my son. Owen was entertaining himself nicely feeding his dinosaur crackers, drinking all my "juice" (soda he shouldn't have) and throwing the nerf football we packed at some unsuspecting neighbors. After several quarters of entertaining himself, the sun started to get to him and he laid down on the concrete riser. This was gross I know, but I let him. He got a little dirty, he ate some popcorn off the ground ( i did try to stop that)and seriously eyed some chewed up gum stuck to the bottom of a bleacher. The two cute women in front of me kept looking me back and giving me dirty looks. He was not disrupting them in any way, they were just shoc...

Most of Friday night was spent in the ER of Children’s Medical City in Dallas. Owen was wheezing again…..and the inhaler (yes he already has an inhaler) wasn’t doing the trick. A little before 3 am, almost 6 hours and 4 rounds of oxygen later, we finally got to go home. This wasn’t Owen’s first trip to get oxygen – but it was the first time in a full fledge emergency room. I watch lots of medical shows….House and Grey’s……and it didn’t feel anything like that. My resident wasn’t Meridith Grey, there was no McDreamy or grumpy man with a cane. Just a kid struggling to breathe. My kid. There were moments that I wanted to cry. I was scared. Owen was getting worse and I couldn’t fix it. I knew in the back of my mind that he would be ok. It was just asthma. A few breathing treatments and some steroids and we would eventually get to go home. Some kids don’t have that luxury. But I still wanted to cry. I kept having to tell myself not to think about it, to just keep going. The hours...

BEFORE AFTER When i picked O up today he was a mess. I asked his teacher if he showed up with his hair brushed this morning, and she swore he did. Poor kid must have gotten the Wallis wave. All of Shaun's family has straight thick hair. Mine is wavy. Not good wavy. Old inconsistent perm wavy. One side will be perfect, while the other kicks out the complete opposite way. Also humidity is the enemy. So after Owen's nap he had one side marching to it's own drummer, something (hopefully lunch and not snot) matted into another portion and an unfortunate cowlick. I decided it was time for a hair cut. It really was pretty long. I could have put it in pig tails if I wanted. I asked the lady at Kool Kuts if she could do a faux hawk cut....thinking it would be kept long on top. Kind of inbetween skater and preppy and he wouldn't have to lose all that pretty blond hair. Turns out, O picked today to be an angel and he sat there perfectly in his little firetruck seat while she cut.....

email forwards. really. people still send those. lately i have gotten at least 2-3 silly forwards a day from someone new to my email address. some of them are cute and funny but, i hate forwards. i feel bad for posting this so publically. What if he/she reads it and gets his/her feelings hurt. email forwarders do seem to be the type to get hurt feelings easily. occasionally i will forward something on if it is particularly cute, clever or funny........but it has to be really good. i hate opening my inbox and seeing all these silly warm feel good powerpoints, or friendship or men bashing or cute little boys peeing on the toilet seat. i waste my time by reading most of them. what if there is a really good one in there......i do not want to miss out. no i do not believe that if i don't forward it to every person in my inbox that i will have bad luck for the next 77 years. I do not believe that if i do forward it that I will win the lottery. I do not believe that if i forward it to 50 ...

Owen has about a dozen dots on his face. This time not from the __________ he grabbed off the counter and rubbed all over it ( fill in the blank w/ any of the following: lipstick, gluestick, marker, pen, chapstick). Earlier in the week, I picked him up and checked his cubby for old sippy cups, half colored artwork and the infamous daily report. Instead was a very official looking note stating someone at the school had been diagnosed with chickenpox. I ignored it. Owen has had the vaccine and I think even the booster. The school is big -- what is the liklihood that O has even been in contact w/ this germy kid. The sheet sat in his cubby for a few days until I finally transferred it to the floorboard of my car. Then Friday, I went to pick up O and noticed a few pink dots on his face. Suddenly that worksheet flashed in my head. I questioned the teacher ( his usual one had already gone home). She said she had already asked someone and they didn't think it was chicken pox. I told her th...

Days like yesterday only come around 3-4 times a year. It was a nothing Saturday. No weddings, no birthday parties, no traveling, no anything. The Tech game wasn't even on tv. I slept until almost 8 am, went and got donuts at Owen's cute pleading. Picked up a bit, but only a bit and eventually put on a bra. No shower. No makeup. It was a definately an old pair of jeans and tshirt kind of day. We spent most of the morning playing in the cul-de-sac with neighbors while Shaun painted the trim on our house. I heated up lunch and then headed over to B&N for some coffee and to let Owen chase Maddy up and down the aisles. Apparently a nothing Saturday also include NO NAP for Owen. More playing outside, an attempted nap for me and I ignored the laundry that needed to be hung. Leftovers for dinner and lots of college football. I did get a bit ancy at 8 and insisted on getting out for icecream. Owen crashed the second we got in the car and I crashed soon after getting home. Next Satu...

I thought my wedding days were over for a while, but I have been to 2 weddings in the last 3 weeks and 2 more invitations just came in the mail. There have been lots and lots of baby showers in the last few years, but only a few weddings. I miss them and not just the free wine and cake. I like getting dressed up. I like an event where most people are actually on time. I like hors d'oeuvres and chocolate covered strawberries. I like watching my son dance with the flowergirls. But I love, the moment when the bride enters the room. I love when someone's voice quakes a bit as they make promises to each other. I love the lines "for better for worse, in sickness and in health". I love it when the preacher says, "what God has joined together - let no man put assunder". I love that I can't go to a wedding without comparing each moment to my own. I never understood why people cried at weddings until I got married. Now, there is always at least a moment ( if not m...

My front flowerbeds are the worst on the street. They are full of weeds. Occasionally I get motivated and take a crack at them. I pull and tug and itch and scratch and promise to keep up with them better. Before I know it, and much to my neighbors-who-like-to-spend-hours-and-hours-on-exterior-home-maintenance chagrin, they are overgrown again. This is a metaphor for my life. My calendar gets overwhelmed and I cut here and there ( usually by getting sick or burned out) and swear to weed a few things out. Just like my flowerbeds I usually fail. I like busy. Well not the busy, tired, driving from one place to another part, the leaving one thing early and getting to another late, getting home after owen goes to bed, picking up something to eat in the drive through bit. I like the people and the coffee and the fellowship and getting to hear everyone's stories part. Lately I have gotten good at weeding things out (with the exception of my flowerbeds). Early in the summer, I had 2 soccer ...

ok. the title of my blog was meant to be a joke. I am not a detail girl. Meaning I don't notice things like spelling or punctuation. I especially don't proofread. I do a brain dump onto the page and hit publish. I am through and it felt good to get it all down. I like lower case and typos and especially all those little dots............. ( recently i learned they were called elipses. I used to only think that word meant more than one oval path). Then I joined a writer's group and thought if I was going to be a little more serious about my writing I would actually start capitalizing words and cut down on those dots. I still struggle with the proofreading part, but I have most surely improved. I tried to read Eats, Shoots and Leaves and couldn't finish. I made it about 60 pages in ( keep in mind that it is a pretty short book to begin with). I thought I would like it. I like to read about writing, I like puns, I like smart clever little books. I loved the children's...

Most things in the scientific world have magnitude ( the #value) and an appropriate unit. Science teachers everywhere make a big deal about including units and I take off at least 2 points whenever a kid leaves it off. It’s not just science……I order a tall coffe, large fries, wear a size 9 shoe, buy milk by the half gallon, we are supposed to drink 96 oz of water a day, and I fill my car up with 16 gallons of gas, etc. Things come in units and or amounts. The other night I was laying in bed thinking about how much I missed an old friend. And I started wondering why love doesn’t have a unit. We occasionally try to apply one and say things like “I love you tons”, but it sounds corny and doesn’t really make sense…..or does it? Sometimes I feel like my love has weight. It is thick and heavy and anchored down somewhere inside me. I love my son like this. I love my husband like that. A few other people come close, but to be honest I don’t love them the same way. I love coffee and chips and ...

Most days when I pick up Owen from preschool there are 2 worksheets in his cubby. ( he has his own cubby, how cute is that). One is the “art activity” of the day (aka a coloring sheet), and Owen’s is usually mostly blank. The other is his daily report. It lists what they learned, what books they read and anything else they did that day. The bottom is my favorite. It has 3 categories: Today at lunch I….. Today at rest time….and finally My character today. It then gives options like “ I ate everything”, “I wasn’t hungry” , “I slept”, “ I was quiet” and then for the character list …Today I was “ attentive”, “mischevious”, “followed directions”, “lively” and many others. I look forward to reading it and sometimes question if they are really talking about my kid ( his always says he slept, ate everything and followed directions………3 things he never does at home). I have started wondering what people would circle about me at the end of the day, particularly in the character department. W...

I started this whole blogging my weight thing to keep me accountable and it was another thing I put to rest for the last 3 weeks. I didn't give up on my weight loss though. I am 149ish....and when I say ish I don't mean really 150, I mean sometimes my scale is fickle. I can weigh myself ( naked, first thing in the morning just after peeing of course) 3 times in a row and get 3 different weights....148.5, 151, and 147 were the ones this morning. I figure 149 is a safe conservative estimate. Lesson, don't buy the cheapest digital scale you can find at Target. There is something great about being under 150. It means they don't have to move it up a notch when you go to the dr's office ( well as long as they let me take my pants off first!). There has been only a recent resurgence in working out ( which was canceled out by the ice cream I insited on afterwards), but very little snacking. No friends at school has kept me from going to Starbucks all the time. I can also at...

Once school started I kind of disappeared for a while. I started saying no. This has been liberating. I have never really seen myself as much of a pleaser......but have always been super overcommitted. I don't do anything well, so I just do lots of everything. I am also super extroverted and hate to miss out. A new school year, a new job and some new added stress ( all work related) gave me an excuse to NOT go to 4 parties, 2 soccer practices, 1 writers group ( sorry girls) and 1 wedding over the last 2 weeks. No I haven't been holed up in my house....I have just been exceptionally choosy. I have been home more weeknights than I haven't for the first time since I got my driver's liscence. My small group has been put on hold. I quit my coed team ( still on a women's) and one of my mom's groups has been weeded out. It has been contagious. I haven't blogged, I haven't cooked, I haven't cleaned and I haven't worked out. Well, I decided last week was ...

a few weeks ago i wrote about all the fantastic things of something new. scrap it. Last week I started a new amazing job. I kept waiting for the catch. the pay was better. My schedule was better. The oppertunity to advance was better. The setting was better. The support was better. Everyone was so nice. It all made me want to be even better. And then the catch. Purely by accident I discovered that I will be teaching 2 TAKS math classes. Keep in mind this is Friday and school starts Monday and that I am a science teacher. Now to be fair, I am the TAKS girl on campus, but no TAKS classes, particuarly not non subject area classes were ever part of the deal. I fell apart. No materials, No background, and No time and 50 kids. I did what anyone else in my postion woulld do -- my chin started to quiver. I couldnt control it and next thing i knew i was doing something i had NEVER EVER done in my 8 years of teaching. I cried in front of an administrator ( and about a dozen others). Now, it is n...

Last night my friend Tina threw a BBQ off. Her husband likes to smoke......no, not what you are thinking......meat. He spent the day making a brisket and then they hit 3 of the most popular local BBQ places. She then put them all in cups, labeled with letters so we didn't know which was which and we had to taste and rank them. It felt a bit like the old school Pepsi/Coke taste tests ( whatever happened to those??).....but was fun and yummy. Todd came out the winner and I went home with a stomach ache. ( me and red meat are not friends). Several partygoers mentioned something a bit odd. If they had bought meat from any of those places and put it out we all would have been happy. It would have tasted like BBQ and surely some of us would have commented on how good it was, even the one that came in last place. Side by side we noticed all kinds of things. One even seemed to taste like old socks to me, next to the others. Like I said, if I didn't have Todd's prize winning BBQ to ...

I did my official weigh in on Monday.....but am a little late getting it posted. 151 -- down 3 lbs. No working out at the gym ( my knee was REALLY sore) and I only played one soccer game. Conclusion -- don't go to the gym if you are trying to lose weight. Some of it from last week probably finally caught up with me. One pound was probably hair, and another was probably just water due to all this freaking heat. My face is always the first thing to lose weight. This positive because I look skinnier to myself in the mirror and feel encouraged to continue. Negative -- because it isn't my face that needs to fit into any clothes. I felt fine with my face before.........not so much about my thighs. So it is Wednesday and I am already up a pound from Monday's weigh in. This is to blame on my new school. Monday's menu consisted of Chicken Red's for breakfast ( I split one with someone), and Babes for lunch ( i got a TINY peice of smoked - not there famous fried chicken, but ...

So this sunday i was demoted to kindergarten. It was much smoother, but still no peice of cake. The lesson was on doubting Thomas, but it was lost to most of them who thought I was talking about a little blue train.

I just got a new haircut and am pretty enamored with myself. I kept flipping my hair and looking in the rearview mirror all the way home. It feels lighter, smells good and has that just from the salon style. You know the one I wont be able to repeat no matter how hard I try or how many different products I use from home. I wished I had made evening plans. This hair needs to get out on the town. This hair could use a new outfit ( although I will resist). It is more than the haircut, all of me feels new and fresh. I like new things; they inspire. New shoes feel like they go faster and make me want to hit the gym. New pens write better words. Blank pages hold so much promise. New cleaning products make me want to dust (and trust me this is significant). New office supplies make me want to be a better teacher. A new outfit can change my entire self-image, at least briefly. Yes I know this sounds like I am falling into traps of consumerism. And, I am, but that is not what this is about. I’v...

I wondered in and tried to scope out the seating arrangements. I am new. I don’t know anyone. It’s been 5 years since I have been the new girl. Usually, a seat has already been saved for me at a crowded table full of coffee, candy and crosswords. We giggle and write notes and try to be quiet ( it is a struggle). But today I am searching for a seat near someone else sitting alone that looks friendly. Preferably near the back. I leave the customary empty seat between us and get comfortable. This is my first inservice of the year and an unwelcome reminder that my summer is almost over. I am not looking forward to my day of powerpoints and forced discussion. I am, however, on time. I brought a pen and paper and left my phone in the car. I was in the minority on all of those. Teachers, as a group, tend to be horrible students. I witnessed lots of text messaging, magazine reading and lesson planning. Some one in the back was rumored to be watching a movie on their laptop. The two girls...

3 trips to the gym and 2 soccer games = only one less crummy pound. Making this week's weight 154. My sister is only down an eight of a pound so I have a slight edge. Confession I am a cheater: Wed - fried jalepeno slices covered in cheese w/ creamy ranch ( i paid for this later) Sat- I went to a shower....pie, cookies, lots of ranch. Saturday night - cooking out at a friends and more pie. Today a kitkat and an oatmeal cookie Now that I think about it, maybe I should be happy with the one pound. This week I will try harder to curb my sweets. I at least feel skinnier when I am hungry, but man I love pie :) I also plan to get my haircut and have thought seriously that if I chop enough off I could lose almost a pound!

I did not like my first grade teacher. She used to staple notes to my shirt telling my mom that I talked back. She wrote messy on my ditto copied worksheets. She gave me a zero on a paper on greater than less than signs. I had them flipped, meaning I was 100% correct, just backwards…She should have taken off like 10 points or something NOT give me a big fat goose egg. She even made me cry once. I do not look back on first grade fondly. After my morning teaching 1st and 2nd grade Sunday school though, I am considering writing her a big thank you letter and sending a bottle of wine. So I seldom do my part at church, so when my friend Christy asked me to sub for her while she was out of town I accepted. How hard could it be. Last time I saw her class there were only 2 kids. I am a teacher by trade, send me the lesson plan and I’ll be good to go. If all else failed I figured we could just color. I am a little nervous. I am used to much older and much younger kids, but I read my lesson in a...

My plan for Friday was to move into my new classroom. This is a little tough with a 2 year old, but I talked Shaun into borrowing a big giant dolly and meeting me at the school for lunch. I figured one of us could carry tubs, the other carry Owen. I got a phone call inviting me to storytime, lunch and then swimming. Dilemma, work or play?? I almost always pick play……but Shaun is meeting me, the room is open and we have a dolly. Maybe I can do both. I pack a swim bag with and take off.I make it to B&N ( did I mention it is the one in SW Fort Worth) in plenty of time. I did see an accident on the other side of the highway. Mental note, try and avoid that on the way back. So my plan is a typical plan a lot into a short time, I –can-do-everything-plan. Go to story time, leave about 11:30. 15 –minutes to get home 10 – minutes to load the truck ( yes I know that was a lofty goal, b/c it is a lot of stuff. 2 cars worth of stuff, but 90% of it is in plastic tubs and I can really mo...

She questions her next move. She isn’t the only one. Age doesn’t provide all the answers. It doesn’t protect us from fear Or rejection or insecurities. She is supposed to worry about these things. We are supposed to know better. Or at least we are expected to pretend we do. It almost makes me wish for the advantage Of that miserable ache.

Owen hasn't quite mastered the English language. I'm not worried, i still say a few things funny myself........these are my favorites. 1. wimming - translation swimming, it used to be just 'ming! must be said with much enthusiasm. 2. nack - translation snack, this is what he asks for when he wakes up from a nap 3. belbow - translation elbow. very cute. my new favoirte body part 4. nanny - translation banana, this is one of his favorite nacks. 5. waygo - translation frozen waffle, altertnate translation legos 6. mooey - translation movie, must also come with paw-corn ( popcorn) 7. meeelk - translation milk, yuck and he thinks so too! 8. dina-swore - translation dinosaur and followed by a big roar! 9. goodie -translation anything yummy like cookies, candy or icecream 10. peas - translation please, said cute enough guarentees he will get that goodie. there are lots more, but some things he shouldn't say like frog...turns into another 4 letter f word. recently we just got...

For my writers group, we are working on an advent book of devotionals. It is hot outside. I sweated through my tshirt before 10 am. I went swimming and added at least a dozen new freckles to the bunch. Back to school supplies line the grocery store aisles, while I sit at my computer and try to think about Christmas. It is kind of nice actually. Freeing. No presents to buy or cards to address or parties to attend or family commitments. Just Christ’s birth, which is of course everything.

I didn’t let them read 1 Corinthians 13 at my wedding. You know the whole love is patient, love is kind, etc. It seemed too cliché at the time. Everyone reads that one. Recently I read it for a study I am doing, and I tried to not just run over the familiar words. Love. Agape. The expectations are too great. Who is ALWAYS patient, ALWAYS kind, ALWAYS trusts, ALWAYS hopes, ALWAYS perseveres, NEVER envies or boasts or is proud or rude…..I could go on. There is an obvious Sunday School answer to that question….but it’s not what I am getting at. I love my husband in a way that I know he is home, but I am often proud. I love my son in a way that I don’t think can go away. EVER, but I’m not always patient. I love my friends and family in ways that there isn’t much I wouldn’t do for them, but sometimes I fail them. That is my biggest hang up really. The last, love never fails line. It does. Often. I have learned the hard way, that it is even supposed to. Well, at least the kind with skin on. ...

ok, so this weekend i was at the beach. the beach has a magical quality of making you want to lay there and soak up sun one minute, but also to get moving the next. hit the waves, go for a walk, throw a frisbee. Maybe it is just all those other skinny people in bathing suits, but regardless of the motivating factor on my first afternoon there I thought I would go for a jog. Anne Lammot ( a kick ass author) wrote an entire chapter in her book Traveling Mercies about being comfortable with her thighs in a bathing suit. She even named them her "aunties". My thighs do not have names and for everyone else's benefits I think I should keep them covered at all times. This means my bathing suits all have cute little skirts or shorts to match. On this particular day I was wearing a cute tropical tankini that came with matching board shorts. So about a half mile down the beach my inner thighs were burning. If you are skinny you have no idea what I am referring to. Your thighs d...