I've added a few new features to Musings of a Housewife that I hope will be helpful. Over the weekend I created a Whole Foods Resources page that is a great place to start if you are interested in learning more about the whole foods lifestyle. I also compiled my design tutorials into one convenient location. Both are linked in my nav bar. And there is now a Print Friendly button at the bottom of each post, should you feel like printing recipes or information for future reference. Before printing, you will have the option to delete any photos or content you don't need.
I always enjoy Christina’s lists of things she loves. I thought I’d make my own this morning.
- Dancing with my little girls around the family room in our jammies after breakfast.
- The striking simplicity of plain white dishes.
- The cool, soft cheek of my baby nestled against my neck while we rock.
- Snowfall in the weather forecast.
- Kids with fresh haircuts.
- My morning coffee fix.
- Ebay!
- Waking up in the night to a three-year-old snuggled up against my back.
- Sharing a joke with my first-grader.
- The end of the dental work torture saga is in sight!
- The cheerful chatter of little voices echoing through the house.
Go ahead. Make a list. You know you wanna!
So if it isn’t enough that I have several, um, GI procedures in my future, I get to return to the dentist tonight to continue working on my mouth.
If you are a newer reader, then you aren’t familiar with my dental saga which begins here. And continues here. And here. And finally here. And that was the FIRST quadrant. There are FOUR of them, you know.
The second quadrant was, thankfully, uneventful. Well, it was three fillings, but in my world, that’s considered uneventful.
We’ve been waiting for the new year because we maxed out our dental insurance last year. Oh, yeah, REALLY.
Well, joy and rapture! The New Year is here, so I am off to the dentist this evening to start the lower right quadrant. Yep, this one is supposed to be a doozy. They already warned me that it looks BAD.
When your dentist tells you it looks bad, then you know you’re in for it.
Needless to say, I am DREADING this. Stay tuned. I’ll be sure to have a recap.
Fortunately I made sure the appointment is NOT with Dr. Hottie, but with my old faithful middle-aged, experienced dentist. For some reason, he just instills more confidence with me.
Before I had kids, I had a picture of exactly what sort of parent I would be. As a teacher and a nanny for many years, I had lots of experience with children. I read lots of parenting books while I was pregnant. I loved kids, and I looked forward to being a parent.
And, of course, I knew exactly how to be the perfect parent. I would not be a friend; I would be a parent. They would tow the line because I would be in charge, not they. I was sure that I would be an excellent disciplinarian. I had experience. I read all the books. I had a plan. I was ready.
And I had my first child. He was a complacent child, very much a pleaser. I had no other children to distract me, and he was the focus of all my attention. Parenting went pretty much the way I’d always envisioned it would. Not to say that it was always easy or that he was perfect. But I was confident in my parenting skills, and he was a quick study. He was attentive and responded well to correction. He was respectful and obedient. I was proud of what I accomplished with him.
Pride. We all know where that leads.
Then I had my second child. She is a different animal. She is much more complicated than her brother. I’m told "it’s a girl thing". She is not such an eager student. She is flighty and exuberant and silly. She’s in her own world sometimes. She very conveniently doesn’t usually hear me the first ten times I give her instruction. When she feels like she’s in trouble, she knows just how to make me laugh and forget that I was reprimanding her.
Then the third child came along, and she has her own unique personality. I am not always sure how to deal with her little temper and her separation anxiety.
So now my time and attention is split three ways. Each child has his or her own set of needs. I’m tired. I’ve gotten lax.
And as they get older, parenting seems to get more complicated. I’m not dealing just with behaviors anymore, but also with attitudes and with heart issues. I am concerned about my children’s actions, but lately I realize I need to be more concerned about their spiritual well-being.
It seems easier to be inconsistent than to follow through sometimes. I find myself overlooking bad behavior all too often. I am not always sure when to extend mercy and when to administer punishment. I forget to reward good behavior, so oftentimes I feel like the tone in our home is more negative than it should be. I find myself nagging and becoming irritated more than I like, and I wonder if it is because I have been neglecting discipline.
It saddens me to punish my children. I don’t want to be the cause of their grief or pain. I want to believe that I spare my children from discipline because I love them so much. But that is a lie. I want to avoid the pain it causes me when I have to discipline my children. And yet, they are the ones who will be hurt in the long run. I know that I do them no favors by allowing them to get away with wrongdoing, but sometimes there is a great divide between knowing the right thing to do and putting it into practice.
It occurred to me last night, when I was debating how I should deal with C’s latest mishap, that parenting well is much harder than parenting badly. It is far easier to be a permissive, inconsistent parent.
And yet, I am reminded that true parental love will not neglect its responsibilities to discipline and teach children right from wrong. True love will do the hard thing when it’s called for.
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6
So I pray. I pray that I will have the strength and the courage to take the road less traveled. I pray that I will be consistent to follow through even when it isn’t easy. And I pray that I will have the wisdom to discern when to extend mercy and when to administer justice.
Most of all, I pray that I can effectively communicate the love of our heavenly Father so that even at a very young age, my children will know God’s love and witness it in me. And I trust that, despite my shortcomings, God will be at work in their little hearts and minds, softening them, calling them to himself, so that they may know him.
**updated**
"Little Country Church Preschool, Mrs. Secretary speaking."
"Hi. Good morning. I, um, noticed that I wrote in my calendar that today is conference day…"
"Yesss…" And you’re telling me this because…
"Is that true?" Cause I sometimes write things in my calendar that aren’t really happening, just for fun.
"For the twos and threes, yes." Lady, is there a point to this call?
Nervous, embarrassed laughter. "Oh yeah, see, I guess I sort of wrote that there are conferences today. I guess I got it from the school calendar. Or something. So. I guess that means there is no school today." I catch on quick, don’t I!?
"Yeeeeeeeees, that would be right." Can I HELP you this morning?
"Oh, of course. And. Um. I guess you wouldn’t happen to know when C’s conference is?" Since there are 250 students in the school, I’m sure you have the entire conference schedule etched in your organized secretary brain.
"Well, let me walk down the hall and look and see if she has a conference schedule posted by her door." Cause you know, I have nothing better to do anyway.
"Oh, thank you so much, I’m so sorry." I’m such an idiot. What parent doesn’t write down her child’s conference time?
"There’s no schedule posted, but when she gets here, I’ll ask her and give you a call." You know, between answering the telephone and doing the billing, all the other important things I do.
"Thank you so much. I’ll, uh, be getting ready just in case it’s an earlier time slot." Cause I’m sure you care about my morning plans and all.
"Okay. Bye-bye." Irresponsible parents. What is wrong with the world these days?
**Responsible secretary lady called back, as promised, to inform me that I was supposed to sign up for a conference time and never did so. At least that explains why I didn’t have a time written in my calendar.
Fortunately there were two time slots left, and I grabbed 11:15. So I have plenty of time to be lazy before I have to get my act together and get two little girls out the door.
Did I mention it’s 9 degrees this morning here in PA? I have never been so happy not to have to be out the door at 8:45 a.m.
First off, thanks to everyone for their helpful hints on my budget. I will definitely be shopping at Target for household items from now on. I’ve never done much price comparison. I just don’t have the mind for it. But now I know!
And thanks for listening to me whine yesterday. And for the suggestions to cure my boredom. I have a feeling my boredom has more to do with my state of mind than with finding stuff to do. There are always things to do. Like housework, for instance. But I haven’t gotten that desperate yet.
In fact, my laundry is taking over the laundry room, but I just can’t get motivated to do anything about it. And I’m usually pretty good at keeping up with laundry because it’s a chore I really don’t mind so much.
Let’s not even TALK about the chores I don’t enjoy, like the bathrooms. If I keep the door closed, will the mildew stay contained? Or can it seep out the crack around the door jam?
I think I manage to keep up with my chores better when I’m busy. Right now I just can’t get motivated to do anything productive.
Gosh, this post is a yawner. I think my sense of humor went out the window with my good spirits.
Oh, I do have one exciting thing to share with you! My dear "Aunt Weezie" has been reading my blog since the beginning. She’s a dear lady. Every summer when we are in Maine, we visit her place, and she shows the kids around the barn and gives them pony rides. And we always meet up for lobstah with the whole extended family.
Well, she’s decided to give this blog thing a try. So go visit and give her a nice, warm bloggity welcome. And if you’re real nice, she might give you a pony ride!
Well, it’s arrived and is in full swing. My winter funk.
All the activity of the holidays is over. There is no where to go, no errands to run, no shopping to do. And it’s too cold to go anywhere anyways. The mornings are long, and the afternoons are longer. The neighbors aren’t outside to chit-chat with in the evenings.
This time every year, I always get in a funk, no matter how much I try to prepare myself and ward it off.
I’m not depressed. I’m just B-O-R-E-D, bored. Plain and simple. As if you couldn’t tell from the three to four posts a DAY I’ve been hurling into the blogosphere.
I’ve grown to dread this time of year. And this year is no different.
Plus. I’ve packed on that obligatory extra five pounds of winter warmth, which is making me feel even worse. I know I need to eat less and be more active. But alas. I’m stuck in my house with three human garbage disposals who beg to eat. All. Day. Long. Snacks such as goldfish and animal crackers. Yes, I am tempted by such junk. I’m a real class act, huh? And when I get really bored, what do I do? I bake. Sigh. It’s a vicious cycle.
Of course our new Operation hasn’t been helping matters either. When you’re cutting out extras, you can’t exactly indulge in a little retail therapy to spice things up a bit.
I will be so happy when 60 degrees rolls around, I won’t be able to contain my excitement.
Just a mom attempting to juggle three kids, four blogs, a blog design business, and the laundry. 
