Worst Fortune Cookie...EVER.

This was seriously the fortune I pulled from my cookie.

Can you imagine?

What a horrible idea.

I am so glad that God is in control and not me. My perspective is so limited. So finite.

I am so selfish and self-absorbed.

My prayer is this... not that God would give me everything I want... but rather, everything I need.

I am grateful that he is faithful to do so.


Maranda

That's right. I climbed El Capitan.

So guess who went to California without a real camera?

That's right. Me.

Brent and I went to absolutely gorgeous, breathtaking, stunning Yosemite with nothing but our iPhone cameras.

It's a crying shame.

However, you people are probably used to my awesome photography by now. I bet you wouldn't know what to do if I started posting "actual" photographs that I edited or something.

Anyway, the fact that we got some "decent" pictures with our phones tells you how incredibly beautiful Yosemite was.

This is the view from the side of El Capitan. We hiked up along the base for a while.

See that tiny speck on the face? That's Brent. 

Just kidding.

I don't know who that was.

But I am pretty sure it was a crazy fool. It was freezing and they were repelling down from a tent that was literally hanging on the side of the mountain face at least a thousand feet.

We also stumbled across another crazy fool.

Here is Brent bouldering at the base of the mountain.

And this is an unfortunate picture of me attempting to boulder.

We wanted to say we climbed El Cap.

And so we did.

We'll just keep it between you and me that we didn't quite make it to the top.

We also went on a great hike to Inspiration Point. We encountered quite a bit of snow on the trail which we were not expecting.

Clearly we are silly Southern folk who wore Keens.

With socks.

In the snow. 

Yes, That is a stick stuck in my shoe. I don't want to talk about it.

But my Keens and I did just fine and we saw some beautiful views of Yosemite Valley along the way.

I was disappointed that the pictures seemed to keep accentuating my chins (yes, plural). I decided to just zip 'em (as in my chins) up in my jacket. That clearly made it a lot better and less obvious.

In closing I will share with you my newest addiction and probable source of the aforementioned chins.

It took me exactly 24 hours to consume this box and I have been trying to get back to Trader Joe's ever since.

Maranda

'Fess up Friday

Did you miss me?

I've been out of town again. It has been a busy Fall for the Curls. I realized that I did not even share the kid's Halloween pictures before I left.

Sassy was a cat.

She managed to pee in her costume an hour before we were to head out for trick-o-treating. I guess peeing on clothes is in keeping with the whole cat theme (Can I get an "amen" fellow cat owners?). Perhaps she was just really into her character.

Oh well... we all have our days, right? So, we had to scrounge around for a quick replacement. She found another cat costume and squeezed into it.

It was an 18-24 month costume.

That's right. My child is tiny. And determined.

Here she is with her brother.
100 meaningless points if you can name who he is.

Here's Chilli. Snackin' on some discarded candy she found on the ground.

I'm such a stellar mom aren't I?

She's a caterpillar in case you were wondering.

In other news, in my quest for raw milk, I found a farm up in the mountains that sells it. We drove up for a visit a few weekends ago.

I can now say that I have tasted the sweet goodness that is raw milk.

It is a good thing it is so amazingly tasty because the jug label is quite disturbing.

We had a great day up at the farm.

 The kids loved seeing the animals.

Okay... that's all I've got for tonight.

Forgive the rather boring post, but I have to ease myself back into the blogging after my travel hiatus.

I'll leave you with the outfit of the week. You may have noticed Sassy's "get up" in the pictures above, but here is a better look.

She's such a sweet little hippie.

Maranda

Hoarding

Holey moley people.

Everything in my life is bursting at the seams. And I'm not just talking about my pants.

I have no room on my computer to even download critical updates.

I have no room on my phone to take pictures.

I have an ungodly number of emails in my inbox. I am too embarrassed to even tell you the number.

927.

Even the dadgum icloud can't hold all of my crap.

Curse you OS5 update and your confusing icloud. 

My husband says I have a problem.

He has called me a photo hoarder.

I take offense... but I am beginning to see an unhealthy theme.

Could he be right?

I need some accountability.

I must clean up the lap top.

I must do it this week. 

You must ask me if I did.

Maranda

'Fess up Friday

Seriously.
What more could I possibly have to confess this week?! It has been a doozy!

Let me see what I can rustle up though.

Make sure to check out Kira's blog - Kissing the Joy as it Flies - for more confession worthy material.

I was over visiting Susan's photography blog - Short on Words - and she had an idea to share a list of things that you don't do. She suggested that it might tell as much about you as a list of things you do. Let me give this a try as a means of the Friday Confessional:

I don't...
1. Worry about my kids getting dirty and wet.

2. Play with my food. But I have been know to take pictures of it and assign it to people's contact profile on my phone.

I see this every time the hubs calls.

This is a recent addition and has yet to be assigned. Any takers?

3. Do laundry often enough.

4. Read non-fiction books very often. Typically only under duress or because I am in a book study group. I usually get a lot out of them, but I just prefer a good fiction book.

5. Go to the movies at the theater.

6. Brush Mr. Jenkin's hair often enough.

7. Exercise (in the traditional sense) nearly enough.

8. Count my calories. Clearly. 

9. Keep my Tupperware organized.

10. Eat with my kids very often. I sit with them and hang out while they eat. But find actually eating with them pretty miserable at this stage.

11. Get too uptight about what my kids wear.

12. Have any cute jeans that fit me right now.

13. Function well in the morning.

14. Bake. But I do eat what other people bake. Please refer to #8 and more importantly, #12.

15. Respond well when "put on the spot" in group settings. I require time to think about things before responding.

16. Count on my "good works" for salvation. Though at times I forget this.

17. Succeed in keeping the swagger wagon clean.

18. Sew. But I wish I did.

19. Check the mail.

20. Maintain my closet's orderliness.



I'd love to hear some of he things you "don't" do! Feel free to share, and have a great weekend doing whatever you do (or don't) do!

Maranda

Pizza Pizza

I went to Costco with the kids again today.

Why do I do this to myself?

Actually, the shopping experience wasn't horrible. It was the post check out that almost did us in.

I had bribed promised the kids a slice of pizza at the conclusion of our shopping trip so I rolled my big ol' cart through the hordes of people and placed my order. I handed my Amex to the man and he looked at me and said, "cash only."

Oh yeah.

He informed me that I would have to go back to the cashiers and have them ring up a slice of pizza and then return with the receipt.

Yay.

So, I wheel my beast of a cart back through the masses to the incredibly busy check out lines. As I look desperately for a cashier who can just ring up this one blasted thing for me, I notice that Sassy has laid a triple pack of ground beef over her like a blanket, and Mr. Jenkins is attempting to wrestle it from her so he can have a turn "tucking himself in."

I am confident that there is going to be a ground meat disaster momentarily.

I finally catch the eye of an employee at the "merchandise pick up station" and plead for him to ring up my pizza slice. I hand him my Costco and Amex cards and he rings it up. I thank him, grab the receipt and make my way back into the food area, which is now nothing short of a mob of people and overflowing carts. I wait in line with the kids now drumming on the Kettle Chips bag like it is a drum and squealing as they "rock out" to their beat.

My little wild Indians.

I get up and hand the guy my receipt and he asks, "Did you call ahead for this? It is going to take about 10 minutes."

Say What?! For a dadgum slice of pizza?

"Ma'am, you paid for a whole pizza. If you just want the slice I can give it to you now, but you'll have to go back to the cashier and have them credit you for the difference."

Seriously?

Seriously.

So, once again, I head back through the throngs of people with a slice of pizza in one hand, maneuvering the beastly cart with the other hand whilst Sassy and Jenkins perform some sort of tribal dance on my ground beef and Chilli beats her head against my chest in the Ergo.

Someone get me out of here!

The Costco employee who rang me up for the whole pizza must have thought I was cute seen the sweat running down my face and the crazy look in my eyes because after taking my cards again and reversing the transaction, he ended up just comping my pizza slice.

Bless his heart.

I'm not saying it was worth it, but at least I got a free slice of pizza out of the ordeal.

Enough about that.
Did I tell you that my mother has been out of town for the past two weeks. Just having mom gone for  two short weeks has once again reminded me how fortunate I am to have family near by. I am truly in awe of all you people who raise your kids without family near by or available to lend a hand.

Anyway, not only did mom desert me go out of town, but she left her ancient, incontinent dog with me. Cricket is an adorable little beast, but she is deaf and blind and totally unreliable in the potty department.

The worst thing is that she stirs up something in my dog that causes Lola to compete with her in some kind of sick battle of incontinence. My dog does not have accidents in the house unless Cricket is here...but for the past three mornings I have been greeted with their leavings when I come down stairs in the morning.

I already have enough poop to deal with in my life. These dogs are putting me over the edge.

Maranda

Shredded

So, is it just me, or do you think Jillian Michaels might be a little evil?

I guess I'm pathetic, but workout #1 on the 30 Day Shred was not a piece of cake for me today folks. The best part of the work out may have been when I did jumping jacks to the kitchen to pre-heat the oven for my lunch.

Oh yes, I did.

The workout was certainly not fun, but, I did it. And that was the goal, right?

Baby steps.

Baby steps people.

This morning I mentioned to Sassy that I needed to do "my exercise" and the sweet thing said she would do it with me. I honestly didn't think much about it until she got up from rest time and asked if I was ready to do my exercise.

Say what?!

There was no way that I was going to do it again, but I didn't want to "deprive" her of the experience. So, I turned on Jillian again and watched/helped Sassy through the workout. She actually kept it up for much longer than I anticipated.

My massive 3 lb weights were a little heavy for her, so she used princesses instead.

At one point, Chilli wanted in on the action.

After a while though, she was ready for her snack. I found it rather funny when she said to me, "I'm gonna sit and eat my snack and just watch that girl do the exercises."

I think she may be on to something.

.

.

.

So, I had a crafty moment yesterday. I had seen this idea on the Crafting Chicks Blog several months ago and had even gone so far as to purchase a frame from Goodwill and some fabric from Hobby Lobby. But, after that, I kinda stalled out.

Anyway, I have been frustrated by a lack of gratefulness in my kids lately. Some days it just seems that they lack the appreciation I desire for them to have for all that we are blessed with in this life. As with most things, I am sure this is yet another area where my own sin has trickled down. It is my earnest desire to demonstrate a thankful spirit, but I know I complain, gripe, whine, and throw temper tantrums... but I just do so in a more "sophisticated" manner than my kids. Usually. Anyway, I decided it would be good for all of us to "Count our Blessings" and thought this might be a fun way to do it and keep a list in front of us.

Here is the picture/frame I got from Goodwill:

I know. I know. It was tempting to just keep this picture "as is" because I am uber into smoke-billowing river boats. But, instead I did this:

I wrote on the glass with "bistro" markers that I got from Hobby Lobby. As I understand it from the Crafting Chicks, the bistro marker is key if you want to write on the glass and be able to read it.

I intended for Sassy and me to come up with the list together today, but every time I tried to talk to her about it, she wasn't really interested. The only item I could get her to share was, dog food.

Weirdo.

So, I wrote down some of the things I am thankful for and that I know she has told me she is thankful for on days when she has not been fixated on dog food.
Anyway, the plan is to erase and make new lists from time to time. I think we'll also use it for memory verses and other things that we want to keep in front of us.

Do you have any good ideas for keeping an "attitude of gratitude" and helping to foster that value in your children as well? I'd love to hear your thoughts!



Maranda