Things I have learned this week…

* Adding pumpkin to a banana bread recipe is a bad idea. 

* Mowing the grass gets easier every time.

* Edging does not.

* If you add pumpkin pie spice to your coffee with creamer it faintly resembles a pumpkin spice latte.

* Crock pot meals are the easiest. I’ve got chicken and dumplings cooking at home today. Thanks, Velma. That’s her name. The crock pot.

* If I buy PF Changs frozen beef and brocolli for myself, then make a pizza for the kids. They will eat the pizza and then all of my beef and brocolli.

* A trojan virus is a nasty, nasty thing. It can shut down a global charity website in a heartbeat.

* Chloe will give up her pacifier if you tell her it flew away.

* If I put Makena in charge she can make dinner. PB&J for everyone. She even added cheese and mustard to mine. She loves me THAT much.

*I don’t like wearing dress pants. At all.

* I REALLY like to have many, many projects going on at one time. Right now I’m making an iPad cover, crocheted blanket, a Super Chloe costume, sock monkeys… running Craft Hope… fundraiser chair for Makena’s Daisy troop… and all of the other daily duties of being a working mama.

* The kids like to pick weeds. A lot.

I hope you are all having a lovely week. What have you learned this week?

The World Series starts tonight. Go Texas Rangers!!

I begin to fret about things that just don’t matter. I think that maybe, just maybe a moment of clarity will come along and I’ll have it figured out. That today is the day that I will solve all the world’s problems. Right?!?

No. So life doesn’t go this way. It doesn’t matter how long I fixate or FRET on an issue it doesn’t go away. The answers do not come, the problem is not solved. Hmph.

I like to say that this is just the way God made me. I learned that from my son, Keegan, who is now five. Keegan, bless his sweet heart, moves at a speed slightly slower than mine. Okay, dramatically slower than me. I rush about. I rush from here to there. Sleep in until the very last minute and then rush. I rush here and there and everywhere. Keegan does not. Keegan likes to take his time. He’s really not in a hurry for anything, at any time, for any reason.

I remember one day a couple of years ago I’m rushing around getting the kids ready to get out the door and I said to Keegan, “son, you are sooo slow.” To his reply, “mama, this is the way God made me.” Wow.

So I’m the mama that God made. And  he made my personality to be what it is. And then he gave me my son that has taught me new lessons on life. A personality quite the opposite of mine, that spends more time in the details, and not so much time fretting and rushing about. How about that.

So I’m going to attempt to follow Keegan’s lead. I’m not saying that I’ll be successful, but I’m going to try my hardest. I do find that when I fill those spaces in my mind — with things like Craft Hope — that are typically reserved for fretting, the fretting subsides.

I will try to not fret about the malware on the Craft Hope site. And the fact that the site is toast and has to be reinstalled. I will try to not fret about the fact that I deleted the sound driver on my laptop and don’t know how to fix it. I will try to not fret about people. And how mean they can be. I will try to not fret. I will have faith. I will have faith that things do work out, just not in my timing. I will have faith in things I cannot see. I. Will. Have. Faith.

{Pretty flower pictures compliments of my fawb, Chris. Aka Miss. Chris.}

I’m still running in circles chasing my three little ones, but now teaching Engineering at a high school in a little Texas town outside of Austin. We have a house with a big back porch and a great yard for the kids to run and play. The town we live in has a bonafide historic square with farmers markets, market days, festivals, and parades. Where Friday night lights is a reality and terms of endearment such as sweetie and honey are used in most conversations.

I’ve struggled with what to do with this space for quite a while now. With all of the changes in my life over the past couple of years I kept most of it to myself. Chikaustin is not an account of my day to day life. It is and will always be a happy place hoping to inspire and encourage you. I won’t ever publicly talk about the messy parts. As Thumper most eloquently stated, “If you don’t have nothin’ nice to say, don’t say nothin’ at all.”

Many times I have thought about ditching the entire chikaustin schtick. Honestly though, some of my best friends I have found in this space. Friends that have held me up when I was going through the worst times of my life. For them and for this space I will be forever grateful.

Craft Hope is wrapping up Project 14 making stockings for tornado survivors in Alabama. I’ve seen loads of groups getting together and making stockings. I’ve seen them made at showers, parties, and Girl Scout meetings. So inspiring. I’m still running Craft Hope in my free time. In ALL my free time. I will never ever complain about this responsibility. I will promise to do my best to keep it going and changing lives.

Right now I’m reading The Help, addicted to Pinterest, and proving to myself that I CAN do anything I set my mind to. Like mowing the grass. I have grass stains on my shoes and blisters on my hands to prove it. Rock on!

“I was asked to act when I couldn’t act. I was asked to sing when I couldn’t sing and dance when I couldn’t dance -and do all kinds of things I wasn’t prepared for. Then I tried like mad to cope with it.” — Audrey Hepburn