Dove Chocolate and Life

There are times when I think of a lot of "what ifs" - I had a lot of mentions of other jobs to apply for in California, what if I pursued them - What if I never left The Toland Group - what if I started my own company in 2008 when I was thinking about doing that - what if shrugged off Brian when he got cold feet when we were first dating - What if I had saved my money in my 20's rather than buy all those new clothes, boots, haircuts and facials - I wonder where I'd be today...

But then there are days, like one morning last week, when I talk to my husband on the phone and he holds the phone to Mary so I can sing to her. They both sound so good, so happy, so healthy and I know I am in a really good place then.

Then I got into work and grab a little Dove chocolate treat from a desk down the hall. They have little fortunes inside of them and here's what mine said:

"You are exactly where you are supposed to be"

Thank you, little Dove chocolate treat - for reinforcing this, you have funny timing.

A good friend of mine once said, "If you do what you believe is right in your heart, you will never doubt yourself later." So later, even if I realize I made a dumb decision and should have gone another way - I know I did what believed it to be right at the time, and I find great peace in that.

Every decision I have made in the past 38 years has led me to be the person I am today, the wife and mommy I am today. All in all, I think it's a pretty good place.

The Songs We Sing - Silly Songs

I have no idea how far these songs go back, but I know my mom sang them to us and her mom sang them to her so maybe it is some weird Southern thing...We sing them around other people and usually get a puzzled look in response.

I love that my nieces know these songs now and Mary is just starting to hear them.

"The Crocodile Song"

She sailed away on a happy summer's day on the back of a crocodile

You see, said she, he's a tame as he can be, I will sail him down the Nile

The croc winked his eye as the lady waved good-bye, wearing a happy smile

At the end of the ride, the lady was inside and the smile was on the crocodile!

"After the Ball"

After the ball was over

Minnie took out her glass eye

Put her false teeth in the tumbler

Hung her hair out to dry

Put her false leg in the corner

Hung her tin ear on the wall

And the rest of Minnie went slumbering

After the ball

"The Dummy Song"

I'll take a leg from some old table

I'll take an arm from some old chair

I'll take neck from some old bottle

And from a horse I'll get some hair

And then I'll put them all together

With some string and paint and glue

And I'll get more lovin' from that gosh darn dummy

Than I ever got from You!

(And lastly, this one is short, but when I was 3, I remember it being hilarious and thinking my mom was the funniest person on Earth)

Daaaa-da-da-BOOM-dee-ay

I'll take your PANTS away

And if you're still standing there

I'll take your UNDERWEAR

I think Mary will like that one, too

:)

Recent Pics 4/18/2012

Just some recent pictures of what we have been up to lately! Our sweet Mary is such a busy girl, it's actually hard to catch her on camera and it's not blurry - Of course I am still getting used to my new camera, I need to play with the settings some more!

Mary and her new found love - OREOs!

Stunt Baby...we use the buckle now in the high chari

Mary and her pearls - She is such a lady

Mary and Brian horsing around

My new favorite picture of all time - My loves

Cleaning the screens! they are now in the basement being repaired so someday we can open the windows!

Mary likes Guacamole...she even says "Guac!"

Me trying to get in a picture :)

Mary and one of Izzy's toys

My Dad stopped by with the Woody!

How awesome does my Dad's car look in front of our house?
(Eddie! Get outta the street!)

Guess Whose Easter Basket?

Checking the loot - the Easter Bunny brought some lovely jewels

She actually loves these ears

My parents set up a "hunt" in their yard for Mary

Hooray! A family picture!

Out on a walk inbetween thunderstorms last weekend

The Fam and the Homestead

Mary reading the paper...she actually sits there and studies the page, it's so cute!

My Little Helper!

How To Save A Wife

I used to be a better wife before I was a mother. I would pride myself in taking care of Brian, silly things like making his lunch, folding his shirts, I even rubbed his feet while we lied on the couch at the end of the day. I loved doing it...needless to say taking care of Mary takes precedence and there are no arguments about that.

We got married on the first weekend in October, so we TRY to have a date night once a month on the first weekend of the month...We have been bad date-nighters the past few months. Finally this week, something triggered in me and I asked Brian out on a date for Saturday night. Mary slept over at my parents house and we had the whole night to ourselves.

Just getting in the car with Brian to go out, walking to the restaurant - I looked at him and I saw the man I fell in love with. And I remembered I'm not just a mother, I am a wife, a woman...I felt so good to be out with him then holding hands.

It's hard. It's hard to remember that we need to take care of our relationship when we have so many other arenas we are trying to take care of.

In my mommy group we called it the "Airline Rule" - When the oxygen masks fall from the ceiling, put on your mask first before assisting others. We have to take care of ourselves in order to be effective parents, and sometimes that means dropping the baby off at a sitter and going out for a night on our own.

So we went out, we are still looking for a good restaurant in Crystal Lake, and last night didn't prove successful. After horrible wine, food and service at one place, we found ourselves belly up to the bar at Buffalo Wild Wings (a chain sports bar) eating Nachos and watching the big screen TVs...and we had so much fun - just because we were together.

Husband and Wife

Hypothetical

Growing up we had a book of hypothetical questions. No right or wrong answers, more like a list of topics to start conversations. I remember one question being:

If you could take a pill so that  you could feel totally refreshed for 24 hours after only one hour of sleep, would you take it?

At the time, I remember my answer being something like, "No, I love to sleep and dream in my cozy bed, and quite frankly, what would I do with all that time."

Fast forward 30 years and my answer is "Yes, absolutely."

I remember my Mom always saying that there weren't enough hours in the day...it's true. Especially as a Mommy who works full time, PLUS everything else I want to do: sew, clean, organize, cook, bake, balance household budgets, be a wife, be a mom, have another baby, learn to knit, volunteer, work out, do yoga, run, laundry, start a business, start another business, learn how to build a website, blog, keep the job I have....and enjoy a glass of wine...

Sleep gets in the way. Mom was right, there aren't enough hours.

Hiapo

The Hawaiian word for "First Born" is Hiapo (pronounced he-AH-poo). This is what we call Izzy and Eddie - our Hiapos.

Izzy



The Ed-ster

 This weekend we got a bit of a scare with both of these little fur-babies. They were out for a walk with Brian, four houses down across the street new neighbors were moving in. While passing their house, their dog ran out, crossed the street and went straight for Izzy. Eddie slipped out of his harness and went after the dog and got two puncture wounds on his neck in the process. Brian's hand was injured too, but he's not sure if he was bitten or if the collar of the other dog scraped him when he was pulling him off of Izzy.

The three of them came home surprisingly calm, we assessed the injuries and it seems Izzy didn't get bitten, but did get beat up a little. Thank goodness Mary and I were not on the walk with them. He have spoken to the owners of the dog, and gotten assurance that he will never be loose.

I am just sick about this whole thing. These are our first born fur-babies, they were our whole world and then Mary came along and they have been forced into the back seat of our family. They don't complain, they give us unconditional love and licks. I'm not able to give them the attention I used to and I often get frustrated when they bring dirt into the house - but then something like this happens and I realize now much I love these little creatures. They are my babies - My Hiapo

Everyone is okay - We are still a big 'Ohana. Thankful blessings.

Ellie's Garden

According to the Crystal Lake "Townies", I don't think our house will ever be "The Jeffries'" house, we live in the "McGough's"* house.

The McGough House

The house was built in 1927 and The McGoughs were the third owners, buying the house in 1948 and raising 7 kids there (yes, it's a two-bedroom...). It sold it to our family 63 years later in 2011 after Ellie McGough past away. Dr. McGough was a well known dentist in our little town and it seems everyone knew him, his wife Ellie and/or went to school with one of the kids.

I bumped into my high school boyfriend's dad a few weeks ago, and when I told him we lived on Douglas Ave...blank stare - I told him it was the McGough's House and he immediately knew, "Oh, sure the Apline-looking house with the stone chimney." Yep, that's the one.

There are sweet reminders of this family all over. We replaced some outlet covers in Mary's room and could see child-like wallpaper that used to don the room. There is a "White Sox" sticker in the upstairs storage room...but I won't hold that against them and may have to put a "Cubs" sticker next to it one day.

There is literal writing on the wall in some places; It seems their son DAN was an early graffiti artist, spraypainting the basement walls - and their daughter Kathi seemed to be quite liked by the fellas or at least her younger sibs like to tease her about it.


The record of Kathi's boyfriends in the basement stairwell

Most recently, with our mild winter and early spring. I see Ellie's garden taking shape. When we moved in during the fall months, most of the garden was dormant, but now we have curious green leaves sprouting up all around.

Now I'm not a plant person and can't identify what most these will be, but I can see we will have some hasta and I can see there will be peonies...I love peonies and I can't wait to see what color they will be.  I like to see these plants like a story coming up from the Earth.

While out in the driveway after work one day checking out the "growies", I found an old clip-in earring right about here in the muddy dirt. I bet Ellie was frustrated when she lost that earring, never knowing it was right there in her garden - did she lose it getting out of the car from church, or was she leaning over the garden to pull a few leaves and it fell off.

I love creating the picture in my head of Ellie choosing these plants and deciding where to put them. Probably never thinking of the little family that would eventually live there and now much we would enjoy them.

And new ones keep popping up. One day Brian and I were in back of the garage looking at the dead brush we need to clear out and the next day - there was all of this bright green growth. Almost telling us, "Hey, be careful - there is still lots of life here."

I suppose when a family called this home as long as they did, they never leave in a way. I love that, it reminds me of the house where I grew up and where my parents still live. I want to nurture and pay respects to the history of this house - Yet add to the history in our own way. So far I think we're doing a good job - I hope Ellie would approve.

*Pronounced "Mick-Gow"...rhymes with Cow