Ways to Annoy Me

That's right, folks, there are ways.  Now I try to refrain from posting anything negative because we have enough of that in the world, and unlike what a lot of people think, I actually do have a filter.  But sometimes, a bit of dry humor can be fun, and if you know me, I have WAY more than just a bit...so, for fun, let's see how many I can come up with

1.  This takes a bit of explaining to do and is probably a bad example to kick this off with.  But it's one that I always thought was more ME being jealous of the people that do this, but after a bit of discussion, it's not me because it's annoying to others, I've found.  So, there's a way to have this false humility but really you're an attention sucker.  These people not only love attention, but they thrive on it.  And the REALLY good ones have everyone fooled into thinking they're the sweetest, most humble people in the world, but it's all agenda based.  Before I saw this for what it was, I would think I wasn't sweet enough (and I wouldn't say I'm really sweet at all, but I'd sure tell you the truth if you asked), but what I'm not is a brown noser and if you like me, great, if not, bye....anyway, that's a convo and probably a bad start.

2.  Being condescending to stay at home moms.  Phrases like, "Ha, I wish I got to stay home all day! (in a derogatory way like I sat home and drank champagne all day while you sat in your cubicle) or "What do you DO all day?"  or "I could never be home all the time."  Here's the deal, I'm pretty sure I didn't sit down for most of the day, and if I did eat, it was standing up...or in the car...or in the closet because I didn't want to share. :)  And chances are high, that you went to the bathroom alone.  That's a job perk I haven't had in a really long time.  Worst offender being my husband.  

On the flip side of this, is acting like being a stay at home mom is a punishment.  There is NO greater thing you can do, in my opinion.  Actually POSTING things like, "My kids are driving me nuts.  All they do is gripe and complain."  Gee, I wonder where that comes from.  Our kids drive us crazy at times.  We drive them crazy too.  It's true, but I try to NEVER make anyone in my family look bad no matter how I FEEL in a moment of tiredness or frustration because they are why I get up every day.

3.  Not moving out of the way when you can see I'm trying to get what you're standing directly in front of.  This can be at home or in the store.  I know patience is a virtue and one I don't have the most of.  I also realize this is more my problem than anyone else, so I wouldn't put you on my hit list forever if you did it to me.

4.  Telling me I have my hands full when I have all of my children out and about.  The average American family these days includes 2 children, but you throw one more in there, and suddenly you are over the edge OUT THERE crazy.  I don't get it.  I have ONE more kid than you do. Is it just a conversation starter?  If so, okay, whatever.  But if you REALLY think that, why?  3 was a much easier adjustment for me than 2 was anyway.  What was one more once I had more than one?  It's just weird.

5.  Getting in my personal space when I don't know you.  This doesn't happen really often...but do you ever stand in the checkout line and you can almost feel someone breathing down your neck?  I can give some dirty looks, and I'll turn and give them...to complete oblivion.  BACK UP.  

6.  Bad service at a restaurant or any public place where I'm paying for a service.  This includes being unwilling to help me or acting like you need an explanation when I'm asking for nutrition info.  It's really not your business why I need it.  I'm sure the first initial response is that I want to lose weight and why would SHE want to lose weight?  Well, frankly, if I wanted to lose 30 lbs, it's really none of your business.  Get me what I asked for. 

7.  Acting like you know about type 1 diabetes or comparing your uncle's cousin's sister's niece that is 300 lbs that has type 2 to my kid.  I think I've said this before so I'll move on.

 8.  Telling me to hurry up.  I always feel rushed.  I don't like how fast life is going, so to tell me that just makes me feel even more so.  For a while, no matter what I did, Travis would always say, "Okay, hurry up," and I told him how it made me feel.  I KNOW I only have this amount of time.  And sometimes? I just want to take my time.  I want to take a LONG shower.  I want to spend 45 minutes fixing my hair.  I want to put on some makeup and then read a bit before I finish.  I know it's annoying, but I just want to breathe sometimes.

9.  Ungrateful people.  Nothing worse really.  People that are not only ungrateful but that feel entitled.  I HATE entitlement.  

10.  Telling me that I have gained weight.  This is a big one folks.  I know it sounds crazy, but I couldn't count on both hands how many times it's happened to me.  I tell myself it was meant complimentary, and I'm actually in a place now that I could stand to gain some.  HOWEVER, don't say it.  Tell your friend.  Tell your significant other if it's a convo that you feel you need to have.  I don't care if I was lost on a deserted island and down to 60 lbs and once back on the mainland, I'm nourished and back to a state of health (Castaway, anyone?).  Do NOT say, 'You've gained weight.'  Nails on a chalk board, and if I don't give you the finger to your face, be assured I'm doing it in my mind.  :)  Here's things I like to hear, "Julie, you look GREAT.  You are beautiful.  You are amazing.  You are flawless.  Beyonce, who?"  okay, you get it.

11  Not answering a logistic text or email in a timely manner.  Seriously, if I send you a text that actually needs an answer for specific purpose and it's simply a yes or no answer, could you not wait half a day to do it?  Because what I do depends on your response.

12.  Barking dogs.

13  People that love barking dogs and treat them better than people.  (PS:  After a recent facebook survey, I had a lady ask me about my dogs.  I think she was wanting to take them off of yours truly, the dog hater's hands, but Travis would divorce me for that one lol)  

14  Everyone is a singer.  "Oh, yeah so and so can sing!"  The unfortunate part about singing is that anyone can.  Hear me.  Anyone CAN physically attempt to sing.  I cannot fake being a gymnast.  I cannot do a back flip.  So what do many people flock to?  Singing.  Because it takes nothing to try.  Now the people that have the ability of hearing can figure you out pretty quick, but even then, there are some that slip through the cracks.

15.  Being overly religious.  I do believe that everything is spiritual.  But devils around every corner and everything is this spiritual demon?  No, baby, sometimes you're just an idiot.  Like NEVER being able to just have fun unless it involves praying or reading the bible?  Jesus had friends!  He had a good time.  HE WAS the good time!   He wasn't alone praying all the time.  Get over yourself.

Sigh...okay, it's late.  I could probably come up with things indefinitely, but nah.  Caffeine is starting to wear off.  Some of these are in fun, but there are a few that if you know me, you know I'm dead serious.  Maybe one day I'll look back at this and think completely different. 

Little J

Little Jaggar had a rough go of it a week and a half ago.  See?  Trying to be more specific time wise.  He's such a good looking boy, isn't he?  I found myself really struggling with him lately in the listening area.  And Travis has been gone so much that my patience was extremely thin.  So, I just did not get his deal.  At the time, I couldn't add it up to anything other than a 4 year old testing his limits and missing his dad.

 But the Friday before last, I was giving him a bath and touched his ear with the wash cloth when he just began to SCREAM and cry.  I was like what in the world?  I thought maybe a bit of water got in it, but he was screaming that his ear hurt.  So I got him out and told him that the heat from the hair dryer would help.  He seemed to calm down, and I laid him on the bed on that side, hoping water would drain from it if that was the issue.  Jaggar has a VERY high thresh hold for pain.  He is the child that if I spank him, he'll make sure to tell me, "Hey, Mommy, that didn't hurt!"  He is just a tough boy.  He prefers shots at the doctor, remember?  And he HATES medicine.  I asked him if it felt better, and he just flatly said, "No," but he went downstairs to watch tv while I was putting Costner to bed.  No more then 10 minutes later, he came screaming through the house, "MY EAR HURTS!!!"  I just knew.  It was bad.  He doesn't act that way.  I've given birth to 3 children, and I can distinctly remember specific ear infections I've had as clearly if not more than labor.  It's that bad.  So I began calling people that I knew were close to help me with my other 2.  It was 7pm.  Costner was going to bed.  Sage was in her pjs.  It was wind down time here, so if my neighbor could've come by and sat with the other 2, it would've been ideal.  I'm thinking I'm going to CARES right by my house, which closes at 8.  I called 3 or 4 different people.  Multiple times.  Houses and cells...with no answer.  Talk about irritated and a bit frantic.  I told Sage to get her clothes on because we were ALL going, and guess what?  CARES was closed.  They closed at 6 pm...so it was to my old employer, Patient First, in Anniston. The car ride was disturbing because every turn, Jaggar would gasp and scream, "MY EAR!  Mommy help me!"  Then I heard him saying, "Jesus help me!"  It was pitiful.  We got to the doctor's offfice, and I told them, "Look...he doesn't act like this.  I know this is a full house here, but please.  He is in serious pain."  The kid that hates doctors was begging for a doctor.  AND medicine.  Thankfully, Nichole saw my missed call, called me back to see what was up, and without question from me came up to the doctor's office from where they were eating to get Sage and Costner on their own insisting.  Because I'm thinking, "I'm here.  I'm fine."  I'm so glad she came because of COURSE we were there for forever.  Jaggar was begging to be seen.  Telling me his ear hurt and then screaming, "THIS PLACE IS BORING!"  Then he'd say, "Is the doctor coming?  Can I get some medicine?!"  He was miserable and writhing, and it was heartbreaking.  We got called back and they were like, "How long has this been going on/"  Umm...hour and a half at this point?  He literally had NO symptoms until right beforehand.  No fever.  No complaints.  We waited in the room for even LONGER.  I turned the lights off and held him while he screamed in pain.  I touched his ear; it was wet.  At first I thought it MIGHT be tears...but no, it was definitely draining.

 So, so sad.  It was traumatic for me, too, seeing him like that.  I was calling and calling Travis but he never even answered because he was working.  Finally the doctor came in and asked a few questions.  I said that his ear was draining, and he said, 'That means it's ruptured."  He looked in and his ear was bulging.  He wasn't going to look for the tear because of Jaggar's pain, but he assured me once they treated it that it would heal.  (A few days later, we ended up at our pediatrician with Costner, and I had her look.  The tear was about a quarter of an inch, she said.  Is that not crazy?!)  Not only that, his other ear was infected, too.  They put some numbing drops in his ears to give him some relief, gave him some ibuprofen and a shot of rocephin, as well as a Rx.  By the time we left the office, he was a different kid.  We went to Craig and Nichole's to get the other kids, and he was excited to tell Paisley his story of his ear infection triumph...and then talk about Christmas...and that he is going to be a bug scientist :).  Sage was even bothered by how much pain he'd been in, wanting to make sure he was okay.   I KNOW he couldn't have been pain free at that point, but it was enough for him...and I thought, "Does he just not even know what feeling good is?"  HOW could he have let that get so bad without saying a word?  Where he'd been getting up at 6 (super early for him), he instantly slept until 8 something the next morning.  He is good as new now, and he was making SURE I gave him his medicine daily.  Such a STARK contrast to the kid that used to spit it in our faces because he hated medicine so much.  I'm glad he's such a tough boy, but not THAT tough!  I told him if his ear hurt at all that I needed to know and that we'd fix it so that it never got that bad again. SO glad that night is over!

The Peerless

A few weeks ago (notice everything I say starts that way, which is code for "I have no idea exactly when, but it wasn't today."), our original worship team met at the Peerless as a get together for Jennifer.  Jen is moving to Florida soon.  So....best wishes to her.  We had a fun time, and it made us realize that we all need to get together MORE off of the stage.  Luckily for them, Amanda and I have already planned a potential date for that in December.  Christmas Partaay 2013! 

I cannot believe someone didn't stop and offer to take this for us.  It is very difficult to take a picture of 5 people by yourself with an iphone!

 And even MORE difficult with 6  :)

Parent Day at Dance

Two weeks ago, Sage had her first of two parent days for this dance year.  It really happened this time.  I was REALLY able to see all of the time and money we've poured into this for Sage.  I've always thought she was good and that she had an ability, but this time, other people saw it.  When she was younger, there were a few girls that were just naturally skilled, and they were always the head of the class.  There was just no denying it.  This year, I saw Sage blow those girls away.  I was SO proud.  People were whispering to me how good she was and how good she looked.  She has the body for it (we all know where that comes from) and she just is GOOD.  I put up a few videos so you can see for yourself.

Some leaps

Dance, Baby

I promise I will catch up eventually...maybe tonight.  Until then, Costner has a new dance that I caught on video today.  It looks like bye bye, but I've noticed him consistently doing it when he hears music.  So sweet.  A lot of times, he will use both hands.

The New Amanda

For years, our Amanda has done the coordinating and scheduling of musicians and singers for...everything we do really.  She's semi recently started back to school along with teaching guitar lessons (she's very good!) and playing gigs.  So she told Luke that she needed a break from it, and Luke said, "Julie."  In a twist of ironic fate...lol, kidding.  It is funny that I've been there so long and have never done anything more than show up to sing...until NOW, folks.  So let me just say if you want to be a part of this department, I like flattery and a lot of it...or I can make you disappear.  KIDDING.  I've been doing it for a few weeks now, and I have a whole new respect for what Amanda did.  Before I only really thought about if I needed to show up or not.  I also discovered I'm pretty low maintenance as far as just singing.  If Amanda scheduled me, I hit accept through planning center and saw them on Wednesday.  HOWEVER,  I'm on the phone with musicians a LOT more than I ever gave thought to, making sure they show up on time.  Because people may not notice if I'm not singing...wait, bad example...okay, people may not notice if we don't have 3 sopranos, but they will notice if...there's no drummer.  SO, I'm learning it and I don't really know (or care) if it's permanent, but for the next 6 months, most likely, what you see is because of me.  ;) In writing this, I now know why people don't know how to take me.  In short, I do what Luke says as far as scheduling.  I think I have a pretty good handle on it.  We've had bands and singers for the past few weeks, so, so far, so good!  I'm not much of a coordinator in my own life, so it's interesting to do it somewhere else and be successful at it.

Trick or Treating on Halloween

Travis was out of town on Halloween Day, which kind of stunk for us...or me, really.  Thankfully, we'd done boo at the zoo, so we did get to trick or treat as a family, but that still isn't Halloween.  However, Craig and Nichole did come trick or treat with us, which was a help to me.  I don't know if I could have handled the stroller plus my kids running up the big yards by myself. So it was nice to have the company and the help.  The weather was AMAZING on Halloween night.  You could really wear anything and be comfortable.  I was really thankful for that because of Sage's costume.  I thought for sure that it wouldn't even be seen because it's not warm in any way, but it worked out perfectly.
 

Here's a picture of our crew, minus Craig.

Then I decided I'd try to work to get my kids to all look for a picture.

These days I'm really okay with 2 out of 3.

Then our Halloween miracle happened.

Pretty girl.

Jaggar and Paisley

Had to get a pic of Jaggar's tail.

We had a great night.

My Precious Pumpkin

I wanted to get some pictures of Costner by our pumpkins on his first Halloween.  I had to WORK to get these, but it was so worth the effort because they are some of my favorites.  He is the cutest thing, I know. And see our finished pumpkins?  Or let me correct myself, TRAVIS' and the KIDS pumpkins.  I did nothing. 

I love him so much.

 Hmmm....think I need to further investigate this thing beside me.  It appears to have a handle.

 And who needs the handle when it has open access right in front?

 Annnd I think he may need a tooth pulled.

 Precious smile

 Such a precious boy

So Busy

When you are this busy... (and he IS--all of the time)

you have to take breaks.

 Isn't that the sweetest thing you've ever seen???????

Hat Day

Does anyone remember Jaggar in this hat?  I just found it waited too long to put in on Bleu because I could barely take these pictures before he ripped it off 20 times.

Drool.  Lots and lots of drool.

 Always in motion.

Jaggar's Fall Festival

Jaggar had a fall festival at his school on Halloween, and the parents were invited to come.  I was more than happy to do so.  It began at 10, and I had a meeting at 9, so I just walked over after that.  I remember doing these things with Sage for many of her preschool years, but this was Jaggar's first one so it was cool.  Costner got to share in the day, too.

This first pic wasn't the actual fall fest day, but they had dress up days before Halloween.  This was "farmer day."

The first stop for Jaggar's class at the fall fest was the pumpkin patch.  Jaggar immediately went to that huge pumpkin pictured, rolled it, and found a huge worm underneath.  He was SO excited about that and was more than ready to take it with him before I stopped him.  He also wanted that pumpkin, which I'm pretty sure I couldn't have even lifted.

He did sit down for a second for me to take his picture.

Jaggar and Paisley

Then Gracin wanted in on a pic.

Next stop was the gym where they had many different stations.  All Jaggar saw were the inflatables, as any boy would.  The first table was the cookie decorating table.  Icing and many different sprinkles lined the table.  Jaggar had to have very specific sprinkles for his.  I ate the cookie.  :)  Only because he didn't want it when he was done.

Candice came in with her kids, including Mia, who is just two weeks younger than Bleu.  Although, she has been blowing him away with milestones:  talking, standing, walking...weight :) for their lives thus far, we got her on one thing:  hair.  We have WAY more hair and teeth too, now that I think of it.

It was SO cute watching them check each other out.

I think she's such a cutie.

Kent with Paisley and Hadley

While they were waiting to go to the arts and crafts table, Jaggar got to jump.  He had a blast.

He got to decorate a pumpkin picture at the art table.  We wrote his name in glitter, and all he wanted to do was dump more and more glitter out.

Ms Mirian, his teacher, helping him.  He's so cute.

Look who found a container of crayons under the table and dumped them out.

Nichole put Cosnter into the jumpy too.

My boy and me

Kisha painting Jaggar's face at the face painting table.  He chose a pumpkin.

Finished product

His favorite:  the big slide.  He said he was on "the boys' side." 

Then we got to eat lunch with them in the classroom.  This boy ate anyone and everyone's unfinished food.  As usual, he was the first and last one eating.  Pizza, fruit, chips:  he ate it all.  Look at him sitting there like a big boy.

At the very end, Jaggar got to go back out to the pumpkin patch and choose a small pumpkin.  Of course, he wanted that huge one, but we settled for this.

Baby Bleu checking it out.

We had a wonderful day with Jaggar, and he's still talking about this day. He wants to do it again.