I’m in love.  With THIS…

Oh sigh….one day maybe.

But not today.  Today, I will go on an outing somewhere beautiful with my family since Little Bit is feeling rotten from antibiotics (and probably more-so from the awful diaper rash that’s ravaging his bottom) and he doesn’t need to spend the morning sick and miserable in the nursery at church.  Today I will enjoy my family because they are who i would spend time in a kitchen like this most of the time for anyways.

But one day…one day, maybe this dream will be real.  For now though, I have bigger fish to fry in the kitchen that I have.

– Logan

I am always flattered when someone asks how I “do it all.”  If only they knew that…GASP…

I don’t. 

Not even close!

Heaven knows I don’t, and you should know too!  And when it seems like maybe I have, it’s only that I haven’t done it all at once.  I must be a good illusionist on occasion…just call me David Copperfield!

So, tonight we’re having a really neat couple over for dinner…and I have some getting ready to do. Let me tell you what i haven’t done yet and what i will do…between a fussy baby with an ear infection and a crafty 4 year-old who has already done play-doh and is now cutting tiny pieces of paper all over the kitchen table and subsequently the floor. 

I won’t vacuum until the last possible minute…and then I’ll send said 4-yr old to play in his room and I’ll hold the baby while i vacuum it so he won’t pull out more junk!

I’ll clean off the island in my kitchen which is a repository for all things junky.  Like right now it has, my coffee cup, a bunch of rotten bananas (which in 5 minutes will go in the freezer to make banana bread another day), a candle, my cell phone, a stack of bills, my Bible study guide, my wallet, a card, another stack of papers and magazines, a Netflix movie, a stack of paper plates, a coaster (that my coffee cup is NOT sitting on), and this very computer. Wow!  That’s a lot of stuff…and it’s actually cleaner looking right now that most days!

I won’t stress over the pile of junk in the upstairs hallways, because it’s been sitting there for a month and out of the sight of others, means out of my mind…at least for a little while longer! And I really can’t stand sorting through clothes…so that’s what’s there…bins of kids clothing!

I will make most all of dinner ahead.  And later today I’ll tell you how to do this very impressive recipe ahead too…Shrimp and Grits.

I will start my laundry and put away the stuff from yesterday (that i didn’t get around to doing yesterday.)  Because THIS is what happens if i don’t!

I will play with my kids.  And if it’s nice outside, I will take a walk with them outside this afternoon…partly to keep me sane, and partly to keep the house clean (which I’ll have to do most of during naptime.)  And think of it this way if the playing part is painful for you (which let’s be honest, it is for everyone sometimes)…when you play say UNO for example with your kids,  only UNO is what gets pulled out.  Left to their own devices, kids pull out the FREE WORLD and only play with a small portion of it.  Voila…playing with your kids means…less to clean up later!

And anything else that i can’t figure out where to put…in the last minutes…well, it’ll probably all go in here!

And there you have it…the secrets of a great illusionist!  Or at least one…

The junk drawer!

A friend called me today to encourage me about this blog.  I cannot tell you how glad I was to hear that.  How glad I’ve been each time any of you have told me the same thing!  I said from the start that I need encouragement and I really did mean it! So thank you…to all of you!  And please, please comment from time to time!  Otherwise I have no idea if anyone is really even reading or if the number that’s showing viewings on the stats is really just skewed from all the times I refresh my own screen in hopes that maybe this time there will be a comment! HA!  (I should note here that I feel so silly for just admitting that!)

Tonight I was nursing Little Bit at bedtime (don’t worry, I won’t be doing it til he’s like 48 months or anything, but I’m just not done yet!) and when i finished praying for him, my mind started to wander onto all the fun things i want this blog to be.  And all the things i don’t want it to be too.  (I’m thankful for good friends who will probably take me out if I inadvertently venture into being a blogging bummer…or worse, if you all become privy to what should really be a super personal journal with a lock on it! )

And if you’ll let me be honest with you (which actually I’ll always do anyways) I’ll tell you why I’ve never done this whole blogging thing before.

I was scared.

When it comes to this sort of thing, when anyone can read what you write, I honestly think to myself “What on earth could I write that people would want to read…or much less follow?!”  And part of me is still a little uncomfortable with that whole notion, because honestly it feels to me somehow…

arrogant. (And isn’t that a dirty little word that noone wants said about them?!)

But here’s what I’ve been learning about myself and I think maybe about other people too.  People love when you pour yourself and your gifts into them.  And don’t we always inadvertently get filled up some too when we can do that for others?!

That’s what I want to do here.  And I hope…truly hope, that by trying to recognize areas that I may be good at something, or willing to try but fail at, or just by being authentically me…that you’ll all feel poured into…somehow.  Because doesn’t it feel good to walk around with your cup a little fuller?!  And if I can do something like encourage you to feel more confident in who you are… by making you feel more confident in the kitchen… just by sharing something like “How to cut an onion”….then count me in!  And I know, by sharing and loving on you all in ways that I actually do know how…I’ll be somehow better for it too.

And I LOVE time with my friends…I mean, I LOVE IT!  So ,here we are…friends!

I have a favor to ask of you too.  Please comment and tell me things that you think would be fun to read about…your own ideas too!  If I know about it, I’ll do my best to do your topic justice, and if not, then I’ll do my best to find someone who can and have guest posts. ( Well, for that reason and because even I don’t want to hear my own voice all the time!)

And just a taste of the list I’ve been keeping on my fridge (still too nervous after the dog bowl incident with my last phone to keep something important on it!)

Drum roll please…. Get out your dessert plates friends…the cart is wheeling by!!!!

*My favorite cookbooks…that I (and now you) shouldn’t live without
*Some kids books that I really think deserve some public love
*Recipes galore…easy, fancy, easy and fancy, ones for company, ones for leftovers, ones for you to sneak down and eat a snibble of in the middle of the night (those are my personal favorites!)
*How To…do things like…arrange flowers, time a meal, cook for food allergies, makeover a room for $200 or less
* Gifting…ideas (I LOVE to give gifts…and if i had enough money to do it all the time…i would.  You’d all open your mailbox tomorrow and find presents!  Even though I hate going to the post office with 2 small children…really, it’s the worst place to go with kids i think…well, there or the OB.
*Parties – some I throw, and some I go to (because I have some pretty fun party throwing friends too!)
*Probably I’ll drop some Food for Thought on you from time to time as well…because if I’ve paused to think about it, well sometimes it’s just nice to have some company in your pause.

Hopefully we’ll just keep on trucking with loads of fun new stuff too.  Sometime, when I think of something good, and I’m sure enough people are reading to make it fun, I think it’d be a blast to do a give-away.  I don’t know what I’d give-away or what for yet (doesn’t that sound wildly enticing?! LOL), but I read about it on someone else’s blog one time and like I said before…who doesn’t love getting presents in the mail?!

And I’m gonna tell you now, and I’ll do my best to fix it, but I am horrible about these stupid capital “i’s.”  I must not hold down the shift key long enough or something, but they make me crazy…and apparently make my friend L crazy as well, because she told me there are too many lower cased i’s in my posts! ( Love my friend L…you know who you are…because really i have lots of friends who’s names start with L!)  See there…just happened again! Dang it! So, I’m sorry…spell check misses them too! (the only reason there aren’t too many in this post is because I manually have changed them…it’s taken forever…I probably won’t do that much more!)

Ok friends! Thanks for letting me into your reading list!  Or your drab cubicle, or your cheery cubicle, or your kitchen table, or your favorite chair.  I hope this adventure is as much fun for you as it has been so far for me!

Hugs,
Logan

PS. Tomorrow I’m going to teach you how to make the MOST AMAZING shrimp and grits. (If you are from up north and can’t get grits…you have to let us know…I’m sure with enough southern people on here, we can get you some grits!) Hello…do i hear my first give-away?!

Why yes I do!  Hmmm….but what for? Ok, whoever has the post idea that makes me so excited that I have to do it immediately… wins!  Grits!  And i’ll mail them to you! From the dreaded post office!

I just started a new Bible study last night with a group of women i don’t really know….at all in fact.  Well, i know 2 of them, but of those i only really know one.  Anyways, last night was our first meeting.  And it was GOOD!

It’s been awhile since I’ve read or done anything that made me feel almost overwhelmed with information.  Like, last night, i had a physical tightness in my chest because there was so much to process…there IS so much to process.  And I’m not a natural processor, so anything that makes me want to process really HAS to be good.

And last night there was this one quote that really stuck to my bones.  I’ve been thinking about it over and over today…well, 2 quotes really, but they go together.

“I am a direct result of my belief system.  All i am comes from what i really believe when noone is looking.”

and then the real kicker…

“We are holding our chains,

                                     Our chains are not holding us.”  

As a believer in Christ (which I happen to be), I have been freed.

Acts 13:39 says “Through Him, everyone who believes is freed from all things.”  Freed…that’s a past tense word…you have been freed, of ALL THINGS…you are not in process of being freed. And then i thought…If i am a direct result of my belief system, Do i really believe that?  And the short answer is “Yes. I believe it.”  But, in the quiet of the night when noone is looking, do i allow myself to walk in freedom?

But then, I have to ask myself as I’ve been doing some thinking today….If I’m not walking in freedom, then what has me chained up unnecessarily?  What keeps me from walking in the freedom that Jesus PAID?  Paid…freed….done.

Is it fear?  Or uncertainty?

Is it unforgiveness or resent?

Is it pride?

Is it a past mistake I can’t get over and think God can’t either?

And once i figure that out…i guess the next question is…

If I’ve been freed, then why am I still holding onto chains?

And then I’d like to say, when i figure it out…I’ll be opening my hand…and letting go of those chains….because these hands were not made for shackles. And neither were yours…

***Do you have chains you’re holding on to?  If you’ve been freed, then what’s stopping you from releasing your grip?  If you want to learn more about how to become free….shoot me a message…there’s plenty of freedom to go around! 

I have to tell you…i just got off the phone with my sister.  Some days we don’t like each other very much and some days, there’s really noone else that i can laugh with so hard.  When we talk to one another, we talk too loud.  Her husband says it makes him so crazy that he wants to just stick his fingers in his ears.  Turns out, mine feels the same way!  And…truth is, i think they’ve both done it! HA!

She lives far away, my sister.  And even though we get on each other’s nerves, and make each other crazy, i wish we lived in the same town.  She and Little Bit even have the same birthday!

Her Hubs is a man of quick decisions.  He works in Manhattan and so a lot of the things he does happen fast.  Today he informed her that they need to move out of the city…apparently they’ve gotten too many parking tickets! Ok, so that’s not really the reason…they’ve been tossing the idea around for awhile.

She sent me a link to a really neat house up there that he found.  I still can’t believe how much higher the cost of living is there, but it is.  Anyways, it’s a neat house. They’re going to look at it today.  I wish i could go with her.  We like doing things like that together.

We feed off of each other though.  For better or for worse!  If something is bad, you’d think it was catastrophic if we’re together.  If something is good, you’d think it was the most amazing thing ever.  If something is funny, we’ve really both peed in our pants before!

I found a house today that i sent her.  I told her it was her dream house.  Then we both laughed so hard we cried when she looked at it.  And i just have to share.  Check this thing out.

My Sister’s Dream House

And did you notice the realtor’s name?  Or the hilarious face he’s making in his profile shot?  Only added to our laughter. (I know i shouldn’t tease about someone…but we all know we’ve had the awful name conversation before.  Why, just the other day i heard a few good ones: Eunice Enis, Shithead (pronounced Sha-theed), Patty Nipple, Harry Organ Jr….you know you’ve had a laugh at the expense of a name before.)

Anyways, I’m pretty sure if you’d heard us on the phone today, you might have put your fingers in your ears too!

There’s just something about a sister isn’t there?!

**For those of you with a sister…what do you love most about yours?