Punky's Heaven

So, the other day at church, Punky's class talked about Heaven and what they thought it would be like. They had tons of magazines where the kids could cut things out and paste them on the paper....things they thought would be in Heaven. There was pictures of animals, people, houses, cars, any item you could think of. Well, Punky's picture completely describes her...

...sweets and pizza. She is definitely a blend of Hubby & me...I could eat sweets all day long (especially chocolate) and Hubby would eat pizza for every meal if I let him. Too cute.

Analog vs. Digital

Just a quick note...

I am so tired of hearing every other commercial on TV warning people that the analog signals for TV will be no longer after today. Get your converter box now!

I can't help but think if people would put this much effort in getting the word out about homelessness, food bank shortages, diseases, etc, then maybe some worthwhile things would actually get done!

Study

Hubby and I have started attending a new Bible study on the Old Testament. I have never done an "overview" study of the OT before, so I am interested in seeing the big picture. Already there seems to be quite a bit of homework, so I am praying I find the time to get it all done before the next week. It seems like a really fun group of people and we are both excited!

In other news...Punky has really been having a hard time wanting to eat dinner, or at least eat what I am fixing. If she doesn't eat, she has to go and sit on her bed until she is ready to eat. Once Hubby and I are done eating, it is too late for her, and she has to go the rest of the night without a treat or getting to finish supper. Tonight, we had mac n cheese, so I know it is just a test of wills, because she does like mac n cheese. This is so hard for me because I just want her to eat, but I know she has to learn that she eats what I fix when I fix it...I can't go fixing her seperate meals when she gets hungry. UGH!

Conversation

Here is how a conversation went today between me and Punky:

We pulled up next to a police car at a stoplight and:

"Look Punky, there is a police car by us!"
"Who gets to ride in there Mommy?"
"When people do something bad, they ride in there."
"Why?"
"When big people do bad things, the police man takes them to jail."
"Do they get a time out?"
"Well, yes, they do!"

It was very cute the way her mind was working.

Food Mishaps from Chef Reba

OK. Those that really know me, know that I don't like to cook...especially dinner when I am hungry. I got that from my mom, who does admit it as well.

Well, the past week has not been good in our kitchen...

Mishap #1:

In trying to find something to fix for dinner (my dilemma always is that I want something easy and quick, but nutricious for my family), I decided on chicken. We had some frozen chicken breasts, so I decided to cook them in the crockpot for a few hours so they would be tender. A couple hours later, I checked on them and found that they were only partially done, partially raw. I had thought to myself that it probably wasn't a good idea to put frozen meat in the crockpot because now it was probably filled with bacteria from not staying at the same temp. So, I called my mom. She was skeptical about eating them. I called my mother in law, but got no answer, so I called Hubby's grandma. I will never forget what she said..."Well, I don't really want to be the one to tell you to eat it or not, but I wouldn't!" Lesson learned. I quickly scrounged together something else. Ugh.

Mishap#2:

A few nights later, I was supposed to take a meal to a family at church that just had a baby. I was fixing pulled BBQ pork in a large crockpot and then in a small crockpot to take to them. They had been cooking for a couple of hours and I heard a popping noise in the kitchen. I went in there only to find my large crockpot throwing sparks all over the place. I reached over the sparks and unplugged both crockpots. I quickly took the crock pot pan/insert out of the big unit and put it in the oven on low to finish cooking and save the meat. I moved the smaller crockpot to another outlet to finish cooking. Needles to say, I had to throw my large crockpot away. Oh, but it gets better.

I went in an hour or so later and felt the small crockpot...it was not even on. It had sat there for over an hour with no heat. I wanted to cry. The sparking must have blown a fuse, so the other outlet didn't work. I couldn't risk the fact that I was giving a family bad pork, so I had to throw it out. Another bunch of expensive meat literally down the drain. I had to get the family take out.

Mishap #3:

We were out of milk today, so during my trip to Target, I realized they have milk and I wouldn't have to stop anywhere else. I also got some canned veggies for dinner tonight and we came home. I helped Punky into the house along with her blanket, doll, my purse, the target bag, and her school papers and set them all on the washer while we took our coats and shoes off. Punky was EXTREMELY hungry so I immediately set out to make her pbj sandwich...yes, that's right...I left the milk sitting on the washer. It was a good 4 hours before I realized it. It may have been okay to drink, but I am phobic about contaminated food, and just wouldn't take the chance...milk down the drain. I do not want to cook or do any fixing or buying of food for quite some time!!!!!

Crazy Busy

Well, our household has been very busy over the last few weeks, but thankfully we have been healthy!

Since my last post, we had a wonderful week in Florida during the -30 degree temperatures here. We went to Magic Kingdom and Sea World and did some shopping as well. It was just the three of us and we had a wonderful time being together.

Punky had her 4th birthday (which we celebrated while in Florida). She made a cake to take to school-white cake with pink frosting and sprinkles. They ate practically the whole thing!

We got a new camera, which is why I haven't posted pics in a while. I finally think I have figured it out.

Events until now

On Saturday, we arrived in Florida. It was fun to ride the airplane with Punky. She really actually liked it and was good. She kept herself very entertained. She decided she needed to sit by the window and when she saw the ground from way up high, she said "The ground looks like a puzzle!" The weather was about 75 degrees when we arrived and felt WONDERFUL!

We visited our favorite Florida family on Sunday. We went to their church and got to hear Pastor D preach and then spent the day with them. I think Punky was more excited about this than about going to Disney! She loved playing with GiGi and Gann and had soooo much fun. I will post pictures of the visit when we get home.

It was extremely nice weather on Sunday-about 80. It looks like the weather is steadily going to get colder as the week goes on, so no swimming for us this week! It is still warmer than back home, though!

Happy Birthday to Me!

So, I know, once you become an adult (I guess an old adult) you don't celebrate birthdays like when you were a kid. I am really fine with that, and don't even really need presents. So, here is how my birthday went...

• 7:00 a.m. - got up and showered, got Punky ready to go to the sitter; packed my lunch and out the door at 7:45.
• Got to work and had a nice stressful morning; many of my friends wished me a great birthday, and I even had a 40th birthday balloon appear in my office...nice. I didn't mind the joke, except that there were a few people that came by my office and asked (seriously) if I was really 40....NO!
• 11:00 - Friends bought me lunch-Panera yummy! Scarfed it down so that I still had time to run to the courthouse to get a copy of Punky's birth cerficate for Disney. Raced back to work.
• 12:00 - Had a lovely hard working afternoon.
• 4:30 - went to pick up Punky at the sitter...found out she had not taken a nap, so I knew this would be a fun evening.
• Punky needed to take treats to school on Thursday, so we stopped by Schnucks to pick out a cake mix and frosting. Went home.
• 5:00 - Made a cake (with Punky's help). Fixed a very fast and not so filling dinner of Ramen noodles and put in a load of laundry. Ate dinner; all of this with one cranky girl at my heels.
• 6:00 - left for church; Punky almost didn't get to go because of her attitude.
• 8:15 - arrived back home; hubby was at his soccer game; Punky had been crying most of the way home; had a conversation as to why she was NOT going to get to eat a cupcake because she had been bad all evening long.
• Got her ready for bed, teeth brushed, potty, all while she was still crying because now she didn't want to go to bed early. I explained many times that when she doesn't take a nap, she has to go to bed early.
• Put in another load of laundry.
• 9:00 - finally got Punky to sleep.
• Cleaned up the kitchen and folded laundry while watching something on TV (I can't even remember what).
• 9:45 - Hubby came home, so we put in a frozen pizza. YUM!
• Ate some pizza and put in another load of laundry (yes, I am behind and want it ALL done by the time we leave on vacation).
• 10:30 - Folded more clothes and decided it was time to go to bed.
• Made sure doors were locked and all lights out except the ones hubby was using.
• Gave Punky another blanket and turned out her princess light.
• Brushed my teeth, washed my face.
• Had devotions. I think I fell asleep before I was even done praying.

I could use a lot of words to describe my birthday...hectic, stressful, busy...but I am thankful for it. I have many wonderful people in my life and am truly blessed.

Oh, and I realized that my driver's license also expired, so I guess I know where I will have to go tomorrow!!! Oh great, a new picture. UGH!

Santa

So, Punky does officially believe in Santa...I am not sure how that happened, but somehow we have to ease her into the reality that he doesn't...anyways...

Grandma gave Punky a gift in a blue snowman bag. I, of course, save all give bags to reuse. So, as I was wrapping Punky's presents on Christmas Eve night from Santa, I grabbed that gift bag, not even thinking.

Christmas morning, Punky starts unwrapping all of her presents and gets to that one. She looks at it and says, "Wow! Another snowman bag! I wonder how Santa knew to get that one!" She obviously remembered the bag and was questioning it...she is way to smart for her own good.

Also, she was not going to bed like a good girl the other night and I said, okay, I am going to leave a note for Santa so that he won't leave us any presents. She got very serious and asked if I was going to call him. I said I didn't have the number and she said that Jen (her babysitter) does. She said Jen called Santa when they were being bad and told him to stop making toys! She thought that was going to happen again! Too funny.

I am very thankful for this Christmas...we did not have to travel outside of town once! We did have quite a few get togethers, but it all worked out in the end.

Lessons From a Punky

It never fails to amaze me how much Punky teaches me...things about life but also things about the Lord.

As we were walking on the ice covered ground the other day, hand in hand, Punky slipped and fell...not too hard, as I had her hand, but landed on her knees. She was fine, got up, and we kept walking. The next day, we were walking and she slipped again, only this time, I held her up. She said, "Whoa, you caught me mama!"

In that moment, I thought, that's how it is with God. He is constantly holding our hand, wanting us to rely on Him. Does that mean we won't fall? No. Does it mean we won't get hurt? No. But what it does mean is that he will ALWAYS be there to pick us up, brush us off, and take our hand for the next time. I would much rather walk hand in hand with Jesus than to risk it by myself.

I took these pictures from our first snow fall...Punky LOVES the snow, and had a lot of fun playing with Daddy.