The hair

Okay, since I have had quite a few people ask me for a picture, I'll give you one. It is not the best, but it will have to do. I still like my hair, but I have no idea how to fix it. This is what it looks like when it has only been blow-dried. I need to go buy a flat iron to make it do what Trisha does.

Sassy new haircut

After another "fun" day with the boys (this too shall pass . . .), I treated myself to a haircut with Trisha. I just LOVE my haircut with Trisha time!! I discovered Trisha quite by accident (or maybe an act of God) two summers ago when I put my name in a drawing at Summerfest. I won a free haircut by Trisha! I went to her and she cut my hair, but Mitch didn't insure her at the time, so I went back to Tricia (same name, different stylist). After a particularly frightening haircut by Tricia, I decided I would not subject my hair to that kind of thing again, so I just didn't get my hair cut.

Envy Spa and Salon in downtown Dallas, Oregon opened up this fall and Mitch insures most (if not all) of the ladies there, so he suggested that I try it out. To my delight, Trisha worked there!! I set an appointment for GRANT to get a haircut and me to get a bang trim and brow wax (first one in 13 years). Grant's haircut was . . . a challenging experience, but he turned out cute. Now, picture me laying flat on my back in a shampoo chair with a 4 month old sitting on my belly. Grant was running around willy-nilly as Trisha waxed my brows. (Some of you Mardock-side females may recall my "oh-my-gosh" e-mail about the pencil thin eyebrows.) Can you believe that Trisha only charged me $10 for a wax, trim and little boy haircut?? She became my friend and my stylist that day.

These days I make it a point to schedule my appointments every 6 weeks or so. I can pop in anytime for a trim, but I just wait for the full-treatment. Tonight, I arrived for my 7:15 appointment (I love that she works at night!!) and she asked me, "white or red?" [sigh] Who cares if it is just three-buck Chuck?? She washed my hair (even though she cuts my hair dry) just so I could feel pampered. She waxed my brows (no more caterpillar eyebrows for me!!) and then gave me an ultra-stylish cut. I told her to just go for it. She did, and I like it!! I just hope I like it tomorrow when I'm on my own. Seriously, it is SO different than my usual style. For those of you who haven't seen me in 10 years, it has looked the same, so you haven't missed out. NOW, though, I don't know if my own mother would recognize me!!

And, to top it all off, she gave me $5 off because I had recently referred a friend (who looks wonderfully stylish as well). My Chuck, wax and cut only cost me $25. Woo Hoo!!

Is it even worth it??

Let me just start by saying that if you come to my house and expect great snacks or a meal on a whim, you will be disappointed. My pantry is usually pretty bare and the refrigerator gets cleaned out weekly (not that I actually CLEAN the refrigerator . . . ). If it is in the house, we eat it. I don't usually stock up, although I would like to do that some day.

So, we have been eating air for the last week. That basically means that if it is on the pantry shelf, it gets thrown in with the dinner. I have not had any desire to brave the grocery store and I usually avoid it at all costs. I have no problem running out to grab something, but I didn't want to do the whole "shopping" thing.

Well, this morning, I figured it was time to get some food. After Cole's nap, we loaded into the car and drove on over to Independence (13 minutes) to Waremart (Winco). Depending on when you catch me, I either love or hate that store. Today I hate it.

I could make this a really long email, but let me just give you some of the highlights:

Cole was quite comfortable in his infant carrier, so I loaded him onto the cart and clicked him in. The blood immediately rushed from his feet to his head. Yeah. He was tilted pretty far back. But what was I to do? We continued on.

Grant had opinions and HAD to have this and that. After all, it was "For Daddy." What was I to do? We bought the squeeze cheese.

Grant put his hand into the big bin with the bulk gummy worms and pulled out a fist full. What was I to do? We bought the worms.

Grant poked a hole in the plastic encasing the steak I was considering buying. Hmm. We bought the steak.

Grant NEEDED his Cheetos. I won that one. No Cheetos. Mom always ends up eating them anyway.

I told him a million times to "Stick with me." As soon as I started unloading my cart, he ran out the FRONT door of the store. I left my baby with the checker and ran out after him. Argh. I unloaded a month's worth of groceries and then had to write a check (Argh) and bag the groceries myself (ARGH) while Grant was pushing the cart out into the isle thus blocking people from getting out of the store. All of these older people were looking at me like, "You need to control your kid!!" Oh yeah? Come bag my groceries and I will control my kid. In the meantime, the snot-nosed teenage employee is just standing there with a broom in his hand watching all of this happen.

[big sigh]

I did, however, find Suddenly Salad for only 38¢ a box.

I don't stink!!

So much has happened since I last posted. I'll try to fit it in a nutshell:

1. Cole went to the Doctor (the nurse was awesome) and we found out he is in the 10th percentile for weight. The nurse weighed him 3 times, just to make sure. 15 pounds, 7 ounces. I am cracking up! Grant was so HUGE compared to Cole. The Doctor says he would rather see a lean baby than a fat kid. (Umm . . . Grant was a fat kid . . . ) Anyway, Cole is doing great and is quite healthy despite the fact that he won't eat mush food. Yeah, he's on solids, but he won't eat mush. No rice cereal, no pureed carrots, no applesauce. He gags and sometimes vomits. (What is it with me and the vomit thing?) Cole does eat non-mush food items like canned green beans, whole wheat bread, scrambled eggs, crackers, Nila Wafers, apple slices, and black beans. Those of you who are freaking out about the stuff I'm feeding my kid, I KNOW!! You don't have to warn me about allergies, etc. I know. I'm not nearly as uptight as I was when Grant was a baby, and you won't be either when your #2 comes along. Oh, yeah. Cole is in the 80-85th percentile in height. Of course.

2. My family actually left Wednesday morning so we didn't get to stay up all night talking. Bummer. I look forward to seeing them again soon. Mitch mentioned maybe trying to get down to California in the spring. Who knows! They will definitely be here for the 4th of July, though. Woo Hoo!!

3. Mitch kept me company last night in my scrapbooking room (formerly known as the kids play room). I was making birthday cards for his clients and he was helping me out. He learned how to curl the edges of cardstock, stamp with acrylic stamps and he learned a technique called "direct to paper" inking. I took pictures, just to prove it. Blackmail for the future.

4. This morning I went to Ladies Bible Study at my church and it was awesome, as usual. We are doing a Beth Moore video series on Daniel. Today the theme was "No Smell of Fire". It was so good. Basically, it was about how Rack, Shack, and Benny (V-tales reference . . .) were thrown into the furnace by King Nebuchadnezzar. They said, "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, . . . But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." But even if he does not . . . (Daniel 3:17-18)

Beth Moore taught us about 3 scenarios when people of God face a fiery trial (she used the example of a woman finding a lump):
A - We pray and pray and are delivered FROM the fire. Out of this, our faith is built. But, how many times do we justify the outcome? We might chalk it up to better science that got us through the medical crisis.
B- We pray and pray, but we have to face the fire. God delivers us THROUGH. Out of this, our faith is refined. (Refiner's fire . . .)
C- We pray and pray, and we are delivered BY the fire into God's arms. Through this our faith is perfected.

As long as we are on this earth, our faith is being refined. Or, at least I hope it is. "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds . . ." (James 1:2) There are so may great scriptures to get us through tough times. And, God will deliver us!! Whether he delivers us FROM the fire, THROUGH the fire, or BY the fire, he has promised to deliver us. What an awesome reminder that was to me this morning. I remembered times in the past when I felt like God was refining me. When I was delivered FROM the fire, yes, I forgot all about God's great work. There have been times when I was delivered THROUGH the fire, but in some of those times I wasn't allowing God to deliver me fully. Beth Moore showed us that in Daniel 3:27 it says, "They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them." There was no smell of fire on them! When we allow God to deliver us fully, we won't smell like the fire. When people look at us, they won't say, "Oh, poor Kelleigh. She has had such a rough time." Instead, they will say, "Look at the joy Kelleigh has. Her life must be good." When we keep walking around with a victim hat on lamenting our circumstances, we are not bringing God any sort of glory. And after all, our purpose here on earth is to bring God glory!! We should be able to say what Paul says, "Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel." Oh, how I long to be that kind of witness!!

SO, I promise to be open and honest with all of you, but I am taking my victim hat off. No one wants to listen to a whiner anyway. I recently visited a friend after a very harrowing day and she sat there and listened to me whine the whole time. I'm trying to develop my friendship with her and she had to listen to THAT!! (Sorry, friend!!) I have also decided that my whole SAD episode was just in my head. I was choosing to be a victim. I'm done with that. I love my life. I love my family. I love my role as a mother. When little things threaten to overwhelm me, I will remember this! Please hold me accountable!

Ahh . . . I'm done.

Fun, Fun, Fun!!

I had a blast last night!! (I'll give you the play-by-play because that is just what I do.)

My parents and sisters arrived right after I had finished vacuuming the upstairs. Good timing. My mom and I left to go to the store to get food for dinner. Of course, we had to swing by Dutch Bros for that precious Annihilator. Heaven in a cup. We had a fun time shopping for Taco Salad makings (small things bring me joy) and took about an hour when all was said and done.

We arrived home to find Tim, Sara, Dani and Adam waiting for us!! Everyone pitched in to make the salad, then we all gathered around our tiny little coffee table to eat it. (If you come to my house you will see a lack of furniture. But the kitchen is beautiful. Trade-offs.) We had a great time just catching up, talking about nothing terribly important and getting to know Adam. We all approve, by the way. Seems like a great guy, and we didn't freak him out!

After the young people (that's what I call them now that I am 30) left and the kids went to bed, Mitch, Dad, Mom and I sat around talking. I just love talking and dreaming with my parents. They are the best dreamers in the world and so encouraging to talk to. There never seems to be enough time to just sit and talk with them.

We all went to bed around midnight, then Mitch and I stayed up talking. That Annihilator was working full force last night. Lovely drink.

Okay, since I am on a roll, I might as well talk about today, so far. I went to MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) by myself!! Grandma and Grandpa watched the boys. Breakfast was awesome and my casserole was devoured. That always warms the heart. Our speaker was very interesting and it was great to see some friends. The boys are sleeping right now, but I have to wake them up in about 30 minutes to take them to Cole's 6 mo. well-baby visit. Yeah, I know he's 7 months! I promise, I am a good mom and not at all flaky. This is Cole's third doctor since he was born (not counting hospital doctors). I am trying to find "the one." So far, I have liked the doctors, but have not been too impressed with the nurses. And, after all, you are dealing with the nurses most of the time anyway. I will be evaluating the speed with which Cole's shots are administered today.

This evening, I get to teach another scrapbooking group!! I love that. Then, I get to come home to have an all-night gab session with my parents!! I think I'll stop by Dutch Bros for a coffee before scrapbooking . . .

Something to look forward to!!

My parents and littlest sisters are arriving today!! I am very excited because I don't get to see my family very often. Most of them live in California, so we only get to see them a couple of times a year. My mom called last night to warn me that they are bringing the girls (WOO HOO!!) and that they have declared our house a party zone. "What does that mean?" I asked. Well, it means that my brother, Tim, and his wife, Sara, are coming over from Rockaway Beach (Oregon coast). My practically-a-sister, Dani is coming down from Hillsboro and I think she is bringing her mystery-man, Adam. Our house will be full and lively! (For those of you who were unaware, I have 9 sisters and brothers!)

Switching topics here . . . Grant puked this weekend. Thankfully, I have not had to do a lot of clean-up duty. Mitch took me out to Olive Garden [hear the chorus of angels?] while his parents watched the boys. Soon after we left their house, Grant had his first "episode". According to Grandpa, he obeyed very well and stayed on the hard wood until he was finished. Good boy. When we arrived back at their house he was sleeping on their couch with a towel tucked under him and a bucket on the floor. Apparently he was very good about using that bucket. Wonderful child.

This meant that I missed ANOTHER Sunday at church. Argh. I think I have missed the last 4 out of 5 Sundays due to illness. Thankfully, the local radio station has some pretty good sermons, even if that means I have to listen to the lady whose microphone is turned up WAY too loud during the singing. Oh, have mercy! I am embarrassed listening to her!!

So, I stayed home with both of the boys again while Mitch went to church and taught Sunday School. I did get to escape at one point in the day, though. A friend had a baby shower, and that was a lot of fun.

I never did get that Annihilator, though. I called Mitch at work this morning to tell him that if he or anyone he knows is stopping by Dutch Bros., they can bring me an Annihilator. He offered me the half-full, luke-warm one on his desk. Argh. Maybe he will bring me one at lunch.

Therapy

Well, last night I actually scrapbooked. Never mind that my children were in the room with me and it was hard to concentrate. I actually COMPLETED a layout! It is not good enough to post, but it was fun and done!

Mitch went out and rented Mission Impossible 3. Very cool movie. Incredibly suspenseful. You just kind of have to look past the fact that the actor is a bit of a freak in real life.

My mother-in-law volunteered to watch the boys tonight while we go to Olive Garden. Ahh . . . bliss!! Ravioli di Portebello here I come (I've been ordering the same thing for the last 8 years, I think.) I anticipate some excellent, stimulating conversation. Mitch had better deliver!

After Mitch gets home from hunting, I am going to run over to Dutch Bros. for that precious Annihilator. That is real therapy.

I need an obsession . . .

You know how you go through seasons of interests? Ladies, you know what I'm talking about. When I first got married I was interested in finding great recipes. When we bought our first house, I poured over decorating magazines, sketched ideas and painted walls. When I was pregnant with Grant I subscribed to all the free pregnancy or baby magazines I could get my hands on. After he was born, I was OBSESSED with all things baby. I wanted everything to be absolutely perfect for him. (I admit now that it was a little unhealthy.) Then, we started building a home and again the decorating bug hit me. After we moved in, I just wanted to get curtains up and try to inject my personality in this new home (this has not been accomplished, yet!).

I'll admit that when I became pregnant with Cole, I wasn't nearly as obsessed. In the beginning I counted the days until we were out of the danger zone, then I relaxed a lot more and just enjoyed being pregnant. That is a good thing because I had a cute little 2 year old to look after. I didn't have time for obsession. Well, okay, I guess I became obsessed with scrapbooking. I sell Close To My Heart scrapbooking and stamping supplies, so I was always thinking about how to earn enough money at a party or workshop to get free stuff. This is still a lot of fun for me.

I guess my current interest is learning about all of the crazy chemicals found in household cleaning products and personal care items. If the American public only knew . . . freaky stuff. Do some research. It is interesting!

Other than that, I think it is time for another obsession to kick in. I think I am going through a "stage" (as moms like to call it). Stuff doesn't interest me right now. I am just trying to keep my head above water. I'm sure there are other moms out there who feel the same way. (Can I get an "amen"?) Yeah, I'm being pretty vulnerable here, but I have no idea how many people are reading this blog anyway, so ignorance is bliss. I have a counter at the bottom of my page, but I'm sure most of the hits are from me!! Anyway, I wonder if I am developing SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). I told my doctor that I've been feeling kind of down lately and she said I need to get some sun. Oh, if only the sun would come out! I live in Oregon, lady. Everything is gray right now. I've already thought about all kinds of solutions (lights, tanning beds, vacation to Australia) and just decided that I need to get over it. Will power. I'll let you know if it works. (But I also decided to take Luminex which contains St. Johns Wort . . . since I am not above self-medication.)

Maybe what I need to do is decorate my house. I admit, though, that I don't really care what it looks like right now. I just want it to stay clean! Yeah, right. Everywhere I go there are toys and books. Maybe if all of the toys and books were set against a vibrant red wall they wouldn't look as bad. Or, maybe what I need is a change in throw pillows.

Well, I'll try something this weekend and let you know how it goes.

A Reminder . . . to me

My beautiful boys! They are wonderful and delightful. I am so thankful that I get to be their mom!

I'm about to explode!

My boys are freaking me out. Cole NEEDS to sleep, yet Grant woke him up with his screaming, "No Mommy, I don't want a swat!" about 1/2 an our into his morning nap. Cole is trying to recover from a cold and would sleep 2 hours if his brother would STOP waking him up!! Cole is now crying because he thinks it is time to wake up and his mommy just left his room.

Grant is driving me NUTS!! Between the Cars monologues, insane sound effects (revving engines and who knows what), "Look mom . . . ", "Hey, mom . . . .", the sound of dropped cars on the hard wood, etc. I think I am going to go insane. And, to top it off, my coffee is cold.

Oh, no, it gets better. It is snowing again, which means that we had to cancel our MOPS steering team meeting this morning because the Dallas schools decided to cancel school. People in Minnesota would laugh at us Oregonians. Our schools have closed 3 times in recent weeks. Why???? Seriously!!!! When the schools close, do you know what I do? I take the boys on a field trip! We go to Wal-Mart and walk the isles. We visit Daddy. We deposit a check. We get a Dutch Bros. coffee. We go grocery shopping. A little bit of snow is not going to stop the Ratzlaffs from going outside. Our lives do not shut down just because school is closed!! FREAK!!!

I am NOT going to cancel our scrapbooking group tonight unless the weather is so bad that Mitch can't get home from work. Oh, yeah. Mitch went to WORK today. Imagine him actually continuing with his life while the rest of Dallas is afraid to go out in about 1/2 inch of snow . . . and a tiny bit of ice. By the way, for those of you who live in Dallas, people are driving up and down my street at a normal clip without chains right now! I live on a smooth road with about a 30 degree incline and people are NOT sliding around.

Yes, one day when my kids are in school and I am sitting at home, bored (yeah, right), I will long for these cold, wintry days when we were cooped up inside our homes with opportunities to cuddle, play games and wipe noses. But, since that has been my existence for the past 3 1/2 years, I just need something to look forward to in the EVERY DAY. If they cancel Bible Study for the 3rd time on Thursday, I think I will flip out.

[sigh] I apologize for the rant. Yeah, I need to throw my coffee in the microwave and just chill out. If only "the wipers on the bus [didn't] go swish, swish, swish . . . all through the town" quite so often. Grant found an old toy. Argh.

My Future Tow Truck Driver

Grant informed me this morning that when he gets bigger, he wants to be a tow truck driver. "And, Daddy, you can be a race car driver!" (Of course, Grant was driving Mater around with Lightning attached to his "ta". - If you don't know what any of that means, you need to see "Cars" the movie.) This is the first time Grant has shown interest in his future career. :o)

The Ham

I know I am writing about the mundane here, but at least I am sparing Mitch having to listen to my boring stories, so bear with me.

A couple of weeks ago we had a huge wind storm that knocked over a bunch of trees. Many of them landed on houses and barns. The waters rose and lots of people found water under their houses. My super-hero insurance agent husband came to the rescue. He wore jeans and a fleece to work that day because he had a feeling that he would be climbing under houses and helping to pull trees out of bedrooms.

Sure enough, he helped many people that day and got pretty dirty, wet and tired. One thankful client was so happy with the service he received that he gave us a HUGE ham. I really wish I had taken a picture of the ham. It was about the size of a 6 month old baby boy curled up with his buns in the air. Maybe bigger.

The ham had been sitting in our refrigerator for about a week when I finally decided to attempt baking it. The directions said to put it in a brown paper bag at 200* for 9 hours or until the internal temp is 160*. So, I put it in at 9:45 am and set the temperature to 210* (I'm a little impatient). Around 7:00 pm, I checked the ham. Not done. We ate leftovers for dinner.

At 8:30, I checked it. Not done. 9:30, not done. Finally at about 11:30 pm we checked the ham and it JUST registered 160* and not a degree more. It was done! Now what? We cut some of it for our midnight snack, but it was too hot to put into the refrigerator. We had to leave it out.

Thankfully one of the boys woke up at 12:30 am and while I pretended to be dead asleep, Mitch got up to take care of the boy and put the ham in the refrigerator.

We gave about 1/2 of it to Mitch's friend and former employee and I just finished cutting up the other half to put into the freezer. The ham bone is boiling on the stove.

Okay, seriously. Why did I just waste a ton of time writing about our ham? Imagine being married to me . . . Mitch is so thankful I have this blog!

My Surprise

For the past year or so, Mitch has been the one to put Grant to bed. They hop in Grant's bed and read books and tell stories. I love that Mitch likes to do that because I have always been the "drop and run" type. I know you are supposed to read and tell stories, but COME ON!! I do that ALL day. With Mitch taking over, I get to go take a bath or check my email or fix some tea in PEACE!!

Well, earlier this week, after kissing Grant and praying with him, I was kicked out of his room. They had to work on their surprise for Mommy. How fun!!!

Last night, I found out what their surprise was. I was putting Grant's PJs on him and he starts in with, "... L, M, N, O, P. Q, R, S . . T, U, V. W, X, Y and Z. Now I know my ABC's, next time won't you sing with me." WHAT!!?? Mitch had been teaching him the ABC song. I don't know how long they had been working on that, but it was SO cool to hear him sing it to me. I asked him to sing it again and he did it from the beginning. We went out to sing it to Daddy. He did great! He even enunciates his "LMNOP!" My 3 1/2 year old knows his ABC's!

(Since I am bragging, I might as well tell you that he also knows about 10 Bible verses. He goes to Awana and has a great memory. Hee hee!)

Playing in the snow . . . in November

We didn't go out in the snow yesterday because it all melted before we could get to it. Shucks.

Here are some pictures of us playing in the snow in November!

Snow Day!

I used to just love snow days. No school. Get to stay home with mom and make snow cones and hot chocolate. I have some great memories from childhood playing in the front yard at our 2nd Partlow Road house.

Well, times have changed. Snow is pretty, but it is cold. Grant keeps saying, "That makes me want to go out in the snow . . . get some snow clothes!" (Those of you who know how he talks can "hear" it.) The last time we went out in the snow (Nov.) he lasted about 10 minutes. He refused to put on his gloves and his hands froze to the point that he was crying. All of this after taking 15 minutes to make sure we were all bundled up.

I can hear you now, "Aw, let him go play in the snow." No. It is wet and cold and too early. My coffee hasn't kicked in. In the meantime, I'm sitting in the office, enjoying the view out the windows, trying to think and type at the same time, listening to Grant's "Cars" monologue. The kid is entertained enough without having to go out in the snow.

I'll post pictures of us playing in the snow later today . . .

I'm starting a blog!

So, for a while now I have been talking about starting a blog. I am constantly writing little messages to the ladies (mom, mother-in-law, sisters, sisters-in-law) sharing the joys of my life. I often send little stories and cute pictures and they are always saying, "You need to keep that one!"

I put together a cute little journal the other day (altered notebook for you crafty types) to record all of the funny little things my kids (um . . . just Grant for now) say. Let's face it, though. I am much more likely to jump on the computer and start typing than write something down on paper and have to look at my messy handwriting. Yes, I will make an effort to write in the notebook, but this blog is just in case I don't get around to it. (Those of you who are still in the pen and paper stage might wonder why jumping on the computer is easier for me. It just is.)

So, here I go! I'm a blogger!

Christmas Pictures

Here are some fun pictures from Christmas morning!