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You are here: Home / Other / Warning: Could cause extreme boredom and yawning

Warning: Could cause extreme boredom and yawning

June 16, 2014 ·

I feel that this post should come with a warning that I almost didn’t write anything because the last several days around here have been so uneventful. That should be an indicator that the content contained herein might cause drowsiness and the feeling that you were smarter before you started reading it.

In fact, the only reason I’m writing anything is because I am multi-tasking while we watch the Spurs. P is flipping back and forth between the game and a show we’ve watched all afternoon on the National Geographic Channel called Inside Combat Rescue about parajumpers in Afghanistan that has led me to believe that I now have a working knowledge of how to conduct complicated medical procedures in a helicopter. The Spurs are up by 20 at this point so I have every reason to believe they’re going to win the championship tonight and am debating if I want to head downtown to flip over a car or just drive around and honk my horn to celebrate. In truth, I will do neither of these things because I’d have to get out of my pajamas and that would require more energy than I can muster at this point.

I think we’ve fully embraced all the down time this weekend because last week ended up being busier than we planned. Caroline was in a soccer camp every day which required us to get up in the morning and also things like face paint and making the world’s tiniest American flag because the campers received extra points for these types of things and Caroline is nothing if not competitive which meant there was no halfway for any of it. In the end it paid off because her team won first place in the World Cup competition and that child has always been a sucker for a medal.

We celebrated Father’s Day with Bops on Thursday because he and Mimi were leaving on a little trip and were going to be out of town and then we went to Old Navy because we are on a never-ending quest this summer to find the perfect swimsuit. You would think it wouldn’t be that hard to find a swimsuit for a skinny ten-year-old girl but you would be wrong. It can’t be pink, it can’t be “scratchy”, it can’t fit too tight or too loose. The list is really endless. And while we were in the dressing room at Old Navy I kind of started dancing to the music playing in the store and Caroline froze in the middle of trying on a swimsuit and said, “Please stop.”

“What? No one can see me!”, I said as I kept dancing.

“I can see you.”

Well.

I learned two things. 1) Never underestimate the power of threatening to pull out some dance moves to rein in any misbehavior and 2) As much as moms listen to the lyrics of LeAnn Womack’s song “I Hope You Dance” and wish that for their child, there are an equal amount of kids who would like to write a song called “I Hope You Don’t Dance”.

And I should state for the record I was by no means an overzealous dancer. It was just barely more than moving my head.

The good news is we found a swimsuit.

Then on Friday morning Caroline had her last day of soccer camp. While she was there I drove out to Dick’s Sporting Goods to get P another fishing shirt for Father’s Day because you can never have too many. And by you I mean P. I chose a blue one and I realized that P’s wardrobe is a lot like Prince William’s in that they both own a lot of blue shirts. That’s pretty much where the similarity ends unless Prince William has a bunch of fishing shirts from Academy that he wears in private.

And the only other thing of note from the weekend (and I’m using thing of note loosely) is that I managed to clean out several closets and cabinets and then even went so far to get rid of several frames I’ve had sitting on the dresser in our bedroom for far too long. Is it really necessary to have six framed pictures from your wedding displayed when you’re about to celebrate your 17th wedding anniversary? And then, emboldened and empowered by the removal of the frames, I decided to get rid of the lamps on our bedside tables that I have hated for the better part of six years now but have been too lazy to replace. I decided nothing will motivate me to find new lamps like not having any lamps.

So I ended up dropping off a huge load of stuff to Goodwill. There are really few things in life that make me feel more accomplished than that.

And, finally, Sunday we went to church, picked up tacos, celebrated Father’s Day and sat on the couch. But I feel like I’ve learned a lot of good medical terminology from the parajumper show so I can’t say it’s been totally unproductive.

Also, in the time it’s taken me to write this, the Spurs have won the championship. I am sticking to my guns and will not be heading downtown. However I will take this opportunity to say Go, Spurs, Go!

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  1. Shirl in Alberta

    June 16, 2014 at 3:02 am

    I love your posts. I think you could write about a watching a darts game on television and still manage to make it entertaining. Your Sunday sounds heavenly.

  2. Becca

    June 16, 2014 at 6:13 am

    For future reference on the swimsuit shopping: my 8yo has skinny girl, long torso probs over here too. As far as regular retail stores go, Justice has the very best fit, at least with tankinis (which makes sense, because their slims are about the only pants that fit her decently). J does swim club and so also has competition suits, and honestly the Justice suits fit her better than some of the competition swimwear. (Although if for some reason you should need to know performance suit brands or you are just looking for a sturdy one-piece, so far the Waterpro brand fits my skinny mini better than Speedo, TYR, or Sporti…. or Justice for that matter). This was your public service announcement.

  3. Sallie Baker

    June 16, 2014 at 6:41 am

    So funny! She’s reached that age when mom dancing is about the most embarrassing thing
    that can happen…even if no one sees it!

    On another note….when you have time, tell me where you ” pick up tacos”. My son just moved to San Antonio for a dental residency, and he’s a big foodie, and is so excited about discovering great new little places! I’ve already given him your recommendation on Chris Madrid’s.

  4. Laura

    June 16, 2014 at 6:50 am

    Congratulations on the Spurs win!
    And thanks for posting because you still make a regular old weekend hilarious and I need a laugh to start a Monday ,,,,, =0)

  5. Beth

    June 16, 2014 at 8:06 am

    I feel your pain on swimsuit shopping. My daughter is the same way—tall and skinny. There can be no pink, purple or any other girly colors on it! We went shorts shopping yesterday and trying to find some that are long enough for church camp was so much fun! Not!! The ones that were long enough in the girls section had; yep, you guessed it; pink or purple! Grrr!!! I ended up finding some aqua colored ones in the boys section.

  6. BethA

    June 16, 2014 at 9:49 am

    I couldn’t agree more about the accomplishment felt from dropping off stuff to Goodwill! It’s better than psychotherapy. I’ve been doing some cleaning out at my mother’s house, and even though it’s not my stuff, it’s still a great feeling. Now, if I can manage to start working on my own closets, we’ll have some real progress!

    • Laurie Squiric

      June 17, 2014 at 12:18 pm

      I call cleaning out our closets and cabinets ” living on the edge”….particularly true when one throws out/gives away hoarded stuff that does not truely belong to the one doing the culling! Life happens, and it’s the real world!

  7. Maria D.

    June 16, 2014 at 9:59 am

    I desperately need to clean my closet but I just can’t seem to find the motivation…could be because every time I go into my bedroom I somehow end up lying down on the bed and napping….sigh….Yay on the Spurs winning…..we had tacos for lunch yesterday too….nothing wrong with P having a wardrobe of blue shirts if it makes him happy:)

  8. lh

    June 16, 2014 at 10:26 am

    We just went through the swimsuit search last week & finally found something we could agree on at Target, XS in the women’s section. Mine’s teeny tiny & no way would I have thought she could shop in that section but after looking at the XS’s, no way would I think that a “woman” could wear that! Some of the styles may be a little mature for Caroline (mine’s 13 & we’re at the point where I still want little girl & she wants older so that was part of our battle), but there were some options that didn’t look to grownup.

  9. Lisa C

    June 16, 2014 at 12:08 pm

    I agree. You do make watching paint dry interesting. On another topic, I drove from Dallas to Belton to pick up my mom and bring her to San Antonio this weekend. Her dearest “almost mother” moved 6 years ago from Belton to San Antonio to be near her family. Miss Margaret is 93 and just precious. Anyway, on the way I saw Buc-ees. Well, I’ve never been and I wanted to go so we stopped by on the way home. When we got back in the car I told Mom (78) that while most of her friend’s daughters wanted to go shopping, I bet it wasn’t at a convenience store! Sometimes it’s the little things.

  10. EmmaLee

    June 16, 2014 at 1:11 pm

    So I have a thin tall nine year old….what is the deal with swimsuits being super baggy in the crotch(can’t think of a classier term?pelvic region? Nope then I think pelvic inflammatory disease) if you get it long enough to cover the upper body??? Sigh! Signed the lady who thought you were Aunt Jemima’s twin(that syrup is delicious so you should be proud) I have seen more photos lately and I am coming to terms with your true identity.

  11. Kelley

    June 16, 2014 at 1:40 pm

    One of my moms HIGHLIGHTS of parenting came just as Eminem burst onto the music scene. My tween brother had just asked one time too many as to if he could have something at WalMart, THEN he dared to put something up on the belt at the register. Mom busted out HER sweet moves as she sang at the top of her lungs- “tikka tikka tikka Slim Shady!!”.
    My brother slunk outside and never did it again.

  12. Brenda Atherton

    June 16, 2014 at 4:25 pm

    With you on the parajumper show–we watched same thing-flipping between that and the Spurs………..I guess great minds ?

  13. Sue S

    June 16, 2014 at 10:40 pm

    I am grateful you took time to post! I look forward to each post. You find humor in the ordinary. I LOVE that! Thankful for you and your gift of writing!

  14. Sara

    June 17, 2014 at 9:10 am

    My favorite posts of yours are ones just like this, where your humor makes life’s ordinary moments fun, entertaining and so relatable. I am riveted by these accounts of your days as a mom and wife. I smile through them on my couch. If my husband chances to walk by, I beam at him and say “blogs.” 🙂 Thank you for blogging!

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Melanie ShankleMy name is Melanie and, in some strange twist of fate, I’m also known as Big Mama because I started this blog in July of 2006 when my daughter, Caroline, was not quite three years old and I was in the process of convincing her that BIG girls use the potty and BIG girls don’t have pacifiers, thus she thought BIG was the highest compliment in the land and began referring to me as BIG MAMA.Read More

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(Photo by @doubllel)
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This is when it pays to have a written history to help myself  remember I shouldn’t have been surprised by anything that transpired this week.
A friend texted me this photo the other day. It wa A friend texted me this photo the other day. It was taken my last semester at Texas A&M and I’m with a group of friends at a Wes King concert at Wolf Pen Creek. (Shout out to those of you old enough to remember what a gift Wes King was to Christian music in the early 90s.) I had recently found my way back to God after a long hiatus and wasn’t entirely sure how I ended up at this concert with some new friends who wore Jesus t-shirts, but was so grateful to be there because I felt content and happy for the first time in years. ⁣
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A year later, we started dating. And three years from just about the day this photo was taken, we were engaged. And currently, we’ve been married almost 25 years and are cleaning out the attic together today which is the height of romance. What I’m saying is dream big, kids. You never know what is waiting right around the corner, right in front of you, that will change your life. ⁣
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Side note: If you look closely you’ll see that my friend Jen and I are sitting on a blue striped comforter. Perry still sleeps with that exact comforter every single night so what I’m saying is that on that night back in 1994, he had no idea he was with his future wife and a blanket he would treasure, lo, all these years later. God is good. ⁣
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The truth is waiting makes me feel anxious as I worry about timelines and what ifs and when I’ll have answers. And it dawned on me today that waiting is really the crux of Good Friday. ⁣
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I think one of the most powerful moments in the Bible is when Jesus is on the cross and with a loud cry breathes his last breath. Mark 15:38-39 says, “The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”⁣
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Think about that. The sky has grown dark, the earth begins to shake and then as Jesus cries out with his last breath, we learn that what has been an impenetrable, thick curtain in the temple - there to separate us from the Holy of Holies - tears in two. It’s powerful enough that this centurion, a battle-tested leader in the Roman army, witnesses it and realizes Jesus is absolutely who He claimed to be. ⁣
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Don’t we do that? Question if He’s good or if He will come through for us? Wonder how things will work out when all seems lost? Is He who He says He is and what does that mean for our life?⁣
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Here’s what I know. Jesus is the wonder our heart is waiting for. He is our peace, redemption, and salvation. He breaks strongholds, takes away our fear and shame, redeems what has been broken and lost. He does more in our lives than we even know to ask for. We are never so broken that He can’t restore us. ⁣
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