Month: July 2008

  • Mickey would just die

    Yesterday was the first day in about three weeks that Caroline and I didn’t have anywhere to be or anything we had to do. We spent much of the morning in our pajamas and finally headed out to run a few errands around 10:30 a.m.

    This is the sad reality of motherhood. When you wake up at the crack of early, it seems like you’ve already lived half a day by 10:30 a.m.

    I told Caroline we were going to run some errands and she ran in her room to get dressed. Heaven help me, the wardrobe issues are going to be the death of me.

    It’s like living with J.Lo back when she was all “Jenny from the block and don’t be fooled by the rocks that she got”, and not Mrs. Marc Anthony.

    Frankly, I miss the old J. Lo.

    Caroline came out of her room wearing jeans that were about three inches too short, pink cowboy boots, a sleeveless floral print top, and a necklace that she fashioned out of two bracelets that came from Vacation Bible School that say “When in doubt, PRAY!” and “PRAY without ceasing”.

    Which is exactly what I do every morning when she gets dressed.

    And just for that extra bit of flair, she was carrying her Hello Kitty purse, had her huge sunglasses up on her head and was carrying a coffee thermos. I bet five dollars she and Mary Kate Olsen had on the same outfit yesterday.

    But since I am beat down by the wardrobe and, inherently, there isn’t anything wrong with it, other than the fact that she looks like a hobo, I just went with it and we headed out to run some errands.

    Our first stop was the mail store and then we walked down to the drugstore to pick up a few other things. This was a critical error on my part because there is a pet store in between the drugstore and the mail store.

    Caroline begged to go in the pet store and I thought “What the heck, it’s summer. Let the girl have some fun!”, because what says summer fun like hearing a parrot squawk until your ears bleed?

    Of course all she wanted to see were the rodents. And I have never been more grateful that she can’t read yet because there was a big sign on the cage of the Siberian Hamsters that said “FREE TO GOOD HOME. ASK YOUR PARENTS.”

    Oh, that’s just what I need. A free Russian rodent that would, no doubt, demand high-dollar vodka, caviar and repeated viewings of Anna Karenina.

    She was particularly interested in seeing what she called “the feeder mice”.

    I asked, “What are the feeder mice?”

    “They are the mice that you feed to snakes. Can we buy some to take to the ranch to feed the snakes?”

    “What did you say, baby?” Mama couldn’t hear you over the gagging and her brain spontaneously combusting.

    “I want to buy some feeder mice to feed the snakes.”

    I suspect that someone has recently visited the pet store with her daddy, because the only mice she knows about from me are the kind that make dresses for Cinderella or hang out with ducks who don’t wear pants.

    And I’m keeping it that way.

  • The new gal pal

    Okay, so where did I leave off?

    Friday night. Philips Arena. Crying.

    Change Friday night to Saturday morning and that pretty much sums up the whole weekend.

    I went into the weekend really wanting to hear from God and it’s funny how He responds to that. I think He was serious with that whole “Ask and it shall be given, seek and ye shall find” stuff.

    Priscilla Shirer began her talk with Exodus 19:9. The minute she mentioned the wilderness I knew I was going to hear something powerful. I’ve spent so much time in the last few years feeling like I don’t know what I’m doing or where I’m going. I’ve watched our lives take some crazy, unexpected turns that have left me breathless.

    I was so moved to hear her talk about how God often calls you while you’re still in the wilderness. He brings you there to show you who He really is and I can say without a doubt that the last two years of my life have taught me more about God’s power and provision than any other time in my life.

    On Saturday morning I woke up at 6:30 a.m. BEFORE THE ALARM EVEN WENT OFF.

    This has never happened in the history of my life.

    I was so excited about the day that I was actually up and dressed by 8 a.m. AND WAS HAPPY ABOUT IT.

    Saturday was another awesome day. And, yes, I pretty much spent the whole day wiping tears from my eyes.

    By the afternoon I looked as if I had a bad case of the pink eye.

    Note to self: Don’t be afraid to bring some Visine next time

    Another note to self: Also, some Kleenex might be a good idea.

    The only thing that wasn’t fabulous about Saturday were the real issues that arise when there are 19,000 women in one arena who all need to go to the bathroom at various points throughout the day. I, myself, can go about ten times before noon on a good day.

    However, I didn’t want to miss one minute of anything so I just tried to focus on other things that were unrelated to water or flowing rivers.

    Finally, it was lunch time. Sophie and I planned to eat lunch with Annie who offered to bring us lunch. She met us down on the floor so we could follow her to the designated lunch spot. We needed to go to the bathroom, but took one look at the lines and decided we didn’t have 58 minutes, or the better part of my life, to spare.

    After lunch, I thought my luck might be better.

    I am so naive.

    Did I honestly think that the restroom situation was going to improve after 19,000 women spent an hour drinking Diet Coke and assorted Starbucks beverages?

    I started to wait in a line, but I could tell that there was a good chance I was going to die from old age or a bladder explosion before I actually made it to a stall, so I just headed back to my seat. I figured if I was going to die I might as well be enjoying some good praise and worship music.

    Thankfully, I was able to get to a restroom located backstage. Otherwise I shudder to think at how badly it all could have ended.

    At one point I was even considering the purchase of a Stadium Gal for my next Deeper Still Event.

    Stadium Gal, for when you’ve gotta go, but you wanna stay.

    I am not kidding. It’s a real product.

    Maybe someone could make a special Deeper Still Stadium Gal.

    Oh, there are so many multiple meanings in that title.