My Ebenezer

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The last few days the weather has been absolutely beautiful – sunny, nice and breezy. We went to the zoo today and rode a little train that goes all through the park – Carter LOVES the train. A man sat behind us with his son who couldn’t have been much older than Carter. The guy was on his cell phone the whole time we were on the train.

I felt so sorry for the little guy who just kinda sat there with no one to talk to about what he was seeing. Dad or Uncle Bob or whoever this was (i’m assuming it was dad) may as well have not even been on the train. I’m the first to admit that I’m bad about being on my cell phone in the car and when the kids are playing. Sometimes the car is the best place for me to get a quick conversation in with a friend. I try to be concious about not being on the phone when I’m intentionally spending time with the kids. Especially on outings and such. It’s not even that I have to try to not be on the phone at times like that – there’s nothing I’d rather be doing than watching my kids enjoy themselves.

I know that sometimes people get aggravated with me when I don’t answer my phone at home – but this is one of the reasons I sometimes don’t jump up and run to grab the cordless every time I hear it ring. I want my kids to know they are more important than a ringing phone. When we’re doing something together at home, I often won’t answer the phone unless it’s Daddy-o. They grow up so fast and we miss so much I just like to give them my undivided attention whenever I can.

speaking of, here’s a guest post by Carter:

ccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccxxxxxx ttyyrdtygrtygyt6nnhnnt6nynt6ynty6nt6yn.0.20.0323.02
415554154121424124124135524120525y 54645y 54610750765575720 7775555555555555555555555555555 dictated by mommy: “Hi. Where are they? Hi. ”

Anyway, it just really irked me that this guy was on the phone THE WHOLE time we were on the train.

Whatever. Guess I need to get over it.

Some people may think we’re nuts and they may be right. We just put a deposit down for a vacation we’ll take towards the end of summer. Just in case there are any home burglars reading my posts I won’t say exactly when we’ll be gone.

We debated and tossed around ideas about where to go and what to do with two toddlers. We decided someplace close would probably be best, even though the kids do great in the car. We also decided we should probably make it a long weekend rather than a week’s vacation since we aren’t sure exactly how it will all work out. But those decisions were made when we were being rational. The deposit we put down is for a seven night, yes I said SEVEN NIGHT stay and an ELEVEN, YES ELEVEN hour drive away.

And i couldn’t be more excited. We’ll be staying right on the beach and the kids will have a blast. We’d like to take someone with us to help with the kids but I don’t know if that is going to work out. It’d be great if someone else were there so they could stay with Gracey while she naps and we could take Carter to do something fun that Gracey wouldn’t enjoy. And, of course, so daddy-o and I could have a few quiet evenings on the beach. Ahhhh….the beach. Sigh. In my mind, I am already there.

I can hear the sound of the waves crashing into the sand and I even smell the salty air.

Anyone want a free week’s vacation? Well, almost free. ha ha ha

So i’m not really a Lost fan, but I thought that was a clever title for this post. I recently lost everything thas was on my external hard drive because I hadn’t been very diligent about backing up. Who hasn’t been there, right? It gives the reality show “Lost” a whole new meaning.

I’ve been thinking about using an Online Storage service and came across Ibackup. It gives you the option of mapping online data as a drive or as a webfolder you can easily drag and drop or edit files.

You can also use it as a backup service with a desktop scheduler ibackup for windows! Can you beat that? It makes me feel good knowing that PCWorld and PCMag lists ibackup.com as the editor’s choice.

I think I might check them out – especially since I work from home and have all of my work related files on my pc. It looks like a great option for small businesses!

Banking has really changed over the last ten years; I’m so glad I don’t have to have a deposit slip or even my account number to deposit checks. I usually use the ATM machine because it is fast and easy and there is rarely a line waiting on Friday afternoon when everyone else is trying to make deposits as well.

Carter has always been facinated with the ATM machine – especially the “Beep beep beep beep beep” sound it makes when it is ready for me to insert my envelope. He can often be overheard asking, “mommy, where’s the beep?” when I’m pulling up to the machine.

Yesterday, i told him we were going to put a check in the bank and he said, “Mommy, I don’t want to go to the beep beep bank.” I was perplexed because he’s always been fond of the beep. I said, “Carter, you like the beep beep.” To which he responded, “no, mommy. I don’t like the beep. I want to go to the swooooss bank.” (swooooss = the sound you make when you are rapidly sucking in air through your mouth) I said, “what bank?” And again, he said, “the swoooooss bank.” Then I cracked up laughing. A few days back we had to use the old fashioned drive through because I was making a cash deposit – ’swooooosss’ is the sound it makes with the little thermos looking container is sucked up the tube and delivered to the tellers. Evidently, Carter prefers the ’swoooos bank’ to the ‘beep beep bank’.

That kid.

It’s only 11am and I’ve already accomplished more this morning than I normally do in one whole day. Don’t you just love those kind of days? The ones when you are super-productive and get a ton of things marked off your to do list?

I’ve already made dinner for three different nights this week! I’ve been reading up on various food clubs that let you come in and prepare twelve meals and then you freeze them until you use them – you know? Well, i decided I could do that right here in my own kitchen. So I have three meals that are basically ready-to-go and all I’ll have to do is dethaw overnight in the fridge, pop in the oven for a few minutes and voila! Dinner is on the table. Don’t ask what I cooked because it isn’t anything fancy, just kid-friendly and E-A-S-Y!

Other than cooking, I’m also recovering from my first blood related injury from a child. I know what you’re all thinking….”what did Carter do now?” but it wasn’t Carter. Gracey caught the sensitive cartilege (sp?) inside my nose with her very sharp fingernail and I went through about 4 paper towels trying to stop the bleeding. And in case you are wondering, it freakin’ hurt. It is still a bit sore today but at least it stopped bleeding.

Well, I have a few more things on my mind but since I can hear Carter chanting “eat it eat it” from the playroom, I better go rescue Gracey and feed them lunch.

All of you Mother’s out there have probably been wished a happy day a hundred times over already so I’m not going to mention it here. I want to offer a word of encouragement for all you who are longing to become mothers – either through conception or adoption. Hang in there. There is hope and your day will come. I promise when you get there the wait will have been more than worth it. As someone’s who’s been there, I haven’t forgotten you.

Several people have suggested that today must be monumental for me – being my first “legal” Mother’s Day and all. But it doesn’t feel monumental at all – just normal. Last year was a big day for me and I guess i knew deep in my heart that even though it wasn’t legal, they were mine already. Carter woke me up this morning with “Happy’s Muthas Day”. It was very sweet.

Right now it is raining and this is what I can hear from the playroom:

Carter: HEY! Stop it! Stop waining on my caar! Stoooop! Stoooop dat! don’t wain on my car. Daddy, i said to the wain to stop it!

As I type there are roofers banging away above me. Our new roof is close to being finished and I’m ready for the noise to subside – but it isn’t even phasing Gracey. She is sound asleep in her bed.

LOL. This message just popped up on my other computer where I have msn mail, “New Graceyail : Special Hot Offer from Girls Gone Wild DVDs…..” That just made me laugh.

Here’s something exciting. I’ve recently noticed that I have sun spots (TWO) on my face. Nice, huh? SUN SPOTS. Guess all those summers of laying out with baby oil are finally catching up to me. I’ll have to thank my sister for teaching me that trick. I’ve never given much thought to looking older or even to growing older – not from a physical perspective, anyway. All of the sudden I’m buying special moisturizers and self tanners to make me look younger. Those of you who know me IRL are laughing your butts off right now because you know how rarely I wear make up or even dress in something other than tshirts and shorts. I’m sure if I’d pay a little more attention to those details, I’d look a little younger, too.

Why do I suddenly care about this? I mean, I’m not worrying or calling plastic surgeons or anything – it’s just that I’m noticing it more and more. I started to notice it a while back in my hands – they are getting more and more wrinkly and old looking.

Is this a mid-life crisis? Tam? Am I old enough to have a mid life crisis? If so, do I get to buy a convertible and get implants? Just kidding. I gotta go exfoliate.

Is it possible to survive in this world without credit? Is it possible to go one day without receiving emails or other advertisements for “no hassle loans”?

Mortgages and home loans seem much to easy to obtain these days. Applicants get a secured loan and then somehow feel secure even though there is no way they will be able to make their payments. I don’t know what the answer is, but it just seems like society, and the financial industry, is making it too easy for people to get loans they can’t pay.

Everywhere you look is another advertisement on refinancing your mortgage – do people really change mortgage providers to take advantage of lower rates? Seems to me you’d have to be saving a LOT of money to justify the dollars you’d spend to remortgage.

I just don’t get it. Everyone wants something they don’t have and can’t afford. And companies are giving it to them. What’s wrong with this picture?

So the boys have been gone since yesterday afternoon – off to the “deer lease” they went to do “man stuff”. I say “deer lease” because it isn’t actually a lease, it’s property owned by one of daddy’s friends and it is in no way what one might think of when hear the words “deer camp”. There is an old house that is fully furnished and I believe even has a big screen tv now. So they aren’t suffering.

This was a spur of the moment trip and Carter was so excited to finally be going there with daddy that he could hardly contain himself. He’s had daddy’s undivided attention for the better part of 24 hours and still has 12 or so more to go – he is in hog heaven. I tried to talk to him on the phone tonight and he covered his ears with his hands. Nice, huh? If I hadn’t seen him do that before to other people, it might have made me cry. But he is very opposed to using the telephone these days.

Carter has played with cow poop (if you’ve never done this, you have no idea how much fun it can be for a kid), chased cows, ridden a four wheeler, ridden a tractor, collected all sorts of bugs, seen a 4 1/2 foot snake and caught 3-4 fish (with some help, of course). To say he’s having a ball would be putting it mildly. I’m so glad they are both having a great time and I’m glad Carter isn’t missing mommy, but I’m also glad they are coming home tomorrow. I’m ready to hear his loud little voice vibrating throughout the house again – it’s been eerily quiet around here, especially when Gracey is asleep.

It’s also been wonderful to just hang out with my Gracey. I can give her my undivided attention which is often difficult to do. She is walking or attempting to walk all the time now. She’ll take a few steps then fall and crawl the rest of the way, but she always attempts to walk first. I took her to a store this morning and let her walk a bit as she held my hand and every person who walked by us was greeted with a toothy smile and a “hiiiiii”. It’s funny, because when I carry her she doesn’t talk to strangers but when she’s walking it’s as if she’s saying, “look at me! I’m doing it! I’m really doing it!” We’ve had a good time just playing and giggling and talking. The little Gracey is repeating almost every word I say now – though I can rarely get her to do it when someone else is listening. Just because I have to, here are a list of all her words that I can recognize:

ma ma
da da
nay nay (that’s for Carter)
wa wa (water/drink/milk)
wawk wawk (walk walk)
hi-eeeeeee
whoa – hello (usually when the phone is by her ear)
ni ni – night night
bye bye
lye – light
chhh – cheese
boo – bear
uh – up
hat – oddly enough, this is one of the words she says most clearly
uh – uh oh
raw raw – rock rock
yay – said while clapping her hands
pat pat
mmmmm – when she eats something yummy

She is really developing quite a little vocabulary. It’s hard to believe that she can communicate what she wants now using words.

They really grow up too fast, don’t they?

I’ve tried several different websites that offer recipes and I’m pretty impressed with the variety offered at CookingSpot. As I perused the kids’ section I found many recipes I hadn’t seen before and most looked pretty easy to make. They have thousands of free recipes you can search through.

So who knows? Maybe I’ll become a chef afterall. Yeah, well, don’t get your hopes up or anything. I only go for the simple recipes, and when I find something incredibly delicious and impossible to screw up, you will be the first to know!

"Samuel took a single rock and set it upright between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer (Rock of Help), saying, This marks the place where GOD helped us."

1 Samuel 7:12 The Message

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