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Tidy-Up Tip Tuesday

I'm going to try to make this a weekly thing.

This idea came to me this morning while killing a roach.  I know that sounds weird.  I was in the laundry room getting a washload started when I spotted him.   I HATE roaches.  Since I didn't have any bug spray nearby, I grabbed the nearest thing, a bottle of Lysol Neutra-Air Fabric Refresher Mist Spray, not sure if it would work.  Well, it did!!  And it smells SO much better than Raid, not to mention safer for families with small children.  I'm thinking about making this a permanent change.

That got me to thinking that there are probably other household items we all have at home that would do the job just as well as a bug spray.  I priced Raid Ant and Roach killer on a recent CVS trip.  Granted, it's probably more expensive there than say, Walmart, but even so, it was over $6 for a 17.5 ounce can!  While the fabric refresher doesn't have the residual power of Raid (or another brand of bug spray), just a couple squirts will kill them on contact and it's WAY cheaper than $6 and possibly more environmentally friendly, although I haven't researched that theory.

So that's my tip for Tuesday.  Have any of you used something other than traditional bug spray to rid your home of pests?  If so, please share!  If you have a blog, why not join me in sharing your household tips every Tuesday?  Feel free to post your link in the comments section and together we can help each other keep a tidy home while saving time, money, and preserving the safety of our abodes.  :)

Cracking Up at Cracker Barrel

The food was good.  The service was good.  The wait was long.

Yet, who knew I had such a polite child?  After waiting patiently for quite a while for our food to arrive, my loving 6 year old son caught our waitress's attention when she came by to check our glasses.  "Excuse me, waiter.  I would like some macaroni and cheese, please."  He had to be hungry.  It was around 7:30 before we even sat down (and I was ready to eat as well).  Even so, Jackson didn't fuss, whine, or pitch a fit.  He just took matters into his own hands and made his desires known in a polite and respectful fashion.

The waitress said she'd go check on his order and it would be out in a few minutes.  As she walked away, he looked at my mom and said, "Well, I think she's going to go tell the chef and then bring my macaroni in a little bit."  If you know Jackson and are familiar with his sing-song, yet matter-of-fact voice, then you can picture how funny this was!

This incident reminded me of another instance that his kindergarten teacher told me about shortly after the school year started.  Apparently, she had called on him to answer a question during one of lessons.  Instead of answering the question, he just said, "Mrs. Freeman, would you stop talking please?"  She wasn't mad or upset with him...just surprised by his response.  Nonetheless, this is not something you say to a teacher.  It looks like at the tender age of six, he's already mastered the art of respectful criticism.  I think this is a character trait that will carry him far, don't you? :)

Jackson's Birth- Part I

If you haven't already read the "prerequisite" to this post, you might want to do so, although it IS optional. ;)

Jackson was born a day after my due date (at least what I considered my due date.  My doctor said it was more like April 8th but I thought April 10th was more accurate.  Turns out I was right...or at least, closer.)  At the time, I was working as a special education paraprofessional at Madison Middle School .  My last day there was April 8th because I thought I was in labor that morning.  When I showed up at school the next day, no one could believe it.  They just knew "Ibby" had joined our world.  Well, one day later he did.

Early, early Thursday morning I went into what the medical community calls "spontaneous labor".  Basically, natural labor.  I remember these contractions felt a bit different than the Braxton-Hicks contractions that I'd been having.  Slightly more intense, closer together, and more consistent.  While I started getting ready, Justin called the doctor to see if this was really it and if we should come in.  She must have asked him if I'd lost my plug because he came into the bathroom (while still on the phone) and asked me if I knew what that meant.  Theoretically, I knew it existed but I really wasn't sure if I had lost mine or not.  (First baby, people.  Still trying to figure things out.)  The nurse told Justin, "Oh, she'd know.  It's hard to miss."  As luck would have it, I lost it a minute or two later...while he was still on the phone!  So, she told us to go ahead and come in.  Once off the phone, Justin came into the bathroom and found me in the shower.  His reaction went something like this:

"What are you doing?!  We're supposed to be going to the hospital."  

"We've got time.  My contractions aren't  that close together yet and I want to look as good as possible for the pictures."  

"This isn't the prom.  You are about to have a baby!"  

"I know.  Trust me, we're good."  

"If you end up having that baby here or in the car on the way to the hospital, don't blame me.  And I'm not going to be very happy about that, either!"  

(Believe me, I know.)

To try to ease my husband's irrational fears, I showered and shaved as quickly as a pregnant woman can and then painted my toenails.  I tried to hurry with that, too, but you can imagine Justin's frustration.  Finally, I was ready to go.  Justin drove like a maniac...which is saying something because many a time I've grown impatient with his leisurely pace.  This time, however, I was more than a little irritated with his speed.  The truck wasn't known for its shocks/suspension and every bump hurt!  In fact, I took to sitting mid-air just to ease the pain.  Justin's behavior was somewhat understandable, though, with this being our first child coupled with the fact that we lived on the north end of town and the hospital was on the south end.  Still, Abilene is no metropolis.  It was only about 15-20 minutes away.

Once we arrived, we had an "informal" check-in and were then sent to a "holding area" (or that's what I called it.  You know, that's where they send you to make sure you are in labor before getting you a room of your own.)  We had curtains for partitions and after only a few minutes in our little "cubby", Justin tells me to put my fingers in my ears and stop listening.  WHAT??  Being the good wife that I am, I humored him even though he wouldn't tell me why.  (Can you picture it?  And I don't know about you, but when I had a contraction, my natural instinct was to put my hands on my sides and my stomach.  You can't so much do that with your fingers in your ears.)  Even with my fingers in my ears, though, I could still hear some of what was going on.  There was another woman in the "cubby" next to us who was pregnant with twins.  Apparently, at least one of them was breech.  She was screaming.  I mean, really screaming.  (That would be the part I heard.)  My sweet husband was concerned that if I heard all that commotion, I'd freak out.  My heart really went out to this woman and I hope she and her babies were ok, but it didn't so much scare me in relation to my own labor.  I don't know why.  It just didn't.

After what seemed like forever, they finally sent us to a room and formally checked us in.  I'll pick up there with the more exciting part of the story next time.  Like I said before, bite-size pieces! :)

Jackson's Nickname & Our Birth Plan

Before I go straight to his labor and delivery story, there are three things I'd like you to know first:

1. We were determined not to find out his gender so my husband dubbed a prenatal nickname for our unborn child which became a bit of a tradition for our future children.  In fact, we already have a nickname picked out if we ever have a fourth.  We called him "Ibby" which was short for "Itty Bitty Baby".  Justin wasn't intentional about picking this nickname, at least not originally.  It just sort of happened one day that he said the name and then had a "Eureka" moment.  "That's it!  That's what I'm gonna call the baby.  Ibby!"  At first, I wasn't sure how I felt about this.  Ibby?  Really?  Now I'm glad that he persisted.  It's actually kind of cute.  Subsequently, Josiah became "Tibby" (Tiny Itty Bitty Baby) and Sadie was "T-Tibby" (Teeny Tiny Itty Bitty Baby).  Should a fourth ever come along, he/she will be "Twibby" (Teeny Weany Itty Bitty Baby).  I wasn't really excited about Sadie's nickname (it just sounds less than cute to me) but I wanted to save "Twibby" in case we had twins, which run in my family and have already skipped a generation...but now I'm getting ahead of myself.  Secondly,  
2. I was determined to have a natural childbirth.  Justin begged and pleaded with me to take the meds but to no avail.  After all, it only seemed fair.  He got to pick the nickname so I got to decide whether I wanted medication or not.  Leave alone the fact that it was my body and I'd be the one enduring the pain.  That, in and of itself, was reason enough.  Thirdly,
3. I was considered a high-risk pregnancy due to my epilepsy and the medication that I was taking to prevent seizures.  Therefore, I had ultrasounds every 4 weeks for the first and second trimester, then every 2 weeks for the beginning of my third trimester and then every week for the last 2-3 weeks before his actual birth.  I am really grateful for the privilege of seeing our baby gradually develop in the womb.  Not many mothers are afforded that.  We now have some terrific ultrasound pictures and video footage, too!

So, now that you've taken the "prerequisite", if you will, we're ready for the actual event!  That story coming up in the next day or two.  Having two preschoolers at home necessitates breaking this up into bite-size pieces.  Plus, I know all of you have lives, too that don't revolve around mine so it helps if I don't write a novel each time.  I mean, I know we're interesting and everything but... ;)  Until next time!

Honk if You Love Jesus

For those who read my recent post "I'm Pregnant???", I mentioned Justin's occasional "road rage" (I'm guilty of this, too.) and it reminded me of this story a lady in my bible study class read several weeks ago.  I put the words under the video clip for those who have trouble hearing it.  I hope it brings you a chuckle or two!

The other day I went up to a local Christian bookstore and saw a "Honk if you love Jesus" bumper sticker.

I was feeling particularly sassy that day because I had just come from a thrilling choir performance, followed by a thunderous prayer meeting, so I bought the sticker and put it on my bumper.

Boy, I'm glad I did!  What an uplifting experience that followed!

I was stopped at a red light at a busy intersection, just lost in thought about the Lord and how good He is... and I didn't notice that the light had changed.

It is a good thing someone else loves Jesus because if he hadn't honked, I'd never have noticed!

I found that LOTS of people love Jesus! Why, while I was sitting there, the guy behind started honking like crazy, and then he leaned out of his window and screamed, "For the love of GOD! GO! GO! Jesus Christ, GO!"

What an exuberant cheerleader he was for Jesus! Everyone started honking!

I just leaned out of my window and started waving and smiling at all these loving people. I even honked my horn a few times to share in the love!

There must have been a man from Florida back there because I heard him yelling something about a "sunny beach"...

I saw another guy waving in a funny way with only his middle finger stuck up in the air.

Then I asked my teenage grandson in the back seat what that meant, he said that it was probably a Hawaiian good luck sign or something. Well, I've never met anyone from Hawaii, so I leaned out the window and gave him the good luck sign back.

My grandson burst out laughing...why, even he was enjoying this religious experience!

A couple of the people were so caught up in the joy of the moment that they got out of their cars and started walking towards me. I bet they wanted to pray or ask what church I attended, but this is when I noticed the light had changed.

So, I waved to all my sisters and brothers grinning, and drove on through the intersection. I noticed I was the only car that got through the intersection before the light changed again and I felt kind of sad that I had to leave them after all the love we had shared, so I slowed the car down, leaned out of the window and gave them all the Hawaiian good luck sign one last time as I drove away.

Praise the Lord for such wonderful folks!

Grandma

Justin's Reaction to my "News"

I don't know how many of you were actually fooled by my last post, but based on the radical change in my number of typical pageviews, I'd say a lot.  :)

I wish ya'll had been here to see Justin's reaction.  I'm so glad I was.  He had no idea I was posting it so was quite surprised when he saw it on his facebook newsfeed this morning.  The only thing he said was, "What?!"  Then he immediately clicked the link, turned to face me and said, "That's not funny."  Well, I certainly got a laugh out of it!

Seriously, hon.  Do you really think I'd announce to the world that we were expecting before I told you?  Silly boy! ;)