Thursday, April 23, 2009

Randomness

Planet Earth from space

First of all, let me say happy belated earth day!! I have to tell a story and brag on my almost 7-year-old daughter, because she's just so sweet and thoughtful. Yesterday when I picked her up from school, she overheard me on the telephone calling our local Green Team because I saw someone littering in the car rider line at school. I was so mad that someone actually threw a cigarette butt onto SCHOOL GROUNDS of an elementary school, and being that it was EARTH DAY, I went ahead and called to make a report. Anyway, the kids at Mel's school were encouraged to wear green shirts yesterday, and so when she got in the car, she began talking about Earth Day and such. She suggested that for our afternoon activity, we should walk around our neighborhood picking up litter, then we should play outside so we could enjoy nature and the birds, and THEN we should keep all the lights off in our house so, as she put it, "the Earth can rest". I agreed to all of the above, which thrilled her to no end, and so once the kids finished snack and homework, off we went to enjoy our Earth! I've never been one that plants a tree or anything to commemorate Earth Day, but I am someone who finds enjoyment from keeping litter off the roads, recycling, etc. It aggravates me when people go out of their way to NOT do those things in order to make a political point. Frankly, I don't care if someone believes in global warming or not, but my opinion is that God gave us humans this Earth as a gift and thereby we should respect and honor this beautiful gift. God could have placed us anywhere, even Mars where all the men are supposedly from, but instead he chose the planet that would sustain our lives. Earth. So let's help sustain the gift given to us and keep it clean for crying out loud! *deep breath* Okay, so I was very proud of my little girl who really isn't so little anymore. I love her conscientious heart.
Gannon just completed spring soccer and boy did he love it. He neither scored a goal nor did he know what was going on the majority of the time, but I don't really care because he was so happy to be out there. It was a joy to watch, so I asked him if he'd like to play again in the fall. His answer? "No, Mommy, because I already got a trophy for soccer." Seriously??? I wasn't aware that a 3 1/2-year-old could have a bucket list, but apparently my son does. Go figure!
Today I went to my parent's house and laid in the sun for a while next to their very green swimming pool. Luckily, it won't be green in about a month, but it didn't bother me since I just wanted to soak up some sun anyway. For those of you that know me, you are aware that I belong in the top 5% of the whitest people in the world. Every summer I have to get a good burn out of the way so that I can then get more freckles. Unfortunately, I'm typically either red or white. Very sad. I am an Alabama fan, though, so I guess I can just claim team spirit or something. Well, today I put on some SPF 30 spray-on sunscreen. The bottle claims that it is "no-rub, clear mist" that you obviously don't want to inhale. What it didn't say is that it is virtually impossible to clean the stuff off afterwards. It's similar to getting the wax rinse put on your car at the car wash, and all of the water forms into small droplets. Really cool looking, except when it's on my skin!!! I did a 3-step scrub in the shower, and I can still feel residue on my skin. I guess I'll just think of it as extra moisturizer.
In other news, Gannon is hanging out with his Daddy this afternoon since it is bring your kid to work day. Jamie picked him up after preschool and Gannon gets to hang out with him all afternoon! Jamie starts his new job on Monday, so it's good that he has finished all of his work at his current job, so he can just play with Gannon. Fun stuff.

Jamie and I watched "Fireproof" last week. It has the crush from my childhood, Kirk Cameron in it. Get this: he's still cute!!! I thought the movie was pretty good, once you can get past the fact that the only person who can actually act in the whole thing is Kirk Cameron. I was told that the rest of the cast were volunteers, so kudos to them! I feel like the movie is very trendy right now, and many people claim that it has saved their marriage, which is all well and good. However, I don't see how the movie, standing alone, could save a marriage, but rather a good vehicle to begin communicating more about one's marriage. Jamie's parents gave all of their children a copy of the book "The Love Dare", which is featured in the film. Jamie has begun the love dare with me, and I have to say I like it! I'll likely do the dare for him at a later, undisclosed date, because I do think that it has a lot of good concepts in it to improve one's marriage. Marriage takes work, and it is very difficult some days, and very easy other days. I think the book does a good job of bringing back some of the habits that married people incorporate more at the beginning of their courtship and marriage. Eventually (especially as children come around, as we've found in our case), it's easy to become lazy with paying special attention to one another, and doing the thoughtful things one did early on in the relationship. So, I think it's been a refreshing change for us.

I guess that about wraps it up for what's new in my life lately! Happy Spring!

Monday, April 6, 2009

Can I nominate this woman for Doctor of the Year?

I just want to say that I must have the best OB/GYN there is....ever. I really like her that much. I might even go so far to say that I.Heart.Her. She is awesome.

Today I had to go for that lovely annual visit...the one that is Most Dreaded. You know the one. Anyway, while I don't like the basics of the visit, like wearing the atrocious pink paper thing that does not stay together no matter how you fold it, pull it, or crinkle it, I can really get over all of that just to hang out with my doctor for a few minutes! I've been with the same doctor since I found out I was pregnant with Melody (over 7 years ago----wow!!), and my doctor was new on the scene in Huntsville. *side note--after I delivered Melody and my doc went out to speak to my parents and in-laws, my FIL commented that she's like Doogie Howser* I was one of her first patients, and maybe that's why she somehow remembers me every year. Her practice that she has with 3 other OB/GYN's has grown exponetially over the past few years, and I don't know how she remembers me, especially since I only see her once a year now. She has the same nurse, too. I like this about a place...if there's a different nurse every time I go, it gives me pause to wonder if something is wrong.

I digress. I would like to nominate my doctor for doctor of the year because she has the best bedside manner I've ever seen. First of all, her nurse always remembers me. Today I arrived 2 hours early because I'm a goober and wrote down the wrong appt time, and they worked me in somehow. The nurse said when she saw it was me, she made sure they went ahead and bumped me up. Now, I'm not all that great and special of a patient, but this just speaks to the kind of folks they are...wonderful! So after waiting for a while in my cute pink garb, my doctor comes in and gives me a big hug. Okay, I had to get past the fact that she hugged me while I'm wearing the cute pink garb thing, but she sat down, looked me in the eye and began asking me about how things are going, etc. We chatted for about 5 minutes before she even got down to business, so to speak. This is just how she is and I love it! I remember when I had my first appt with her as a freshly pregnant and very sick young mommy-to-be. She came in, grabbed my hands in hers and began empathizing with me about how sick I was, while at the same time reassuring me that she would do XYZ to make it better (music to my ears at the time!!).

So, I think she'd make a great candidate for doc of the year. Are there nominations for this type of thing?

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

April Fool's Day!

I think the most creative I ever got with an April Fool's joke was switching out the salt and pepper in the shakers as a kid...does anybody have anything more exciting than that for April Fool's???

Regardless, have a Happy April Fool's Day!