Steadfast Love

 

Today is Easter Sunday.

Today we will be going to church and spending time with our families.

But mostly, we will be thanking God for the wonderful gift of eternal life that He gave us.

^"He is not here; he has risen!"

Luke 24:6

 

Oh, how He loves you and me,

Oh, how He loves you and me.

He gave His life, what more could He give;

Oh, how He loves you, Oh, how He loves me,

Oh, how He loves you and me.

Jesus to Calvary did go,

His love for mankind to show.

What He did there brought hope from despair.

Oh, how He loves you, Oh, how He loves me,

Oh how He loves you and me.

(Oh, How He Loves You and Me written by Kurt Kaiser)

Do you know Him?

I hope you do.

 

" I remember my affliction and my wandering,
       the bitterness and the gall.

 I well remember them,
       and my soul is downcast within me.

  Yet this I call to mind
       and therefore I have hope:

  Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,
       for his compassions never fail.

  They are new every morning;
       great is your faithfulness.

  I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;
       therefore I will wait for him."

  The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
       to the one who seeks him."

Lamentations 3: 19-25

Have a wonderful Easter Sunday!

Confessions of a Lumberjack's Wife

I would like to dedicate this post to Sarah and Nikki, who both will, upon occasion, wear socks with sandals.

Let us take a moment to applaud their bravery.

Thank you.

In yesterday's post, I claimed, and I quote:

"Fact:  Socks with sandals goes against everything I believe in."

I firmly believe that sandals were meant for bare toes.

Now, Handsome Dude has just recently started dressing himself.

He is doing great.

Well, as fate would have it, yesterday, the very day that I posted my statement about being against socks with sandals, this is how Handsome Dude dressed himself.

Darn my luck!

And me, being the hypocrite that I am, took him out into public like that.

Because I have 4 kids and I no longer have time to care.

Now, Megan, a commenter on yesterday's post, shares in my views.

So, she is this week's winner of "Comment of the Week!"

She wrote,

"And yes, we all need to fight against socks and sandals – for the sake of the children."

Well said, Megan.

Well said.

Because this . . .

is simply unacceptable.

Now, some may ask,

"Taylor (PS-that's me), why do you have such strong views on socks with sandals?"

Well, gentle readers, I am glad you asked.

It started back in 2001.

Interruption:  I do not have a scanner.  I simply taking pictures of pictures.  Classy, I know.

When The Lumberjack and I had been married for about a year, we took a trip to Disneyland with my parents and my sister.

We had a wonderful time.

Especially my sister.

Look at her joyful face!

She can hardly contain her excitement.

Yes.

The Lumberjack is making fun of her in the above picture.

Lumberjacks can be funny!

Who knew?!

Well, we walked and walked and walked and walked.

My dogs were barking.

(Name that movie)

We went back to our hotel for a little rest.

While at the hotel, I put some socks on my poor, sore, tired feet.

They felt heavenly.

Truly, truly heavenly.

Once we were well-rested, we decided to head back out to Disneyland.

Interruption:  Can we not all agree that Disneyland at night is way so fun?

We had a good time.

A really, good time.

And I was enjoying myself much more . . . on account of my newly comforted feet.

I would, however, like to submit a complaint to the powers-that-be at the hotel we stayed at circa 2001.

Please, dear powers-that-be, consider installing full-length mirrors in your hotel rooms.

Because sometimes, a girl needs to see what she looks like before making a huge fashion mistake.

Thank you.

I, yes, I, Taylor Mal-i-blah-blah, once wore socks with sandals.

It was a tragic occurrence, one of which I relive every time I see that fateful photo.

Only a select few citizens of our great country (like Sarah and Nikki) can pull such a risk off.

I am not one of them.

I have only myself to blame.

This is Taylor Mal-i-blah-blah, signing off, while holding my head in shame.

Over.

And.

Out.

Dynamite? Yes, that's correct. Dynamite.

 

Organization.

*sigh*

This is something I need more of in my life.

I do have a few ideas that have made life simpler.

And I will share them with you in this exciting, and equally informative, 3-point post.

You're welcome.

1)  Closets.

We live in a fairly small house . . . about 1400 square feet.

And it can definitely seem . . .

crowded.

And there have been times, as few as they might be, where I might even say our house gets

chaotic.

So . . . we don't have a lot of storage space in our tiny house.

I have been learning how to make the most of our small areas.

My favorite is the way we did the boys' closet:

Little Dude's clothes on the top.

Handsome Dude's clothes on the bottom.

Interruption:  Can we all have a moment of applause for my handsome Lumberjack who built not only that closet, but our entire house?

I believe in miracles . . . since you came along . . .

You sexy thing.

(Name that artist)

Since my main man built my house for me, I got to inform him of the way things ought to be.

And since I feel that children ought to be able to put their own clothes away, I implored him to put their closet rods within their reach:

Like so.

Attention all mothers:  This may backfire on you once your children decide they should start dressing themselves.

This will especially backfire on you if you have a hard time biting your tongue when your child look ridiculous.

Try not to crush your child's spirit (not that I have) when they come parading down the stairs wearing socks with sandals.

Fact:  Socks with sandals goes against everything I believe in.

Another closet-y trick I have is to keep a spare dresser or a big Rubbermaid tub in the closet to store out of season clothes.

2)  Children's Artwork.

Raise your hand if you have a lot of these:

Can we not all agree that they produce a lot papers?

Which ones do you keep?

Which ones do you toss?

Where do you store the ones you keep?

Well, I haven't gotten all that figured out yet, but I did purchase this box:

And for now, I am just tossing cute things into this box.

And look at this early picture from my dear Sweet Pea . . .

Poor Sweet Pea has had to wear glasses since she was 2.

Even her princesses wore glasses.

I couldn't find anything to show you, but would you all like to hear something cute that Daisy Mae used to do?

Daisy Mae's factual name starts with a "H."

*gasp!*

 That was top-secret information I just gave you there.

Let's keep it on the down-low, 10-4 good buddies.

Any-who . . .

She used to sign all her artwork:

"HO."

We used to love our artwork by Ho.

And while I am off-topic, I will share with you something else Daisy Mae used to do.

She could not pronounce the "k" or "C" sounds, but would instead substitute them with the "t" sound.

Cookies=tookies

Cat=tat

And so on.

Well, one day The Lumberjack told her that is she couldn't leave her kitty out anymore or she was in trouble.

So, later that night, Daisy Mae shares this with my sister.

(Psst . . . that's Daisy Mae and my sister)

Now, you will have to substitute a "t" sound for all "k" sounds as I am too embarrassed to write out specifically what she said.

"Meagan!  Daddy says that if he ever sees my kitty out again, I am in trouble."

It was a proud parenting moment.

Goodness.

Where was I?

Oh, yes.

Informing you all of how organized I am.

3)  Husbandly Clutter

Oh.

My.

Gosh.

Becky.

(Name that song)

My husband has a lot of stuff.

And he throws said stuff in my laundry room.

What's worse is he takes up all of my cabinet space in aforementioned laundry room.

Now, what would you think should be in a laundry room cabinet?

Stain removal?

Detergent?

Bleach?

No.

No, no, no, my dear readers.

Let's take a peek, shall we?

(cue theme music from the movie "Psycho")

 Now, let's take a deeper look.

Fishing nonsense.

Maps.

Walkie-talkies (camouflaged, of course, so as to trick the deer)

Interruption:  the rotting bananas are my problem, not the Lumberjack's

Wait a minute . . .what's that box . . .

Now that's safe!

Nails, screws, special laundry soap (scentless, of course, as to trick the deer)

And I have saved the best for last.

I did not even know these were in there!

I can't quite put my finger on it, but this snorkeling gear reminds me of someone . . .

hmmm . . .

who was it??

Oh, yes!

Jason!

Remember Jason?

So . . . what's a girl to do when her husband has too much stuff that she does not understand, nor know what to do with?

She decides that for the sake of preserving her marriage, she will just buy a large basket, stick it on top of her washing machine

and pile in the things that belong in the laundry room inside of it.

Yes.

Baskets are our friends.

I use them everywhere.

Alright.

That concludes today's helpful and informative post.

Please tell me how you stay organized.

Do you have a cleaning schedule?

Do you have an organized junk drawer?

Do you have dynamite in your laundry room?

Please.

Share your ideas with me.

Because clearly . . .

I need all the help I can get.

Spring Training and Other Sundry Topics.

(Raise your hand if you are super impressed that I used the word "sundry".)

Alright, people!

Hold on to your pants!

We've got a lot of ground to cover.

Sundry Topic #1

Sweet Pea and Daisy Mae have signed up for soccer.

This is our first year venturing out into the wonderful world of kids' sports.

Two different practices each week.

Two different games each week.

Two different dudes to chase around and keep off the playing field . . .

The Lumberjack and I could not be more thrilled.

We can't wait!

And when I say we, I mean I, because that hunky husband of mine will probably not be done being an electrician in time to assist his lovely wife at aforementioned soccer festivities.

Silly Lumberjack, who is not a lumberjack at all, but is, in fact, an electrician.

What does he think he needs to do?

Pay the bills?

Whatever.

Any-who . . .

We got the girls' first practices scheduled and the Lumberjack informed them that they were clearly too out of shape to be playing any sport.

So, he decided he would be their personal trainer.

Would you like to know why I find this humorous?

Good.

I'll tell you.

Because my husband does not work out.

Ever.

Sure, he burns a calorie here and there . . .

But you would not see this guy at the gym.

He did go through a fitness phase back in February of 2008.

He read the book of one Cameron Haynes.

5 million (meaningless) points to anyone who knows what Cameron Haynes is famous for.

Cameron Haynes made him feel like a weakling.

So, the Lumberjack bought an elliptical trainer in hopes that by September-ish he, too, could be as awesome as Mr. Haynes.

And, in the spirit of fitness, the Lumberjack and I decided to forgo getting each other Valentine's Day presents and instead got matching Nike sneakers.

Isn't that cute?

For about 2 weeks, we were exercising every night.

That Cameron Haynes was about to meet his match.

And then it stopped.

The Lumberjack no longer had the desire to workout.

So, our elliptical trainer sits in our living room.

It is a lovely piece of accent furniture.

Sure, I pretend to use it.

Just like I pretend that I am still doing the 30 day shred.

The Lumberjack's fitness moods certainly don't last long.

But after a 2 year break from his fitness plans, he is back and ready for action.

And he has two lovely ladies joining him on his quest.

And one Handsome Dude who thinks he gets to go, too.

And one Little Dude who wishes his mother would put some pants on him so he could join as well.

The boys did not get to go.

They had to stay home with me.

They did not, I repeat, did not take this news well.

So, for two nights in a row now, the Lumberjack has been running when he gets home from work.

I told him that if I don't have time to exercise, he certainly doesn't.

He didn't seem to understand my logic.

I wonder how long this fitness routine will last?

He better not lose his spare tire before I do.

Sundry Topic #2

Handsome Dude has not lost or broken his glasses for over 2 weeks.

Sundry Topic #3

I don't know if I am using the word "sundry" correctly, but we are all just gonna go with it.

Sundry Topic #4

My house is still not finished.

Particularly my laundry room.

And I have a personal rule to not show any photos, or take any photos, of this hideous room.

I mean, what would you think of me?

But the Lumberjack, in all his new-camera excitement, snapped some pictures of the dudes in that hideous room.

Clearly the Lumberjack is not aware of my "let's not notice how gross the laundry room is and pretend it does not exist" rule when it comes to photography.

But, I have to admit, the boys look pretty cute.

Check out Little Dude.

Apparently, Handsome Dude is really, super hilarious.

Sundry Topic #5

The Lumberjack and his new, not-so-cheap, camera.

In yesterday's post, we discussed the fact that my main man has bought himself a new camera.

And he is having a grand time taking pictures "for the people."

Pictures like me cleaning a toilet:

Ooooh . . . . exciting!

And, a picture of me blogging, which I hardly ever do:

And, since the "people" (meaning you) love it soooo much, here is one of me getting something out of the fridge.

Fascinating!

That Lumberjack sure nows how to capture a moment, doesn't he?

So . . . why did he buy himself a new camera?

The answer is:  Why not?

He had many reasons.

1)  He doesn't like our other one.

2)  Our other one is too big.

3)  He needs a camera with a high optical zoom so he can see large game from far, far away.

4)  He may or may not kill those animals that he finds.

5)  He would need to take a photo with him and the newly-dead animal.

6)  He is certain that when he goes hunting, I would want to keep the camera at home, so he needs his own.

I knew he was going to buy one.

He has been looking.

And when he starts looking . . . a big purchase is coming.

And, if history proves itself to be true, we will be the proud owners of a new truck sometime soon.

Sundry Topic #6

I have decided my blog is pointless.

 

Oh, well.

Happy Thursday!