Looking Back

This morning my darling husband reminded me that today was the last day I will be 40.  Turning 40 wasn’t as big of a deal as 30 was for me.  As a kid I thought 30 was old, so when it was my turn to become 30…well..do I have to go there?  By the time I was 39, I was telling 40 to bring it on!  For the first time ever, I was actually agreeing with the fashion industry.  40 is the new 30!

Before I began to blog this morning, I was looking back over the year.  Wow, 40 has been a good year for me.  WELLLLLL… remember 2 days after turning 40, my son and I were at the park.  He had just finished the hand over hand monkey bars when he asked if I could do it.  Sure, I thought!  I got half way across before my arms gave out but I was ecstatic that I got that far.  When I dropped down, I landed in a hole and fell chipping the bone in my ankle.  The funny thing is when I went to the doctor to have it x-rayed.

“How did this happen?”  Dr. asked.

“I fell off the monkey bars.”  I quietly answered.

“Regina, why were you on the monkey bars?”

“I was proving that I could.” I replied “But, the only thing I proved was that a 40 year old 200+ woman shouldn’t be on the monkey bars.”

So, I guess you could say turning 40 was a little painful for me.  But, 40 brought a lot of good things too.  Mark’s parents took us to Disney World.  It was my first visit.  I got to be a kid again.  I wanted to soak it all up.  It was magical and I even got to be a princess for a day.  It was a trip I will never forget.

40 has been the year for me to gain confidence.  When I was in high school, I dreamed of becoming a writer.  I loved writing more than anything back then.  Sadly, in my senior year, the dream was shattered by my English teacher. She explained I would be better off teaching writing than becoming a writer.  And that is what I did.. I taught.  But this past year, I have focused on my writing.  I’ve been sending out articles in hopes to be published and I have been working on a book.  The confidence has been growing each day along with my blog.  I can finally say I am living my dream.

40 brought wonderful people into my life.  I have a mentor and friend, Melanie Chitwood.  Her encouraging words and prayers have been what I needed to write and to speak.  I met other bloggers while at a conference last summer:  Antique Mommy and The Other Mama.  Both have inspired me to “be me” in my blog.  Plus, they are fun to follow!!  And then, a dear friend from high school found me on Facebook.  We have reconnected and I am blessed to have her back in my life.

40 may have started off painfully but is ending with countless blessings.  I can’t wait to see what 41 brings.

Rerun

In the spirit of the television season, I took a walk down memory lane today and I found one of my favorite posts…..  I would like to share it with you today…..This was written on August 24, 2009…… Enjoy!!

This morning, I awoke refreshed. It must have something to  do with the cool nights we have been having.  Slept like a baby in the cool room with the fresh air breezing in the open windows.  The dew smelled fresh and the sunlight glistened from the dewdrops on the freshly cut blades of grass.  AHHHH, what a beautiful morning.

Stretching and praising God for a new beginning, I made my way into the kitchen, where the daily grind always waits for me.  There’s lunches to be made, breakfast to be cooked, and kids plus hubby to shuttle out the door barking orders to have a good day, play nice and expressions of love being blown through the screen door.

For some strange reason, I grew impatient to do the laundry this morning.  Hurrying the washing machine along,  I had three loads ready and waiting to be hung by 8:00. As soon as I rounded the house towards the clothesline, I heard such sweet music.  Gentle breezes kissed the leaves of the surrounding trees.  A glimmer of sunshine dances along the grass to the sweet heavenly melody made by the songbirds. Smiling at the wonders of the morning, I began hanging each piece of clothing.

Overwhelmed by the songbirds melodies, I spontaneously began to hum.  Amazing Grace….how sweet the sound….Realizing what I was humming, I began to bellow out the words and in complete harmony with the sweet cardinals and robins.  That saved a wretch like me……..I once was lost…. but now I am found….. was blind…. but now I see……

There we were in the early morning hours honoring God with a concert…. just me and the birds.  The wind and the sunshine danced as we sang.  Could it be a better beginning?  When the last shirt was hung, I turned and took a bow.  Sparing God my imitation of Elvis Presley’s “Thank Ya… Thank Ya… very much,” I simply said, “Thanks for the beautiful morning, sweet Jesus.”

God Bless….

8 More Days

This morning at the breakfast table there was two little zombies.  Both were tired from the busy weekend of fun, friends and the sun.  The unusual hot temperatures brought summer here a little earlier.  My sleepy 8yo slowly taking tiny bites of pancake wearily spoke, “8 more days.”  His sister pink from too much sun from swimming yesterday tiredly replied, “Yeahhhh.”

Eight more days of school are left.  Summer vacation is just around the corner.  As I ate my pancakes, my mind was swirling around the list of things I needed to do before the kids are home.  I chuckle to myself thinking that there is no way I can get everything done on that age old list in 8 days.  Besides who really wants to clean out closets when you can spend time at the pool with the kiddos?  I heard ya… I know you agreed with me!!

The kids and I keep a summer schedule.  It keeps us busy and the house neat.  Here’ s is a typical day at the Dettra’s during the summer.

8-9am Computer/electronics time

9-9:30am Clean up time

9:30-10am DEAR

10-10:30 am Game time

10:30-11:30 Free Time (No electronics)

11:30-12:00  Lunch

12-4pm  Swimming, Library, Park, or Movies

I create the schedule nightly.  Depending on the day of the week, our afternoon activity may be swimming, going to the library, going to the park, or to the movies.  We take advantage of all the free activities our local library, parks and movie theaters have to offer.  We have season passes to a local water park and we like to spend a lot of time there.  There are some afternoons we just stay home and play games or go biking around our neighborhood.

As you can tell, I limit the amount of electronics time.  My kids would stay plugged in 24/7 if I would allow it.  As long as they have their electronic fix they are cool.  DEAR time is one of my favorite things to do…  DEAR stands for Drop Everything and Read.  We sign up for the reading program our library offers each summer.  We read each day for 30 minutes.  It is a nice quiet time around here.  I always schedule time for games.  We love to play games around here.  Wii games are allowed but not every game time.  I enjoy a good old fashioned card game.

I give my kids an hour of free time each day.  This is a time when they can just do whatever they want but no electronics.  They can craft, build, play with the dogs and just hang out.  The kicker though is that it is my free time too.  This is when I get to relax to have Bible time or to write.  The kids know that mommy is off duty during free time.

Each day I had my kids a cleaning list.  This list is completed during the 30 minute time slot.  It is amazing what can be done around here in 30 minutes time.  My 8yo loves to vacuum and my 13yo likes to dust.  Each day there is a different area to clean.  That way the whole house has been cleaned up by the time Friday rolls around.  This keeps me from drowning in a messy house trying to keep it neat while everyone is home.

Oh and there is one more thing I forgot to add to the schedule.  Each week the kids cook a meal.  They find recipes and we grocery shop for the items needed.  Then the kitchen is turned over to them.   They make a full meal with dessert.  It is a wonderful way to learn how to cook and to learn the art of meal planning.  And the team work in the kitchen while preparing is just priceless.

I hope you consider doing a schedule with your kids.  It really helps me keep my sanity around here.  Plus I never have to answer the question, “What are going today.”  Oh, and one other thing, I tell the kids that sometimes we can’t keep to the time table but we will do everything on the list.

Enjoy your Monday and God bless..

Our Hunter

If you recall, I have some special 4 legged family members.  Ginger is our spaniel who came from an abused home.  We adopted her from our local Humane Society.  Then we have our big boys, Stuart and Domino.  Remember Domino’s elevator doesn’t go all the way up to the top and Stuart is digging to China.  All three have a special place in my heart and I love them dearly.

I mentioned our cat, Priscilla, (AKA Prissy) in a post or two but I have never introduced you to our feline friend.  She is two years old and is a domestic short haired, black and grey tabby.  She is the last remaining cat that belonged to my Granny.  Granny passed away 2 years ago and Prissy was born a few months afterwards.  Prissy’s lineage has either been given away or has passed away.  At the time we brought her home we had a black/white cocker spaniel named Elvis.  So hence the name Priscilla was given to the cat.

Our home is adjacent to a field and there are times we have trouble with field mice.  Mice are a common problem in the country and as long as they stay outside of my home we can respectfully live in peace.  Prissy is our little hunter.  She loves to catch rabbits, birds, hummingbirds no less, and mice.  I scold her for bringing birds and rabbits to me.  I try to explain to her that they are our friends.  She just looks at me like, “don’t you like my gift?”  But cats are like teenagers…you can tell them what to do all day long and they will do whatever they please with such attitude!!

Well, just the other day, Prissy brought home a mouse.  I was so happy for her.  I was doing up the whole praise thing.  “You’re such a good kitty. Mommy likes it when you catch mice.”  Feeling proud with her catch, she rubbed along my legs and made the cutest purrrr-meowww sound.  She knew I was happy to see the mouse was caught.

While I was busy praising and Prissy busy being praised, we both sorta overlooked the fact that the mouse was still alive and was trying to get away.  By the time we realized the prisoner had escaped, it went up my pants leg.  I started screaming and stripping… oh wait I’m in the front yard… I decided to keep the pants on but to shake my pants legs like crazy all the while screaming.  My heroes came to see what  all the screaming was about.  My sandal went flying and so did the mouse.  It was like something from an action movie… Prissy jumped and caught the mouse in mid air… in slow motion of course.. I believe I heard the bionic jumping sound from the Bionic Woman.  Go Prissy!!

Now remember today is Friday Favorites over at my blogging buddy Hillary’s site.  Click right on over there I know she doesn’t have mice up her pants leg!!  Go to The Other Mama’s blog!!  Enjoy your weekend!!

The Day I Never Stopped Smiling

May 20, 1995 was the day I never stopped smiling.  It started before the sun was up.  I met my hairdresser at 6:30am to get my hair teased and fluffed.  By the time my makeup was carefully painted on my face, my mother’s pearled princess crown wedding veil was Bobbi pinned to my head.  Leaving for the church, I was smiling from ear to ear because people driving by me or stopped next to me at a traffic light knew it was the morning of my wedding day.

At 8 am, pictures were being taken… breaking all the rules of traditionally keeping the bride unseen until the wedding march.  We had to catch a plane at noon.  So it made sense for the wedding to be at 10 am and the pictures taken before hand.  The most special moment happened when Mark was already in the sanctuary, alone, and I walked down the isle, alone, to him.  I got to be the only person to see his reaction.  We had just a few moments together before everyone came in for the pictures.  Those stolen moments are priceless.

Throughout the whole morning, I had the most wonderful feeling bubbling up inside of me.  I smiled through out the ceremony.  No nerves, no butterflies… just pure joy.  My groom soon to be my  husband and the love we share caused the biggest smile to shine all morning.   We were beginning our lives together…the best decision I ever made!!  Mark is perfect for me!

Oh and by the time we reached our honeymoon destination…my face was frozen with a goofy “I’m in Love” smile…and I remember making a comment that my face hurt!!

Happy 15th Anniversary, Sweetie!  I love you!! And you still make that goofy “I’m in Love” smile shine!!