Years of Waiting, Hoping, Sneaking Glances...A Love Affair Never Dies

I should get paid for this. (Hint, hint... Rold Gold, are you listening?) But I'm not. I just really love these little pretzels *that* much. I was introduced to these tasty morsels of b-utter deliciousness about five years ago. I fell in love. And then one day as a nonchalantly strolled down the snack aisle to snag another bag, they were gone! ((POOF)) Just like that. They vanished.

Not to panic, surely another store in town carried them, right? Wrong. I searched in vain for about three years. I never walked past the pretzels without wishing they would reappear-- hoping for some old, stale bag that a stock-boy had missed-- anything to get my fix.

And then it happened. We ran into Meijer yesterday to snag some Super Washing Soda (you know, because I make my own laundry detergent. I'm cool like that. Or, um... maybe not.) and strawberries. I was walking past an end cap and, of course, the pretzels caught my eye (because a love affair like ours never really dies).

The angels began singing! (They were happy for me.)

The pretzels were resurrected from the Rold Gold grave!!! My heart is happy. My life is complete.

...I'm going to go eat lunch now.

And furthermore, I cannot recommend highly enough that you go throw a bag--or 30-- into your shopping cart. Now.

The Now vs The Normal

I like life neat and tidy.

I do.

But there's just one little problem;

It's not.

(period.)

Remember this post? I'm still working on mastering intentionality. If I'm honest, I'll just throw my right hand up and admit right now that I always will be. There are moments when I feel so overwhelmed that I'm not even sure what to be intentional about.

Sometimes it feels like my little box of life is all wrapped up in shiny paper with a picture-perfect bow on top. Other times, I feel like the package was ransacked by wide-eyed toddler on Christmas morning. And it takes less than a minute to go from one extreme to the other--both literally and figuratively.

When I start to feel like things are a getting messy, I have a nasty little tendency to just hit the "pause" button. The problem is that I can't pause life, or I'll miss living in the process. I'll miss friendships. I'll miss opportunities. I'll miss...so much.

Our life has been quite a ride over the past year, and it isn't over yet. Even though "normal" (aka "neat" and "tidy") is good for my psyche, I can't allow my life to only function in that mode. Life, even the abnormal, just isn't worth missing.

So here it is, my confession to you all: I'm working at being intentional in the NOW and not waiting for the NORMAL.

(And just so you know...It physically pains me to type that. Sigh...confession over. Is it time for bed yet?)

Parker... the Rude.

I need to get this little story down for posterity sake. Parker has been our breeze of a child, but as of this week it's like she's throwing down the gauntlet. Thank goodness Peyton is moving out of his defiant phase (the 3-year-long one). Parenting is ever an adventure -- and a WHOLE LOT of work.

A wise woman (aka Beth Faulker) once told Jeremy and I to just keep being consistent and we would see the fruit. After a few days turned into weeks morphing into months...you get the picture...it's been a tough road at times, but shes was absolutely right. We're seeing the fruit.

Here's to the adventure with kiddo numero dos. And for the record: we wouldn't change a single thing about either one-- not even the tough parts.

So tonight Parker was upset that I had moved her cup from the table to the counter so that I could clean up. She looked at me and said, "Don't ever do dat a'gin!" We promptly had a discussion about respect-- as she pulled hair in front of her eyes and said, "Don't look at me." After the talk, I asked her to say"yes ma'am " if she understood-- she shook her head no. I asked if she was ready to say it and she replied, "Not yet." I left the room to give her time to contemplate her choices. She called me back and said, "I ready say 'yes ma'am' and I'm sorry, mommy." Wow.

We're in it to win it. Go team Smith parents.