Tag: Spin Cycle

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NOT What You Think About in Spring

It’s finally Spring! When I asked people what they thought about when they heard the word “Spring” a couple of weeks ago, I got a lot of fun answers. Bounce, flowers, warm, hurry and PLEASE were just a few of the answers. One answer I did NOT get was…the stomach flu.

Easter Sunday, our household was hit by that terrible germ. Only Lily got sick, but boy oh boy, did she get sick. I knew she wasn’t feeling well when she wanted to go upstairs and lie down. At 4:00 in the afternoon! That is not like my Lily at all, especially since we had the family over for Easter dinner! Not long after she decided to rest, she came down to get me. “Mommy, I just threw up two times.”

Oh, my, not the words I wanted to hear as I was preparing food for 10 people! Being eight years old, however, she did make it to the bathroom on time. Ed stayed up in her room with her, reading and consoling her, while I carried on below. She was up quite a few times that night, and her stomach didn’t settle until Tuesday morning.

Fortunately, this bout of tummy trouble didn’t happen until AFTER Lily had some Easter fun. On Saturday, the girls went with Ed to our church’s Easter Egg Hunt, and they came home with their baskets OVERFLOWING with eggs.

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An Easter Bunny hug for my two girls!
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The bunny with my honey

Another blessing: it’s Friday, Lily is back to her normal happy and healthy self, and NO ONE else has gotten sick. I’m crossing my fingers and knocking on wood!

How has your Spring been so far?

Second Blooming

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My Advice to Myself {Spin Cycle}

Lately, I’ve been feeling rushed. Which seems quite ridiculous to me, since I’m mostly a stay-at-home mom. I rush to get ready in the morning; to pack lunches, make sure my children are fed and dressed and then rush out the door to drop them off at school. I rush to volunteer at church or school or to my part time job, to the grocery store or to the doctor’s office.

When I’m at home, I’m rushing to throw that load of laundry in the washing machine, to empty the dishwasher or vacuum something. Before I know it, I need to pick up the girls from school and rush to ballet, rush to do math and study spelling words, make dinner, wash the dishes and put the kids to bed.

In between writing these paragraphs, I cleared junk mail off of the counter, put a load of laundry in the dryer, noticed what time it was and rushed to get dinner going on the stove. I took out the garbage and recycling (see “cleared off the counter” up above!)

Even when I’m online I’m in a rush; to answer emails or comment on blogs, Facebook or Google+ as quickly as I can so that I can get back to the real tasks in life.

Raise your hand if this sounds familiar.

Way back when I was teaching full time and going to graduate school, I used to quell that rising feeling of anxiety by telling myself that everything I needed to do would get done.  That paper would get written in time, my report cards would be handed out on the correct days, and I would be prepared for parent conferences.

Somehow, it worked. By plugging away and working steadily and also (this is important!) taking breaks, it all got done.

My tasks now are quite different, but it all gets done. The girls go to school with clean clothes, I manage to make dinner every night, and sometimes, there are crumbs under the kitchen table.

I’ll vacuum those crumbs…tomorrow. It will get done.

Spin Cycle at Second BloomingGretchen is giving advice this week at The Spin Cycle. Put your spin on it and tell me in the comments below…what advice would you like to give me, someone else, or yourself?

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