He Doesn't Tape and I Don't Roll

Sometimes I am in awe of the Lord's goodness in giving me the Coach for a husband.
We balance each other in so many ways.
Those of you who are married know what I mean.

The Coach isn't, by nature, much of a detail person.
I am obsessive compulsive in many ways.

Turns out, being OC makes for a lot of overwhelming discouragement.
The Coach's laid back nature is much easier to live with.
Particularly in a house full of children.

So I'm learning to let things go and he's learning to pay more attention to the details.

He's also extremely humble. Anyone who knows him, knows he's always kind and never judges.
I tend to think I'm always right. (Why is this working out to make me look bad?) We had a joke in our house when I was growing up. We'd practice saying, "I don't know." It didn't come naturally. For anyone in my family.

The Coach is also extremely frugal. Remember the milk?
I'm. . . well. . . NOT.

But I'm learning!

Being the baby (and only girl) of three children, with a very generous father did not make me a penny pincher by nature. However, necessity is the mother of invention. And after 13 years of being a teacher's wife and mother to many, I've developed quite a system for saving money.

For the most part, I just don't spend it.

But on the other hand, the Coach is learning one of my family's strongest traits: If you are going to do something, do it well. It's not a great partner to frugality, this quality, but it's possible for them to live happily together.

Just like the Coach and I.

So this weekend we painted the girl's room. Actually, Saturday afternoon.

Is there a sport called "Speed Painting"? Or, "Paint as fast as you can before the rest of the house falls down around you?"

We hadn't planned on doing that this weekend. In fact, when the Coach and I walked Saturday morning we talked about how we might not get to it for a few weeks. I've gotten so laid back that I was OK with that (are you laughing?).

But then after our company left on Saturday afternoon, he said, "I think I could at least get that ceiling painted today."

I should have known.

At one point, he asked me if I was "OK" with the paint we already had. I realized, in a moment, that it was now or never. The paint I had already purchased, or no paint at all. So I took the leap of faith, and said, "Go for it."

By 10:00 PM it was a done deal. And it's beautiful. I'm so happy with it. And it's done.

Well, except for rehanging the pictures and replacing the outlets and light switches, and a new window treatment. (Oh those details!)

Maybe not "done". But certainly PAINTED.

The Coach and I, we've painted a lot of walls. Whole houses full. And we have a great system.
I don't care for rolling paint - it scares me. I would get it all over myself and everything within 20 feet.
He, on the other hand, doesn't care for the tediousness (is that a word?) of taping.
So I prepare the walls, he rolls them and we both cut in the edges.
All in all, it works well.

And it's a good picture of why God put us together. And why we need each other.

But I would have you know, that the head of every man in Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. I Cor. 11:3

Balance.

PS - Pictures to follow. . .

Thankful Thursday

A Belated Happy Thursday to you all!

Here goes:

1. That even though Daughter (#2) dropped and broke my camera tonight, God's grace was sufficient and I didn't get angry. Just sad.

2. That Daughter (#6) and Baby Boy survived their well-child visits and immunizations this morning. How fun to run into my friend from The Anderson Zoo at the Doctor's office!

3. That Baby Boy is up to a whopping *19* pounds! Woo hoo! Even if that is only the 5th percentile. He's growing!

4. For the warmer weather today and cooler weather tonight. Lovely!

5. That Son (#3) finished his "make your own paintbrush" project tonight - just in time for tomorrow!

6. That Daughter (#2) and Son (#3) both received the character award in Chapel yesterday for:

Discernment

The ability to understand the deeper reason as to why things happen

7. That tomorrow is Friday!

8. That even though Daughter (#2) has something weird going on after losing a tooth, the dentist said, yesterday, that it's just fine and will heal on it's own.

9. For my BFF Crazy Daisy who has taken on the huge burden of keeping me accountable for taking better care of myself: eating right, taking my vitamins, exercising, drinking water, etc. She's such a blessing to me!

10. For all of YOU who read Mrs. Troop and encourage me every day by your interest, thoughfulness and just by taking the time to care about my chaotic little life! Thanks!

Leave me a comment and tell me what YOU are thankful for this week! I love hearing it!

Finally, brethren,

whatsoever things are true,

whatsoever things are honest,

whatsoever things are just,

whatsoever things are pure,

whatsoever things are lovely,

whatsoever things are of good report,

if there be any virtue,

and if there be any praise,

think on these things.

Phil. 4:8

Paper Towels Work for Me

Sometime in February, we were on the third (or fourth, or hundredth) round of illness here at the Troops. Ugh.

I remembered my sister-in-law's mother (who is a nurse) used to have paper towel holders in the guest bath. Hmmmmm.

Then I realized that we probably spread a LOT of germs on our hand towels. 10 people, times countless hand washes each day. Combined with hands that have been sneezed into, pet the dog, played on the playground at school, etc.

I know the POINT of washing hands is to remove those germs. And I know that technically speaking, if your hands are clean when you dry them, then the towel should actually be germ free.

Who are we kidding here?

They are kids!

So I purchased $4 paper towel holders at Target and put them in the two kid's bathrooms.

Wonderful.

We use the generic paper towels, only one per hand washing. And it works great! We are using less than I would have expected and not spreading so many germs! Yeah!

I will probably not use them all year. But you can bet I'll put them out during flu season or the second someone gets the stomach virus.

Works for me!

Check our the other great tips at Rocks in My Dryer!

Happy Wednesday!

. . .and some Zyrtec

Baby Boy and I went to the store this morning.

(I'm giving you a minute to let that sink in.)

I guess back when Son (#1) was a baby I used to go to the store with one small child. But not any more. Usually I leave Baby Boy at home with the Coach and take any number of children with me. Which is always exciting.

We had a fun time.

If Wal-mart can be fun. Which it can. Because we are there so often. And if it weren't fun then a significant part of my life would be not fun.

It's a choice, right?

I'm still laughing, though. I'm used to the attention that we get at the store with eight kids. Looks. Second looks. Audible counting. But with one?

No less than four people told me what a cute baby I have. One even called him a girl. Which, in my opinion, he's pretty enough to be, but something about the striped polo and jeans should have given it away.

One nice lady stopped me in the parking lot to tell me, to "enjoy it, because they grow up so fast." She then told me she had a 7 year old boy and 5 year old boy twins. Wow. Twins. Can't imagine having twins.

Years ago I would have smiled and said thank you and walked away. But I enjoy the shock factor way too much, so I said, "Oh, he's our EIGHTH."

Truly the response is worth it every time.

She was very nice. Even told me I look "amazing" for having eight kids. Which I'm not sure is a compliment. I mean, what SHOULD I look like after eight kids? Do I look amazing if I only had two? Nope. Thought so.

But back to the store. I needed to pick up a few things for dinner. But my main reason for going was to get more Zrytec.

I ran out of my last prescription, and it's not a prescription, anymore. Which stinks. My insurance used to cover 50%, and now I have to pay for all of it!

But that got me to thinking. . .

How about sharing some of our favorite products? Not that Zyrtec is one of my favorite products, but I've been taking it for 7 years and the last five days without it, I've been miserable.

So here's one of my VERY FAVORITE:

A couple of years ago, Daughter (#2) started having trouble sleeping. Miserable for all. We tried Benadryl and eventually, since she was older, resorted to Simply Sleep. But I HATED giving her drugs. Hated it. She's not old enough to need a pill to go to sleep! My mom found this, and it really works! I'm so grateful. You can get Peaceful Night here. It's not cheap, but it's WAY better than drugs.

One of the other things we love here at the Troops is our Swivel Sweeper.

We have tried so many things to clean the floors after meals. After several bad experiences, we were back to the broom and dustpan. But it's HARD for kids to do that well. Then I found this. I'm sure I was watching an infomercial late at night while up with a baby. Can't remember, really. But I ordered it! And we love it! We have worn out three of them, but it's worth it to have the kids able to do a good job cleaning the floor. You can even use them on the carpet for a quick clean up before company! Love it.

SO. . .

Be thinking of things you love and we'll have a linky party here in a few days to share them all. It's so helpful to me, as a mom, to know what works for other families. Saves all the trial and error to figure it out myself!

P.S. THANK YOU for the paint color help! I'm going to get motivated to work on that project again, really soon. I think. And I'm so glad to know who to ask!

Monday News - In No Particular Order

Well, today is Monday.

And not just any Monday, but the Monday after Spring Break. We've been "school-free" for 9 days. Minus the "About Me" poster I had to make for Daughter (#5) this weekend.

And not just the Monday after Spring Break, it's also Baby Boy's First Birthday!

But don't tell him.

Because we aren't going to celebrate it today.

For one thing, we're partied out.

We had a wonderful week and it included a lot of having other people over. And we need a break.

So last night I decided we'd celebrate his birthday on the day he came home from the hospital. April 3rd.

That gives us some time to recover.

But then Son (#4) has a birthday the 10th, so maybe we should just wait until then.

As you can see, I'm eager to have a party. And buys gifts. And make cake.

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On the other hand, we took the wallpaper off in the girl's room last week. Yeah! I've only been wanting to do that for 2 1/2 years. It looks great! We were going to paint, too. But after spending an entire morning looking for paint that I liked, buying some and bringing it home, painting it on the wall and not being totally happy with it, we're taking a break. There just wasn't time to go through the whole process again. What with all of the company we had.

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Turns out that this dog is really starting to get on my nerves. He's really into nipping right now. Anything bright colored, any pants that swish when you walk, the girl's dresses, etc. Saturday I lost it completely when he WOULD NOT STOP nipping me and actually got his teeth caught in my pajama pants. The Coach keeps reminding me that he's just a puppy and they are working on training him and it's just normal puppy behavior. I, on the other hand, am wondering how we are going to have time to train a puppy when we are far behind on training our CHILDREN. Which seems more important, but maybe that's just me.

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We had a wonderful Easter with family. Our biggest mistake was choosing early service at church. The service was wonderful, but getting our troops out the door, dressed in their Easter finery at 7:45 on the Sunday after Spring Break was trying, to say the least. We made it. The problem came when we got home at 9:20 and lunch at Grandmother's wasn't until 1:00. Whew.

Lunch was fun, though, especially with the addition of our sweet family from California here to share it. It was a little breezy and cool (COLD, really) for the egg hunt, but the kids charged right out, anyway. And to top it off, S-I-L brought cupcakes from SPRINKLES for dessert. Yum! I, while diligently fighting the guilt, took store bought cookies. To Easter. From the store. That I didn't make myself. But I'm not feeling bad about it.

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Big News of the weekend is that the Coach's big (read "older", not "larger") Sis and her family moved in down the street! We are so thrilled to have them closer to us and I know they are excited to be close to the Coach's parents, who also live in this addition. Story goes that my father-in-law (Big Sis' and the Coach's dad) was eager to be the first to tell the neighbors that they have 11 kids! But with one married, one living on her own and two at college most of the year, they have seven on most days. So they probably won't be nearly as annoying to their neighbors as we are!

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One more thing. I've had it with sippy cups. I mean, really. Baby Boy is one today and still drinking from a bottle. I've tried 3 or 4 different types of sippies. He enjoys playing with them all, but doesn't make much progress drinking from them. Truthfully, he's had eating issues from day one. But why do ALL of these non-cheap sippies LEAK? Like crazy. No matter what I do. How hard is it, People? I'd love any suggestions that you have. Although I'm not worried about Baby Boy. He's taken a little longer than our others to do things and I'm OK with that. He's still catching up! And NO, he's not even close to walking. He hardly has a chance to try around here!

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IF you are still with me after all of this rambling. . . I have two reasons for sharing my life with you:

FIRST: I talk to moms almost every day that are discouraged. So I keep it real, here are Mrs. Troop, to let you know that everyone has their struggles. Life's a lot of work. And you're not "failing" if it is.

SECOND: The work of life, and the trials and struggles, don't have to steal your joy.
My mom gave me a wonderful quote the other day (I'll have to ask her who it's from):

"Oh the JOY of a trial accepted."

The trials don't have to steal our joy, Friends. But our response to them can. And I'm speaking to myself here!

For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man in renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. II Cor. 4:16-18

Have a blessed day!

Happy Easter

He is risen. . .

He is risen INDEED!

The Grit that keeps on Giving

Spring Break has been lovely!

The change of routine, the sleeping late (yes, really) - and oh sweet loveliness - having the COACH HOME all day.

It's true bliss.

Not to mention that I haven't packed a single lunch bag or signed a single school paper.

Heavenly.

Today we headed back to the farm.
And for our 7 kids (and I'm sure Baby Boy would chime in if he could), it's all about FOUR WHEELERS.
And RANGER RIDES.

We used to say, "We JUST GOT BACK from taking a Ranger ride, wait a few minutes for another."

Now we just go.

Because it's fun.

And they are kids.

And life is short.

Even Champ the wonder dog got in on it. He seems to love to ride all over the farm on the seat of the Ranger with a kid's hand on his back.

Who would have thought?

And Baby Boy? Well, to tell you how much HE liked it, on Sunday he FELL ASLEEP. On the BUMPIEST ROAD EVER. With the blazing sun on his face and the wind blowing his wispy hair.

Fell asleep.
My kids were born for speed and dirt, apparently.

We had a great time, again, today.
But I can't get over how thoroughly everyone was COVERED in grit.
The bath water? Disgusting.
But they are all clean and fresh and tucked into their soft beds.

And the Coach is watching basketball.

Life is good.

Just in case you have no idea what a Ranger is: