unwinding

Did I mention I had a guest coming Tuesday afternoon?  And needed to purge items to send back with our guest?  And declutter and clean the house?  And make a seventh birthday cake for Paul, and shop for the coolest, big boy, model-type Lego toy to be found for under $20.00?  And decorate the house with balloons and streamers?  Decorations are Peter's present to the birthday boy--who celebrates his big day tomorrow.  (No party is planned--my kids just love party decor.)

I had no help today, needless to say.  No, Auntie Lorrie is not picky.  But this house is so not clean and ready.  And her room is not ready.  I've only gotten so far as finishing the packaging of the giveaway stuff I was storing in half that room (baby's room).

I should add that we have inadequate storage space (no garage or basement) so getting ready for a guest is always problematic.

Children eight and under do not leave their Momma alone.  Much.

They try, perhaps, but the more I stick to my guest-readying tasks, the worse things become.  Taking little cuddle breaks helps some.  But they always know when Momma's on a cleaning mission; things are never good after that.  They love their Auntie Lorrie intensely, but that love never translates into cooperation when housekeeping tasks become paramount.. What that love does translate to, is excited chaos.

And don't even get me started on the AT&T company who kept me on the phone for an hour, mostly on hold, while they connected me to seven different people, usually prefacing the switch with, "Let me get a specialist who can handle that."  Baby Beth screamed the last fifteen minutes of my hold time.

Why, pray tell, did I need to speak with AT&T?  Since you asked, I'll get it off my chest.  I called last month to cancel my Internet service, in an effort to save money.  But as we thought about the job hunting, and the time necessary at the library to send out e-mail resumes, it didn't seem feasible for our schedule to cancel service entirely.  So I downgraded to basic speed.  It appears that the order went through, since I can no longer use the Internet to watch/listen to Christian music without the video freezing up multiple times.  Nor can I watch any news videos.

Anyhow, when the bill came today, I noticed I was still getting charged for the faster speed.  After an hour, when I finally got the right attendant and we were nearly done, my cell phone dropped the call.  This was after I bounced my very upset baby on my hip for the last fifteen minutes of the call!  I wonder why they can't train their people to do more than one simple customer service task?  The second to last attendant took all my information, acted like he was going to help me, and then put me on hold, only to tell me later that he could upgrade someone's service, but not downgrade it.

So, I'm back to square one.  Slow Internet speed for too much money.  I think I'll wait a day to deal with them again.  Thanks be to God that I was patient, even if Baby was not.


To say I had a challenging day is an understatement.  I'm not sure I've ever needed to count blessings more than I do today.

My gratitude list:

- my children have a Christian relative in their Auntie Lorrie, whom we all love dearly  They have only two other Christian relatives--my father's sister, who resides in our small township, and husband's aunt, who resides in PA..

- that I even have a house to declutter

- that a little fourteen-month-old boy and his young parents are getting eight large garbage bags of loot.  Wish I could have packaged it better, but boxes wouldn't fit as well and we wanted to get it all out in one load.

- that Paul gets to go to Toys R Us tomorrow with Daddy, to pick out some sports equipment, per Grandma and Grandpa's birthday check.  Maybe I can get husband to take all four kids with him, before he leaves for work?  I can clean at a very rapid pace when the house is empty!

- that I have a sounding board for days like today, in my Internet friends.  Much better than burdening husband.  He doesn't need news of hassles at home right now.

- that my little Mary is singing her Christmas pageant songs loud and proud.  She loves the CD we were given to practice with!  We all do, actually.

- that I still like my haircut, on day two.

- that we have a working furnace (bitterly cold today)

- that libraries are nice places to go in the winter (all year, of course, but winter especially).

- that I may have the van to myself soon, if all goes well, and can go to libraries at will during the snow months.  Do you think that second car is coming just in time to save Momma's winter sanity?  Yes, I agree.


- That my heavenly father prompted me to go into Mary's room for a cuddle after a tough day.  She woke her sister up tonight after I tried so hard to settle Beth down to sleep.  Momma was harsh at first.

- That I know tomorrow will probably not go as smoothly as I hope, but that Lorrie is kind and understanding and it won't matter a bit to her.  Daddy won't arrive home until late, so thank goodness Lorrie will be here to help sing Paul a happy birthday and share his cake and Lego delight.

- My kids will be so happy when Lorrie comes through that door, that all the stress of getting the abode ready and comfortable will melt away.  They are always proud of Momma when the house is nice and clean for guests.  Strange, huh?  That they make it so difficult, yet appreciate it so much?

- That once Lorrie arrives, I'll be able to love on my little Beth to my heart's content.  She deserves some one on one, beyond our sweet nursing times.  That time always gets neglected when I'm involved in a project.  Wish we had grandparents here to help with these times.

- That my experiences here remind me to pray for my children's adult needs--that they'll develop rich support systems as they build their families.  We are older parents and we'll be even older grandparents, but this matter isn't too big for Father, to be sure.