Clean Choppers

Holy cow, I can't believe that I am getting ready to admit this to Blog and everybody but I went to the dentist today for the first time in 3 years!! Terrible, I know!!!! Let me explain. I have never gone this long without going to the dentist. For pete's sake all I was going for was a simple cleaning. I have gone all of my life very regularly and never (Praise God) had a problem, not even a cavity in 32 years. So the reason behind the prolonged visit was crazy! Here it goes....the dentist that have been going to since I can remember (at least 25 years) retired and turned over his business to his son. Now you must understand, it is not like this came as a shock to me. I was aware that it was coming and he had actually been preparing for Paul to take over like 6 years prior but, when the actual announcement came in the mail it is like I completely shutdown and decided that I was not going back for awhile!!! I know, I am retarded!!! I have absolutely nothing against Paul its just that his Dad was such a sweet heart and always told me I had perfect teeth. Anyway, it was time to make an appointment for my 3 kids for their dentist appointment (with another dentist) and I started feeling incredibly guilty because I hadn't been in what I thought was only 2 years. So the same day I called for my kids' appointment I decided I should bite the bullet and call for one of my own. Much to my surprise, they were closed for the week!!! Yea, I was off the hook!!! I listened to their recording and it said they would be back on Tues. the 22nd. So, I decided I would call back then....well maybe. Tuesday came and I was dreading the call but I somehow siked myself up to make it. Are you kidding me they didn't answer so, I did the responsible thing and left a message with my name and number asking for an appointment and a return phone call. Well Tues. came and went with no return phone call. What do these people want from me, to come to their office begging for a teeth cleaning?? I don't think so, I am not nearly that desperate for it. When I woke up yesterday, I knew that I had to call and try this one last time. Bite the bullet girl, pick up the phone and say "yes, my name is Jeniece Washburn and I need to make an appointment for a cleaning please." Yes, Ma' am, I am aware that it has been awhile since I have been in. I am also aware that it will probably be awhile before you can fit me in but I wanted to go ahead and get in your first available cleaning with Laura (my favorite hygentist). You see normally they schedule at least 3 months in advance. She paused for a moment and said "actually Mrs. Washburn Laura had a cancellation and we can get you in tomorrow morning at 9, would that be convenient for you?" Holy Cow.......I thought I would at least have some time to prepare myself. Well, I put a smile on my face and said Wow that is wonderful I will gladly take that appointment!! AAAAHHHH!!! I got up this morning and brushed like I had never brushed before fearful of the prognosis! I suffered through a groosomely long cleaning and my mouth hurt before Laura was even finished. When she completed the cleaning I said, "Oh my gosh my mouth hurts" and she said "well honey it will because we just did 6 cleanings in one. It was Sept. 2005 when you were last in." How embarrased was I? I felt like a MAJOR reject. Anyway, as if I hadn't bared enough I had to wait to see the new dentist, Paul! Although I have known him most of my life, I was still nervous what he might say because his Dad always said my teeth were perfect. He finally came in and said "I haven't seen you in awhile, how are you?" I said "well I will be better when my mouth stops hurting." He just laughed and said "Let's have a look." He was quiet for a couple of seconds and said "ok well, which ever end of the toothbrush you are using turn it over and use the other end." Huh???? I didn't get that statement at all and I guess by the look on my face the hygentist knew that I didn't get it (this in a horrible dentist joke). She started laughing and Paul said "you my dear have perfect teeth!" Yea!!!! How exciting! Needless to say I left there in pain but very excited to have been diagnosed with healthy teeth and they felt great!!!! I did find out that I got extremely lucky because with the exception of today's appointment they were scheduled out until February of 2009!! Amazing!!! You will all be proud to know that I did make my next appointment!! Yea Me!!!!

Incredibly Out of Shape

In the last couple of days I have realized how truly out of shape that I am!! Yesterday, I spent the day helping a great friend move. You know how you are told to lift with your legs to keep from hurting your back? Well does anyone care about my poor legs??? Hello?!!! I could barely even move today when I woke up. My legs were crazy sore. How ridiculous, huh? It seems crazy for someone of my age to be so out of shape. So just to you know stretch out my legs I opted to go on a walk this morning for 40 minutes. After I got back they didn't hurt nearly as bad but they were majorly pulsating!!! Retarded!!! I am going to give it my best shot to continue walking! I think that it made me feel better throughout the day. You gotta love aging and not taking care of yourself in the process. I am going to do my best to be on my way to a fabulous new me!!! Before you know it, I will be SMOKIN'!!! Wish me luck!!!!

Welcome Back Beautiful

Today was exciting because my baby girl came back from her mission trip!!! She had what she calls an amazing experience!!!! I was so excited! When I asked her to tell me of her experience the first thing she told me was how touching the appreciation shown by the recipients of the wheelchair ramps. She said one specific one rolled up his ramp with tears in his eyes and she just lost it. You know I love how amazing God is! His grace and love is so amazing. Today in church our associate pastor said something that really stuck with me. He said that most of the Bible is written in stories and that is no accident. Our lives are lived by stories and a story that my baby experienced this last week showed her what is was like to be an angel in someone else's world and represent God's love to them. I am so grateful that she had the opportunity and that God worked in her. I pray that she will be the young lady that God would have her be and that she seeks him with every breath that she takes and every decision she makes. All of this was also a reminder to me that I need to be a better steward of what Christ has given me in my life. My wish for all of you is that if God gives you a mission that you joyfully fulfill it in His love so that you may share His love with someone else.

Deep Thoughts

Have you ever just wanted to change everything about your life? I have really been praying about all the decisions that I need to make to make my home a better place to be. There are so many things going on in my brain that I can't even straighten it all out. I just wish I had someone here to make all my decisions for me and it would be much easier. See the problem is I know what it is that I want in my life and the way that I need to go about it but, there is someone in the way that I can't avoid. The dreaded ex!!! He is not going to make all these changes easy because a lot of these changes involve my two oldest kids which are his as well. Unfortunately, I make all the changes that I want to make without him cooperating! This may all end up in a mess before we are all finished. I am thinking, well I know that the only thing that I can do is pray about it because that is the only way that I will feel OK about the decisions that are being made. Being deep in thought hurts my head!!! Anybody else feel that way? Oh well, life goes on and I am sure that there are lots more hard decisions down the road!

Grocery Store Greatness and a well behaved child to boot !!!!

Today was my first trip back to the grocery store on our new budget and boy was I scared. I was sitting here planning 3 meals a day for 5 people and was very nervous about whether it was even possible to feed that many people that much on our food budget. For the first time in well ever, I shopped extremely frugal and bought almost all generic brand products with the exception of a few things that were specifically named in some of my new recipes. I wrote every single thing down that I needed to buy before I left home. Then when I put that item in my basket I wrote down the price beside it. I stood there in Walmart (like a MAJOR dork) and calculated what I had spent. I initially got the wrong amount and almost started to freak-out but I decided I would try again and luckily the second time I got a MUCH better total. I even thought that it was too good to be true so (third times a charm) I tried it again and much to my amazement I came up with the same amount that I did the second time around. I was still leery so I didn't really believe it until I got to the register and the checker said.......that will be $88.22 please! What?!!!!!!! I can't believe this, seriously I just bought groceries to feed 5 people 3X's a day and it only cost us $88!!! I am super excited!!! May be this whole cooking at home thing really will work because there is no way that our family would be able to eat out even twice for that dollar amount. Hooray for planning, the dork accomplished a huge feat!!!!!! :-) As if this wasn't enough to make me smile all day (maybe even tomorrow), I left there to go pick up the little man. This week has been fantastic for him!! Mon, Tue and Wed he had fabulous days! Thursday we had a little attitude with our teacher so we weren't so fortunate that day. Hoping to end the week well I walked in this afternoon and he was on track (this is a good thing!)!!! Yea!! I can't believe it, do you know how long it has been since he has almost gone an entire week without getting in trouble......................NEVER!!!! I am so glad that God touched my heart and said you my child need a change in your life and here is what you and I together are going to accomplish! How incredibly blessed I feel today to have a God full of grace and family and friends encouraging me.

Welcome To The Family

Hi y'all!! I am really excited to be a part of the blogging world! I have many friends that I am excited to join that will hopefully pull me through this new experience. We are in the midst of making alot of changes in our household. I am trying with the encouragement of friends and just for the sake of sanity trying to be a better Mom, Wife and Child of God. Just to catch you up on our life we are previously a family that runs, runs, and then runs some more. I rarely get my responsibilities at home taken care of first and ashamidly admit that I very rarely cook at home. I guess with that discription it isn't hard to guess that I am not in the best shape of my life and also not the healthiest I have ever been. After spending a few days with a beloved friend who I admire, I was inspired to be a better Me. I realized how incredibly blessed I truly am but that I was not doing God's work in my home. After soaking up just what I need in my life I came back home ready to conquer my home as I knew it. Boy are my kids in for a shock!!! My three kids were with my Mom for her week in the summer while this was all going on by the way. I had about a day and a half to get my plan together before my kids came home and luckily my hubby came home ready to help me make the changes. He was really pumped that I was so gung-ho about making this place less chaotic! One of the first changes I wanted to make was to start cooking at home mostly rather than going out (both to for health reasons and to save money)! We are also changing our discipline tactics (especially with our youngest). I am also trying to do what I feel like I should have been doing all along which is take care of my family to the best of my ability. My God is BIG and can help me do anything!!! I have been praying like nobody's business and it is working. I have woken up every morning (since my apiphany if you will) with the motivation and yearning to do my best that day for the blessings God gave me! Things are going very well and our little monster is even behaving better. PRAISE GOD!!! I truly believe that is due to consistency in discipline, a better diet and obviously the power of prayer.
Talk to you soon