R2 had a neurologist appointment today... scheduled months in advance because the clinic is so busy. So off we went at 10 ish this morning. I had called and verified the appointment, and then we drove around in circles for a while looking for the place. Found it. Took out three kids, got a wagon, went for a ride. Wrong place. It actually was in another branch of the hospital, downtown. So we missed it and have to reschedule. Stinks.

Stuff like this always happens to me. And maybe I'm irresponsible and non-verifying or something, but dangit! I thought I had this one. Sheesh. So now I have to call and say I'm a cotton-headed ninnymuggins and I need to reschedule for JUNE when we're back in KC.

We leave for Nashville on Sunday. Some guys are coming to house-sit... guess I should clean everything, or something.

So, what's the point of blogging at this late of an hour? Well, if for no other reason, to entertain Nate, who is bored out of his mind at the rodeo. He's working there, y'all. Normal attendees would not be bored, and neither would bullriders. But Nate is neither of those. So here you go.

I began this morning by- well, Richy began by dropping himself off at his class, and then I took the wheel. Much like Jesus in the proverbial song. I then missed the freeway entrance and drove 30 minutes in the wrong direction before the ol' light came on. The brain light, that is... waaaaaaiiiittt.... this not 71 to airport... this 470 to Wichita... what I do now??? ...........

Call to the MOG, exit, u-turn... drive for one forever to the airport. Successfully drop Mama off and find the correct freeway, and spend the next 20 minutes on course. Then, I took a detour to some large water industry district in Kansas. Good times.
Another call to the MOG who had by this point spent a lot of class time out of class. He hung up to map my coordinates, and before he called me back I randomly chose the proper direction and found the correct road. Made it home, folks. HOURS later.

But we only had time to catch an episode of Barney and then we had to pick up Daddy and head to the DMV. Say it slow, because that is appropriate. Deee.........emmmmmmm.....veeeeee.....
We eventually got Missouri drivers licenses, and simultaneously got poorer. Highway robbery.

Then we went to the office of the party of the first part to get our van registered. And waited. Did I mention we have three children? And did I mention that Toby is TWO? He got our tax dollars worth of climbing chairs, over, under, around... meeting passersby and frightening strangers with a smile... anyway. We were number 7. I heard them call out 6, and then moments later, 8. Being a pretty Smart Egg, I reasoned something was amiss. I of the floating freeways, had been skipped. I rose and cried out for justice, and I was heard. Eventually. So the party of the first part said I needed documentation of such and such and wrote things down and sent me over to the party of the second part, who directed me to the back of the line. You won't believe this, but we were all getting a little tired of the ol DMV by this point. To cut a long, long story, shorter.... they couldn't make the computer work, the supervisor wasn't around, blah blah handwritten document, back to the P of the 1st P, who almost registered the van, but sent me out empty handed and said come back with a current Missouri inspection tag.

We did some other stuff. Now I'm home for one hour before my home group. If you want to talk to me, fill out these fourteen forms in triplicate and fax them to the Ukraine. I'll be right with you.

Now, yesterday I didn't post till 4 something... and those are some cute videos. So if you haven't, go and watch the vids.
My goal today was, if everyone was awake by the time R1 had to leave for class, we would throw our pajama-ed selves into the van and drop him off, so's we could have the van, see? And wouldn'tcha know it, it worked. So we came back home and ate breakfast and did 4000 diapers and so on and then we went to the Y. Now, we started getting billed for our Y membership on the 1st. But until today, I hadn't gone up there. (the childcare is from 8-noon, and it hadn't worked out) So today, off we went. It was a breezy 42 degrees in my garage, and so I forgot my jacket. Unfortunately, the parking is terrible at the Y, and did I mention it was NINETEEN degrees outside of my garage. All the kids were dressed for the Arctic, but I was not so fortunate. So back here to wrestle with the stroller and over here for this kid and over here for these two, and then waaaaaaaay across the parking lot and up the sidewalk, to the North Pole. And of course there are no automatic doors (for a community organization, Y's are notoriously NOT handicapped accessible). So finally we got in and I don't know if I have EVER been that cold.

I put the little people in Child Watch, which appears to be exactly that. Two women casually watching as children do stuff. Toby was all for it. I made it 15 minutes on the treadmill before Bean lost it and could not be consoled. Next time (tomorrow?) I might try some kind of class with her there by me in her carseat. Or something. I also tried a bike which I had to completely WUSS out on because it was so hard.

But I am proud of myself because I finally went. Now to keep going.

So this is day two of the new schedule. And I am feeling so much better about life in general since I didn't have to get up at 7.
This is one of those rare moments where both babies are sleeping, or at least quiet in their rooms. Aaaaah..... nice. Just me and Rush and Buzz Lightyear.

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You know what's hard? Motivation. I need a life coach. Well. I kinda have one. But he's more of an unsolicited advice coach.
WHY is it so hard to do what I need to do? I'm bustin' a Romans 7 here... feeling the Apostle Paul's pain.
I know who I want to be. I know the end result. But I really don't feel like doing the work. Except for a sort of passive inclination in my subconscious somewhere that I want to do more than just exist.
Oh, and another element of that is that I want my children to be something. To be passionate and have a cause. So they get a little of that from the MOG. But they spend most of their time with me, wandering idly from chore to meal to sitting on my blessed assurance. Not exactly an example of a reformer.
This is an interesting place in life. I am a mother of young children, which is really all-encompassing. How do you do more than that? But I know it's possible. My current coach tells me about Susanna Wesley with her ... what was it like 16 children or something.. and she would sit on the floor and pull her apron up over her head and meet with Jesus. And all her kids understood that signal. So of course it's possible. Just not easy. I like easy.
And there's another part of me that knows if I keep waiting for the next phase of my life to wake up, life will pass me by and I will have so many regrets. Because it just keeps moving, you know? There's no pause button.

So there you have it... another introspective day in the life. This has got to be the most boring blog EVER.
Well, no.
This is the most boring blog ever. Awesome.

Currently, Toby is busting a jam on the keyboard. If you don't speak ebonics, especially early 90's ebonics, I mean he is playing the keyboard... or electric piano, if you will. My preference would be that he be in his bed sound asleep. But, you can't always get what you want.
So no nap. Evening meltdown predicted for 5 pm.

It's cold here. Broken record, I know. But today I just want to sit on the couch with a blanket and a stack of library books... and I have, several times. Then somebody falls down, or takes off their diaper, or in Bean's case, whimpers quietly, and I'm up again... did the dishes. So that was productive. Oh, and I conquered Laundry Hill. From the couch. Laundry Mountain is untouched... the plan is to fold tonight during American Idol, and put away during commercials. We shall see. I have less than stellar faith in my resolutions.

So that's it. Booooring. And yet, cozy. Later.

Happy Monday!
Feeling much better today after multiple hours alone on Saturday... at Barnes and Noble, and then the library, and then the thrift store. I am now the proud owner of TWO new books, and the borrower of a lot... this library is cool.

In other news, my feet are in shock. They have been consistently cold for 3 weeks. I told Richy I was getting frostbite, but he didn't even care. This weekend, Saturday maybe, it was 3 degrees. By mid-afternoon, it was a sunny EIGHT. Are you kidding me? I didn't even know there was an EIGHT. I asked Toby if he wanted to play outside... first time ever he's turned me down.

So there you go, there's the update. It's cold.

In other, other news, yesterday was one of the two days a year that the MOG wants to watch football. I tried to be a football buddy as we got out the ol' rabbit ears, but by the second down or something like that I was reading a book. I stink at football watching.

That's all the news. Good day.

Well, it's finally snowing. Glorious. I went out on the porch last night and let myself get snowed on. Oh, and I took pictures of myself. No TV needed. I am a one man show.

Toby is a determined, independent, persuasive and persistent person. He has strong convictions and is not easily swayed. He is passionate about the things that he loves, willing to fight for what he feels is right, or rightly his. That sounds pretty good. If I make it through the next 18 years, he is going to be a DOOZY of an adult. Actually, saying it that way gives me a little perspective. Maybe when he wakes up from his nap, he won't frazzle me so much.

I am officially lonely. I don't want to make new friends, I don't like them. I want my old friends. Okay, fine. I'll make new friends. But sheesh... how do you make friends when you have three little kids? Maybe other people with little kids... sheesh.

I don't want to think about it today. I'll think about that tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, I am supposed to be having a date by myself tomorrow, to spend my grand and highly exalted Barnes and Noble card. We shall see.


Beautiful..phone books in the snow

OH- and go check out the new Radiant Worship Blog!

Anybody need a Kansas City phonebook? No? Okay. Because I have at least EIGHT. Maybe 10. And they keep delivering them. Fat ones, skinny ones, some as big as your head...
Surely no one needs this many phone books.. is there a lot of competition in the Yellow Pages market? For FREE phone books? I am a little befuddled. Also perplexed and discombobulated.
Another irony about this situation is my COMPLETE unlikeliness to use the phone at all. Today I had to use it to work on R2's medical stuff. And it was in the basement. With the MOG. I haven't used the real phone since we moved here, evidently. I do have my cell phone, but that is primarily for texting. Duh.

Speaking of Duh, did anyone watch American Idol last night? I love this show. This is the meanest part, so if you have compassion and all that (wuss) then wait a couple weeks till they weed out the psychos and then it is more about good singing. But now, it's psycho time. I do love me some psychos when they aren't prophesying over me in a parking lot or asking to hold my baby. Good ol TV psychos with Princess Leia costumes and strange song choices... that's good TV.

In other news, it is supposed to snow tonight. We'll see. I have become jaded since it hasn't snowed here since the week we moved in.

I've got a fun little house video to put up here, waiting for it to load onto Photobucket so I can load it over here. Anyways.

Registered to vote in Missouri today, hopefully we're good to be able to vote in the February primary. Soon we have to go over to the DPS or whatever it's called here and change our licenses. Isn't that weird?

So okay, back with the video eventually.

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Sheesh. What a day. Not lousy, exactly. Just long and frustrating. Starting with Toby waking up at 6 am. Then taking off his clothes and peeing on the wood floor. THEN I decided to explore and go to Walmart and such today. On my own. Well, the only adult.
So I google mapped everything I wanted to do and set off.

First I drove out of the way to go to the bank, only there was no bank there. In phone consultations with the MOG, we eventually determined that "Bank of America" was actually some banker type in a house. In other words, not the bank. So he redirected me to another bank, and off I went. When I reached State Line Avenue, I called him... something a little funny there. Oh, right. The OTHER way. And now I'm in Kansas. Which was less than 10 miles away, but still. KANSAS.

So we mapped bank option 3, in Kansas. And I actually found it and finally that was okay. I now had less than an hour to find Walmart, shop and return prior to Toby waking up, at which time Toby's daddy would spontaneously combust. So off I went. Back to Missouri, to the road where Walmart was. Only it wasn't. More driving. More phone consults/mapping. Found an empty WM, shut down. Went to Big K. Turns out Big K doesn't really have groceries. Toby wakes up, I head home. 2 hours to make a deposit in another state and buy some crackers and Cheerios.

We drop the MOG off at IHOP and I forge on. We have to have food, darnit. And I HATE Price Chopper. So I just drive around. And lo and behold, a Sam's Club! Which means Walmart! Somewhere around! Only not!

3 cart boy consultations later, I am finally directed by an elderly woman in a fur hat, back over to the state line. And sure enough, Super Walmart. Something familiar, FINALLY. I grocery up and drive home, where I back into the garage door, cracking it and scratching my bumper. And my wisdom teeth are coming in. I think I need to be put down.

Ah, and politics? Later, later.

Last night we found a resale shop. I just went in to check it out... wanting to spend the last of the Christmas money and maybe buy a temporary dining table. There were a couple of options, which were ultimately voted down by the Fashionista/MOG. More meals on the couch. Sheesh. Ugly does not equal no good. Anyways.

Later we attempted to attend a prayer rally/service for the Luke 18 project. We made it through worship, but as soon as it was time to sit down, Tobias felt the need to entertain the masses. Dancing, singing, crawling like a baby, running down aisles. We made a discreet exit by gathering 2 tons of winter garb, massive diaper bag, laptop case, car seat with Bean, and a whining Toby. Jumping R2 followed discreetly behind. Sigh. We are going to have to figure this out.

In other news, I really like this house. It is cozy and happy. And my kitchen is huge, although I am not loving me washing dishes by hand.

I need to finish unpacking clothes, and do some laundry. It is, however, approximately 30 degrees in the garage, where the washer and dryer are. So unpacking it shall be.

What a whirlwind of glamour and excitement I am in... today, I made meatloaf. Somebody stop me.

Today, I put the wee gents into snow gear and sent them out into the yard, as they requested. It took close to an hour to collect all the snow gear and put them in it, then they spent 5-10 minutes outside and wanted back in. Maybe that'll cure them of wanting to go outside.










I think the thing over there says it's 32 degrees. Nope, it's FOURTEEN. Yikes.

I like the new house. It was built in 1950 and has been vacant for a year, so there are some kinks to work out. Like tree roots in the septic. Say hello to Snake and Rooter. And various leaks, primarily in the basement... and oh, did I mention we don't have a refrigerator yet? As in, we moved in on FRIDAY. And no fridge yet. It's scheduled to arrive today, and it better be a doozy. We've been keeping the milk on the back porch, where it freezes solid. And all the perishables have been in the garage, which keeps them icy cool. It's kind of an adventure, actually. It will be like a luxury house when we have a refrigeration unit in our kitchen.

Well, here we are. 5 of us alone -several states away from friends and family. I have been dreading this, but you know, it's okay.
So begins the Clark family adventure.

The Call KC was beautiful. R2 didn't go at all, we just took the babies and traded them back and forth between me and the MOG. They actually did very well, although we did have Toby on a wrist leash. Sorry if you think that's cruel.... 25,000+ people and a runner... he gets a leash.
It felt very true to the spirit of the original Calls we attended, less praise and worship, more prayer. It was intense all day long. Me and the munchkins left after 7 hours, but I watched the stream on God TV, which you can watch for free on your computer anytime... and they will be replaying the Call, so keep an eye out.

Radiant did not play, we just attended and prayed. And actually, that may be why I enjoyed it so much. Being behind the scenes sometimes, you miss the flavor of what's happening on the floor. So that was refreshing and awesome.

Richy woke me up at 11:55 where I had fallen asleep watching the stream on my laptop, and we had a nice quiet Happy New Year listening to the neighbors fireworks and him eating his chili dog.

This morning I said goodbye to my mom for the longest separation we will ever have, at least a few months, maybe longer. I didn't cry... but I feel the gap already. Then I said goodbye to the team and my sister and Nate. And now we're on our own.

This is going to be fun.

Here we are... in such a cute little house with deep snow all around. What the heck is my life? I never even considered moving prior to July... God just orchestrated this.

It was a smooth trip. Toby sang and played his keyboard and talked and watched cars go by and was pretty happy in general. Bean slept most of both drives. We drove 8 hours the first night, and stopped and stayed with Nate's family in Tulsa. Then about a 4 hour drive yesterday, and then a couple of frustrating hours driving trying to find a bank, and the realtors. Finally we got here. It's a pretty, small house. Beautiful wood floors and everything is freshly painted. Toby likes to run the wood floors from one end to the other whilst shrieking. So he's all settled in.

Then it was off to the airport to get Grandma and R2, who had had adventures all day waiting in airports, and getting delayed, and switching planes and so on. All of which R2 thought was VERY exciting. He was so excited when he and I were in the backseat of the van, he was using words and telling me about the airplane and the sky and all of his adventures. When we got to the house, he was really curious about the snow, but me, not so much. Maybe I'll let him play with a little snow today, when the SUN is out.

Now I am cowering in my bed, afraid to face the cold floors and try to find everything. The boys are still sleeping, or frozen.

So there you go. We made it, and today is the first day in the Big Winter.