Weird, Wild and Wacky

That pretty much sums up my week...its been absolutely bizzare!  All my schedules and plans have been thrown totally off track this week, it seems.

I'm one of two managers at the gym where I work.  The two of us split the responsibilities and get a LOT of things done each week.  Well, this week the other manager is taking a much deserved week long vacation, so I'm trying to cover some of her work, as well as my own.  If anyone has perfected the art of cloning, now is the time to let me know...I need multiples of me right now!  Today I'll do everything from membership sales appointments to first workouts to inventory and the daily deposit.  Definitely a wild week...

Its also coming down to crunch time for college deadlines.  Tomorrow I have to pay my tuition for my summer class, to the tune of $600...ouch.  Today I have to order my lab coats and name tags.  I ordered yet another book yesterday for fall.  That gives me 4 of the 8 books I need.  The remaining books need to be ordered by mid- July so I don't have to pay extra for rush shipping.

Throw in the fact that my husband is working on a mega church event for Saturday.  We're having our annual Freedom Celebration, which includes a big car and motorcycle show.  Its a ton of fun, but you can see that this is definitely not a boring week.

Yesterday brought major excitement, too, as my baby lost his first tooth.  As I write this (via my Droid X...gotta love technology) I'm waiting for him to get up and discover what the tooth fairy brought.  I love being a mom.  And that ends today's totally random post...  (For the record, one last random thought - I always tell people that my brain jumps from topic to topic - my husband tells me it works in spurts - I'm not convinced he's wrong...lol.)

Where Do You Find Support?

It's tough to find support as a Christian working mom.  Have you ever Googled "Christian working mom"?  I have, and it doesn't get you far.  You'll find a really good website listed first and second, and third you'll find an article saying that a woman's only roles in life should be to get married, have babies, stay home, and "live perfectly."  Even on Christian book websites, shortly down the list of working mom books, you'll find books telling you that it's impossible to be a good mother when you work outside the home.

One of the reasons I wanted to start my blog feature Working with Delight is because of the lack of support for Christian working moms.  There are so many voices telling us we should stay home, but so few telling us how to manage it all when we can't stay home.  I finally decided that if I can't find that voice of support, then I'm going to become a voice, because we all need one.

One of my goals is to compile a resource page just for working moms.  I have some great stuff listed on my resource page already, but I would love to add more!  Please share your favorite websites, books, and more.  Help me compile a list of the best resources out there to support and encourage Christian moms who work outside the home!  I'm going to start with a short list of great resources that I've already found...

1. The website I referred to above, Christian Working Mom - be sure to subscribe to the monthly e-newsletter!
2. For the domestically challenged, like myself - 31 Days to Clean by Sarah Mae - this ebook is only $5, and so worth the money - simple, practical, and very helpful.
3. One of my all-time favorite books, Taking Care of the Me in Mommy by Lisa Whelchel - this book is so full of practical ideas for every mom - I consider it a must have.

Please leave comments to share your favorite working mom resources, or email me at amandablogs79(at)yahoo(dot)com. 

Where I'm From...

I saw this on another blog and was just mesmerized by it!  I love this...you can find more, including the template, here.

Where I'm From

I am from spiral-bound notebooks, from Hershey’s hot chocolate and curling up in a cozy chair with a book.
I am from the crisp mornings, the small house, waking up with the windows open and the smell of fall in the air.
I am from the oak trees, the wildflowers.
I am from Sunday family dinners after church and naturally curly hair, from Benny and Joyce and Rosie.
I am from the worrying too much and working hard at everything I do because it’s the right thing to do.
From “You’ll find someone who loves you because of your sweet personality,” (from a friend’s mom…because obviously she didn’t think I was pretty enough) and “One day you’ll be a great mom because you’ll learn from their mistakes,” because my parents didn’t raise me – my grandparents did.
I am from grace and salvation and love so amazing, saved by grace, loved by my Heavenly Father, made complete only in Him.
I'm from Arkansas from 200 years back, before Arkansas even became a state, and from Ireland and Scotland and England and the Cherokee nation before that, from fried chicken and Mississippi mud cake.
From the baseball games with my dad and grandpa, the hot summer sun, and the cheers from my dad as Nolan Ryan struck another one out.
From curling up in our chilly house with my space heater in my room, roasting marshmallows on a fork while reading books and writing stories and drawing.
From walking country roads and riding bikes on gravel and grass and learning to drive in my grandpa's beat-up pickup.
From walking to the barn as the sun came up to ride my horse, then groom and feed her before breakfast.
I am from sticky albums and boxes of pictures and cedar chests, from the little girl who dreamed big dreams and prayed big prayers and still stands amazed that God did so much more than she ever dreamed of, whose heart is full and happy.

Something's Missing...

Tonight I'm home sick...our oldest son and myself both woke up during the night with a stomach bug.  He recovered quickly.  Its taking me a little longer.  So while they're at church tonight, I'm home sick.  The quiet house has given me time to think.

I've been thinking about things I love, things I'm passionate about, that I've let slip away because of busyness.  One of them is cooking.  Maybe its because all I've eaten today is dry Fruit Loops and chicken noodle soup, but I realized that I don't have fun in the kitchen anymore.  I don't experiment or try new recipes.  I don't pour through foodie magazines anymore.  I miss it.  Its time for a change.

I've been working hard on couponing, and now I'm dabbling with meal planning a month at a time.  One thing I'm going to include is one night a week to try new recipes.  I'm going to rediscover my love of cooking.  Since I'm home sick, tonight's the perfect time to start on the stack of Bon Appetit magazines a friend gave me...

The Fab 5

#1. My go-to ______ is .... (pick any 5 things... go-to movie, go-to snack, go-to book, go-to song, go-to vacation spot... ANY 5 things!!)

#2. Your "life" interview in 5 sentences. (If someone asked WHO are you... tell YOU in five sentences.)

Drumroll, please...here it is, my "fab 5" go-to's...

1. Any book by Ted Dekker - if I only have time on a vacation to read one book, it's one of his.  I've been reading him for years, and he still keeps me on the edge of my seat, still surprises me with the twists and turns, and has me totally addicted!
2. Starbucks skinny caramel macchiato - it's as good as the real thing, with only 140 calories in a grande (160 in the venti...you know, for those really tough days when you need an IV drip of caffine...)
3. Sabrina, my all-time favorite movie - it always makes me smile
4. Blogging - when I'm stressed, when I'm worried, when I'm bored, whenever, I love blogging!  I love reading them and writing my own.
5. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, especially the mini's...there are very few things in life that coffee and chocolate (especially chocolate wrapped around peanut butter) can't make better.



T-Minus Four Weeks and Counting...

It's coming much faster than I expected it to...four weeks from today I'll begin the killer summer class in the dental hygiene program - Orofacial Anatomy, Histology, and Embryology.  My books arrived, and so did my first patient, although I won't actually work on him until the fall...

For the record...yes, he is upside down.  In my excitement, I snapped the first photo I could and posted it on Facebook, where it was pointed out to me...and where the director of the dental hygiene program saw it.  She thought it was hysterical.
I'm excited.  I'm terrified.  I'm wishing these last four weeks would last forever, and I'm wishing they would hurry by.  My life and my schedule will make a radical shift when that first class day rolls around.  My family's financial stability will take a leap when I walk across that stage and get my diploma in two years, ready to launch a new career.  My first career, really - not just a job, but a lifelong pursuit.  I want this so bad.

I'm waiting.  I'm praying.  I'm hoping.  I'm shaking in my boots.  I'm ready.

Momma Trauma

Last weekend, I experienced something traumatic, something no woman should ever have to go through.  It was an experience that will be burned into my memory forever.  I went swimsuit shopping.

We live an hour from the beach, but we haven't been there in more than two years.  It dawned on us lately that we're crazy.  We used to plan vacations to the beach as a special treat, and now that we're so close, we don't go.  So we decided that next weekend is the perfect time to spend a day in the sun.  The only problem with that is that I didn't own a swimsuit.  I haven't owned one for a long time.  Having children inspires me to do a lot of things, but squeezing my "baby pooch" into a spandex suit is not one of them.

Last Sunday, I headed to my favorite store (Ross...I love a good bargain!) and chose a few to try on.  I decided to go with a two piece "tankini" style that would cover as much skin as possible.  (I found a shorts-style wetsuit that I thought seriously about, but I'm not sure my hubby and kids would want to be seen with me if I wore that.)  I took the suits and headed to dressing room.

Words cannot describe it.  Do they intentionally design swimsuits to hug the ugliest, flabbiest areas of your body?  Ugh.  I think I burned calories just trying to get into the awful things.  I stood in front of the mirror thinking back to my skinny, 120 pound college body.  Back then I thought I was so ugly in a swimsuit...too bad I couldn't go back and trade bodies.  Two babies and thirty-plus pounds later, that college figure looks pretty good...

I was brave.  I was strong.  I picked a cute little striped halter top with black bottoms.  I'm going to find some cute shorts to wear over that and cover a little more of my "pooch."  I'm going to stroll down the beach with my baby flab and my ghostly white legs and have fun with my kids.  If I get jealous of the skinny, tan college kids strolling the beach with us, I'll just remind myself that it's nothing that 15 years and two or three kids won't change...

Too Much Means Too Little

Do you ever feel just too overwhelmed to blog?  Lately I've been much more absent than I'd like to be.  I have so many ideas rolling around in my mind that I have a hard time narrowing it down and getting it on paper...I guess I should say getting it into cyberspace.

I'm going back and forth again, thinking of going back to blogging just two or three times a week here, and reviving my other blog, Faith Lived Out, which I started a few months ago.  Sometimes I want to blog about the craziness of motherhood, other times I want to dig deeper, and sometimes I feel torn about which one to focus on more.  I wind up doing what I've been doing recently and not focusing on anything.

So what do you think?  What would you like to see more of on Confessions of a Wannabe Supermom?  I would love to hear from you!

Summer Goals

My summer looks a little different than most, because mine ends when my college classes start on July 11.  (By the way, my summer is Orofacial Anatomy, Histology, and Embryology...also known as the OMG class.  Rumber has it if you survive this, you'll graduate.  Fun, huh?)  I actually started on my list a few weeks ago, with a post called 9 Weeks to Get It All Together. 

1.Master the art of couponing - okay, I may not master it, but I'd like to figure it out enough to cut my grocery bill in half every week. All that extra money can help me pay for books and supplies.

• I am on my way to becoming a coupon queen!  This is the goal that I'm doing the best on.  I'm building my stockpile, and I think I'm about to see my grocery bills drop.  Best of all, the whole family is getting involved - my husband and boys are shopping with me, helping me look for coupons, and finding deals in the papers and on the shelves.

2.Work through Sarah Mae's "31 Days to Clean" ebook - we're going to have to be super-organized to manage this, and I want my house ready.

• This one's still a work in progress...a slow work in progress...with a lot of setbacks...but we're getting there.  I think.  Maybe.  Ummmm...check back at the end of the month.

3.Finish the Bible in 90 Days challenge - I am woefully behind, but I know I can still catch up and finish on time.

• This one needs a sound effect...the sound of Taps playing softly.  This goal is dead.  I love the idea, and want to do this in the future, but I just have too much going on right now to give this the 45 minutes to an hour of daily reading time needed to accomplish it.

4.Read Ted Dekker's new book, The Priest's Graveyard, because he's my favorite author and it will be the last book (other than textbooks) that I'll be able to read for a long time.

• Okay, this is the goal I'm doing best at.  Done. :)  It was awesome.  Nothing like a great novel about a priest/serial killer to make a girl happy.  (I'm so not your typical pastor's wife!)

5.Have a yard sale. It won't be very big, but again, any extra money will help. My supplies are going to cost double what I expected.

• Not even close to being ready...not even sure I have enough stuff...we'll see.  I might settle for selling a few things on eBay.