Little Clowns!

In the past, my kids have tried various circus acts....clowning, trapeze artistry (flying off our swings on their bellies---not always intentional), tightrope walking (jumping around on my last nerve), even lion taming (when I send them in to wake up their dad in the early morning hours when I've forgotten that he took the day off & wants to sleep late). But today really takes the cake.

Samuel was sent to his room to make his bed & straighten up the room. Sarah came into the kitchen moments later & whispered for me to come look in Samuel's room. This is what I found.

Oh yes. My son had stripped one mattress & balanced it between the two beds in his room to test & see whether or not he could jump on it & have it hold him up. WHO KNOWS what gets into his brain.

It only took one jump from him before the girls got in on the action.

And it was pure luck that got this shot. Savannah thought it was hilarious too---those are her legs.

Of course, he had to attempt a cannonball. Check out that (blurry) form!

After the cannonball, the Circus Announcer (me) called an end to this act & demanded that the little clown get back to work.

(NOTE: No injuries occurred...no broken teeth...no konked heads. Whew!!)

I love this stuff!

I've seen several companies that make this beautiful hand-stamped jewelry & each time I see it, I go ga-ga over it. But it's all way out of my price range, so I ooohhh & aaahhhh and then have to walk away. I would love to have a necklace with my kids' names on it like one of these.



Now is my chance to win a $100 gift certificate from The Vintage Pearl....and if you go look at this blog post, you could win, too! Check it out HERE!

Slim Fast giveaway

Check out this great give away over on my friend Courtney's blog. (Click "Courtney" to go to the blog post where you can enter.)

The List

I, along with roughly eleventy-billion other (mostly) women in America are reading THIS book (above) right now. I know I've got that number correct because I've seen about that many posts on Facebook & mentions of it on blogs I read. Plus there's the whole Bloom Book Club doing this book right now. So anyway, lots of people are reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. A month or so ago, a precious girlfriend of mine asked me if I'd like to join a book club at her house & that we would be reading this book. I leapt at the chance because I'd heard so many amazing things about the book.

Fast forward about 2 1/2 weeks. I got the book & began to read it. I'll be honest. The first 3 chapters were hard for me to read. Very, very hard. And I don't mean that the content made me squirm. I mean it was like a 2nd grader trying to read Shakespeare. In the dark. Written in a foreign language. I tend to be a very logical, concrete thinker. And while I am excessively analytical sometimes, I analyze things from an emotional standpoint. The author of this book turns all poetic & flowery & classical literature on you when she is thinking things through. So while I really understand thinking things to death, my brain just doesn't operate like hers so I was left scratching my head & having to tear the sentences apart word by word & pause to absorb what on earth she was saying before I could move on. It was very slow going. I felt a little bit like I was walking through thick mud to work through those first few chapters. If I had bought the book to read on my own, I would've quit before I finished those first few chapters & sold that baby on half.com or amazon. But I'm glad I didn't.

When I reached chapter 4, it all started falling into place. The author began talking in a nearer-to-East-Texan-language so I started grasping it better. I find that the further I get into the book, the more I see that the author & I have a lot in common. While our life stories aren't necessarily the same, we see things in the same way. Her style may still be way over this small town girl's head, but I am really enjoying the book now.

The basic essence of the book is teaching the reader to shift your focus from daily life to intentional thankfulness for every little thing....seeking out things to be thankful for....LOOKING for blessings & positivity in every moment of your day. Naming SPECIFICS & not just saying "thank you for my husband"...but rather, "thank you that my husband has a job, thank you for his tenderhearted nature, thank you for his vehicle that takes him safely to & from the places he needs to go, thank you for his soft brown hair that I like to stroke when we're snuggled in bed each night...and so on". Basically, changing your perspective in a very intentional way so as to create a lifetime of thanksgiving & recognition of God's love for us in even the tiniest details. When you do this, it means that you wake up every morning looking for things to be thankful for and in doing that, your outlook on everything changes. Everything becomes a blessing. There is a lot more said throughout the book, but that's the basic idea.

Last night I was able to go to my first of the book club meetings. (It was the 3rd week they've met, but the first time I've been able to go.) The author challenges every reader to create an actual list of blessings in your life, to physically write down items 1 at a time, until you have a list of 1000 things you're thankful for. It might take a month or it might take a year. What she says in a video over on the Bloom book club site (linked above) was that people have written to her & said they finished their list, but they were so changed & effected by it that they didn't want to stop, so they were continuing on!

And so....my list is beginning. I was thinking that I'd post it here, but then decided that I'd end up having some items on the list that are personal that I'd rather not share with the entire world. Instead, I'm going to CVS in the morning & will buy a small spiral notebook to begin my list in. I can't wait!

If you think you can trudge through the super poetic literary style of the first few chapters, I'd invite you to check out the book too!

the faith of a child

If you've been reading my blog long, you know how much I LOVE preschoolers. They have my heart & soul 100%. I spent five years in a classroom with them full time and if I could afford it, I would go back IN A HEARTBEAT. I love my job now with my sweet teenagers, but my heart will always be in a classroom with 3-5 year olds. Sure, they try my patience sometimes, but I absolutely adore them anyway! Watching them grow, seeing them change, hearing their ideas, being a part of their lives, growing relationships with their families.... oh my soul. I'm telling you, folks ...it makes my heart flutter just thinking about it. Little guys & gals bless me in a way that nothing else does in this world.

Matthew 11:25 I praise you Father, Lord of heaven & earth because you have hidden these things from the wise & learned and revealed them to little children.

When I quit teaching preschool this past Fall, I was soooo happy to know that I could still get my preschooler "fix" on Sunday mornings when I co-teach the 4 & 5 yr old Sunday School class at our church. I've worked in the nursery or preschool classes at various churches all my life. When I was a kid, the church where I grew up allowed the kids to start helping out in the 2-4 year old classes when they were 10, so the first Sunday I was allowed, I jumped on that opportunity and I don't think there's ever been a full year since then that I didn't help out in some way or another with little ones.

Matthew 18:3 Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

But I will be honest. This year, I have been stretched.

We have a little guy in our class who I will call "C" (to protect his identity) who has Cerebral Palsy. He's in a wheelchair. His arms and legs don't function normally and he's not entirely verbal. Before he promoted into our class last Fall, I talked to his mom & asked her to tell me what C was capable of & what I should expect in working with him. I didn't want to short change him if he was able to do something, but at the same time, I didn't want to stress him by expecting too much of him. I just really wasn't sure what to expect because I had not been around C much at all, other than passing him in the hallways of the church, and I've never worked with a special needs child before.

To be honest, I've turned down 2 jobs in the past because they involved working with special needs kids. Don't get me wrong. I don't think anything bad of those children and I certainly don't think I'm too good to work in that environment, I just knew at the time that it was not my calling. I believe some people really are better equipped to handle special needs kids. I have 3 sweet girlfriends who work in our school district's PPCD class (Preschool Program for Children with Disabilities) who I deeply respect. They've all told me how much they love it. And while I still don't feel that I am called to working with special needs children 40 hours a week, I have sure had my heart tugged that direction this year because of sweet C!

Throughout this year, I have been blessed beyond measure by C. His ever present smile, his expressive eyes, his silly antics, the way he makes his point known without using words. I love squeezing playdough with him, helping him eat his snack each week, seeing how the kids interact with him. I never knew how much one kiddo could wow me!

Matthew 19:14 Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.

And so, this past week when our church preschool coordinator emailed us the lesson for this week, I immediately thought of C and how we could teach this lesson without hurting him or making him feel funny. You see, the story was about a paralyzed man whose friends took him to Jesus to be healed. In the story, the men realize that their friend can't go to Jesus by himself, so they pick up the mat he's laying on & take him to the place where Jesus is teaching. When they get there, the place is so crowded that they can't get in the door, so they climb onto the roof, cut a hole and lower their friend down to Jesus. Jesus heals the man & he is able to get up & walk out of the building! You can read about the story HERE.

While we definitely wanted to convey the miracle of this story to the children, we desperately wanted to make sure that hearing this story didn't hurt C. We didn't want him to question why that man was healed but he hasn't been. We wanted him to understand that we all have needs to bring before Jesus. We wanted the class to know that they can help a friend by "taking him to Jesus"...whether for healing or whatever other needs.

Psalm 139:14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

And so, when we sat the children down for storytime, I silently whispered another prayer for God to speak through me in a way that ministered to all of our children, but especially to C. We decided ahead of time how it would go. I briefly told the story so that all of the kids could hear about the miracle Jesus had performed in healing the man but then shifted the focus to growing the faith of all of the little hearts in our room. It may have worked differently in the other classrooms at our church this morning, but in our room, it was more important that we go a different direction. I asked the children if any of them knew anyone like the paralyzed man in the story...someone whose arms or legs don't work. I found it a little funny & so very sweet that it took a few names being spoken before someone mentioned our classmate, C! {Isn't it fun to see how children look past a disability to the point of not even noticing it? I think most of us adults are way more concerned about it than they are!} When C's name was finally mentioned, we talked about how we could take him to Jesus, too! We talked about whether or not we could carry him up onto the roof of our church & cut a hole to lower him down, but the kids brilliantly pointed out that our church's roof is steep & his wheelchair would roll right off. ha ha! Those silly gooses! So I asked them how else we could "take him to Jesus". That's when it hit them....they could PRAY for him!

We talked about how God answers prayers in 1 of three ways. Yes, no or wait. We talked about how we all REALLY want God to give us a "yes" answer every time, but sometimes when He tells us "no" or "wait", it's because He has a very important reason for making us wait or not giving us what we want. I didn't want them to pray for C & then open their eyes & expect to see him running circles around the room...but at the same time, I wanted them to know that their prayers were very important and that God CAN HEAL if that's what He wants for that person's life!

Psalm 17:6 I call on you, my God, for you will answer me. Turn your ear to me and hear my prayer.

As we closed our story time, the kids gathered around C. Some of them wanted to pray & some didn't. Some wanted to lay hands on him and others didn't. We let them do whatever they were comfortable with. Tears came to my eyes as I listened to the words of those sweet babies praying for their friend, C.

"God, please help C's legs work one day."
"Jesus, I pray that you will help C learn to walk on the ground like me!"
"Thank you for C! Thank you for making him my friend. Please heal him like the man in our story today."
"God, give C peace if he can't walk."

Matthew 18:6 If anyone causes one of these little ones to who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for them to have a millstone hung around their neck & to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

Their little prayers went on like that for a while. As the tears brimmed in my eyes, I grabbed my cell phone from my pocket & snapped some pictures.





Group hug!!!

Beautiful C, I hope you know that Miss Liz loves you. Maybe more than you'll ever realize. You've taught me FAR more this year about special needs children, about myself, and about God than I have taught you. You ooze joy from every pore of your little body and I pray that I can show just a smidgen of that to everyone I meet the rest of my life. Thank you for being who you are. And yes, I do pray that if God wants to, one day you'll walk. But if that's not what God has in store for your life, I hope you know that you are PERFECT exactly the way you are right now! I love you, little guy!

Cheapening grace

Lying

Gluttony

Premarital sex

Bitterness/anger

Cheating

Stealing

Gambling

Alcohol/drug addiction

Lust

Extra-marital affairs

Hate

Porn addiction

Homosexuality

Impatience

Having a bad attitude

Disobedience

Murder

Cursing

Disrespect for your parents

Gossip


Which one of these sins did Jesus die for? (Answer: all of the above!)

At what point did we, as Christians, have the audacity to decide which sins were forgivable & which ones weren't? Was there a conference call from Christ where He shared which ones He shed His bled for? Did I miss an email or memo? Did it go into my spam folder? Somewhere along the way, we decided that some sins were alright & we could overlook them but others were just too big for us to let go of. Even those that have been repented of & left in the past by the sinner....we just can't leave them in the past. Somewhere along the way, we decided who could come to our churches & who couldn't, based on the number of tally marks WE placed in the sin column of their scorecard. I hate to see Christians turning people away from the Church because they have "one of those problems"....or to see a sinner treated as if they are filthy & dirty because of their sin.

Newsflash: without the blood of Jesus...without His righteousness, we are all filthy.

Don't cheapen grace by determining which sins are "ok" & "forgivable". Don't remove the power of His blood.

When Christ hung on the cross, He died for all of our sins. Every single one. Not just a few select sins. All of them. All of the ones you've already committed & every one you will commit in the future. (remember, when He died for you, all of your sins were in the future!)

Unless He's had a change of plans along the way that I missed, it's not up to me to decide which ones will be allowed into my church building.

(Note: I am not trying to say that a person who is living in habitual sin should not be mentored & nudged to repentance or dealt with by Biblical church discipline.)

Five Question Friday

1. Have you ever testified in court? For what?
Does the municipal court where you pay for a speeding ticket count? Yeah, I didn't think so either. Outside of that, no. I've only been inside a court room twice. Once when Larry was scheduled to testify against the man who assaulted him when he was a "street cop". The other time was when we were given legal custody of A&K. (I didn't have to speak for that one.)

2. Do you still have your wedding dress?
No. We sold it after the wedding. I saw no point in hanging it in my closet for a hundred years when I knew I'd never wear it again. (in case you've never seen it, here's a pic where you can see most of it)

3. Is there a special place you like to go when you're happy, sad, stressed, etc.?
Most often, it's right here at my computer. I write. But if I need to get away from the house, I go for drives at night when I can roll down the windows & listen to the crickets chirp, or I drive out to the lake & just watch the water lap up against the shore.

4. If you have kids, do they sleep with you? If you don't have kids...will you let your kids sleep with you when/if you have them?
If you'd asked me this 15 years ago I would've given you an adament NO. But like sooooo many other things, I changed my mind after I had kids. All three of my kids slept with us as babies. None of them got into our bed with us at night with the intention of staying there all night, but they always ended up in our bed before the night was over. And I loved it! I never dreamed that I'd be a co-sleeping mama, but I wouldn't trade those times for the world!!!

Our oldest was such a HORRIBLE sleeper & wanted to eat every 30 seconds (give or take...ha ha) so she ended up in bed with me out of desperation for some SLEEP! When she slept snuggled up to me or laying on my chest, she'd sleep longer and I was all about whatever it took to sleep when she was little! The other 2 kids ended up sleeping with us a lot too. After I'd feed them, I just wanted to get back to sleep, so I'd just cozy up to them & enjoy their sweet little warm bodies up against mine. To this day, all three of my kids are still snugglers. Once in a great while, one of them will crawl into bed with us to talk or after a bad dream or whatever. They all like to lay in our bed & talk through hard topics now & then (during the day) too.

I know lots of families who are opposed to it but it worked for us.

5. Do you watch late night TV?
No.

13 months, 396 days, 9504 hours, 570,240 minutes

I sat in the living room recliner & watched a Scooby Doo video with her in my lap. Neither of us were really watching the video. We were both sobbing quietly. Watching the tears run down her cheeks & seeing her chin quiver broke my heart. Again. She clung to me. I couldn't help but breathlessly whisper "I love you, I love you, I love you" over and over with my lips pressed against her sweaty forehead. I wanted to say so much more, but it was the only thing that seemed to matter at the time & it rolled off my tongue. Neither of us wanted to say goodbye, but it was time. B peeked in the front door & motioned that they were ready to leave and I had to nudge K. She reached up and hugged me one more time. I didn't think I could let go. She blew her nose & wiped her tears one more time & I walked her to the car.

A was already there, standing by the open door talking to his new 'brother' inside the car. Ready for a new adventure, he stood by the door waiting for K to get in. He looked over his shoulder & waved, hopped into the car & shut the door. That was it for him. That's how Reactive Attachment Disorder works. Thirteen months of pouring into him emotionally, spiritually, financially, mentally, physically. Fifty six weeks of laying beside him in bed every night, talking, giggling, remembering & praying with and for him. Three hundred ninety six days of showing him what a healthy family looks like. 9504 hours of hoping things would get better. Countless tears. Lost sleep. Pants worn thin on the knees from all the time in prayer. Hours & hours in the counselor's and psychiatrist's offices. Numerous scriptures taped to mirrors & walls around the house. Hundreds of people praying for us. And in that one moment, a wave over the shoulder was all he needed to say goodbye. And my heart broke. Again.

The previous Sunday, we'd reached our breaking point...the moment we realized that it was time. We had long hoped that time would never come. We knew we weren't safe anymore. We were all in danger if he stayed. Threats of burning down the house & stabbing my husband in his sleep were harsh realities....but hearing K's cries "Help! He's hurting her! Come quick!" that Sunday morning was when I knew. I walked in to find him beating Savannah over the head & face with a metal can. It was horrifying. The can was what he'd spotted on the way to her room. What if he'd seen a baseball bat? Or a knife? The outcome would be completely different. I had to physically remove him from her and he still came up swinging. She was cowering in the corner of the bed, trying to get away from him. Two minutes earlier I'd broken up an argument over something silly...who got to use the toothpaste first or something equally trivial...and this was his response as soon as I walked away. Unfortunately this wasn't the first time. SO many times we'd seen this sort of response to minor situations. He'd never grabbed a weapon before, though. And usually a command to STOP from across the room was enough. Not this time. The problems & his rage were escalating. You could see anger & rage in his eyes every day now.

The brutal reality of needing to move him somewhere else threatened to rip my soul apart. Every maternal instinct wanted to love him through this...to be there & help him rebuild his little heart....to hold him while all the hurt & loneliness & rage poured out of his little body. But at the same time, I knew I had to protect the other six people in the house, myself included. I can't even begin to put into words the mixed emotions that brewed in my spirit that morning. I sobbed. I wailed. I screamed at the Heavens. Why? Why are we doing this God? Why did you trust them to us only to have to take them away? Why were we given so great a load if you knew we couldn't bear it? Why did you let any of this happen? I hated having to face the decisions ahead of us that morning. I cried until I had no more tears and then I cried some more. There is a pain in disrupting an adoption that no one can understand or describe until they've lived it. Hearing people say "You're doing the right thing." helped. A lot. But still, the anguish & grief of coming to the point where you realize "I am not a good enough mom to fix this" is horrific. As moms, we all want to love our babies through their problems. We want to figure out the right resources and give our kids everything they need to get through tough times. Our instincts say to nurture the little ones in our charge, even during the hard times. And to reach a place where you have to say "Sometimes, love isn't enough"....oh my soul, there are no words to explain the heartache.
As the kids drove away that day, March 16, 2007, I collapsed into my husband's arms. I could barely stand upright. He held me and we cried together in the front yard for a while. Our families left to go home, also in tears. They knew it was the best thing for all of us, but they knew how badly we all hurt. Our children waited inside the house, reaching out for comfort & hugs as well. And my heart broke. Again.

It's been 4 years this Wednesday. I haven't seen A & K since the day they drove away & waved goodbye. There have been phone calls and letters. In the early days, hearing K cry and tell us she wanted to come back killed me. I wanted to climb through the phone & pull her into my lap and hold her and keep her safe in my arms forever. But I had to the strong mama & tell her that I loved her and that it was best for her to stay there. And then I had to hang up & cry while my heart broke. Again. As time has gone by, the phone calls are less frequent and the cards and letters hardly ever get answered.

I know we made the right decision. I don't regret it. But then again, I regret everything. I know we did what was right and I know that God had the kids here for a season to pour every ounce of Him into them that we could. I know that they will remember their 13 months here. I know they will remember putting a white cross in the ground for their mom and releasing balloons at her grave on the anniversary of her death. I know they will remember the day they moved away and I pray...oh how I pray....that they will always know how much I love them.


This year, as I see the date looming on the calendar, my heart breaks. Again.

But I choose to bless the name of the Lord anyway. It is my choice to dwell in the grief or move forward and thank Him for the 13 months we had with A&K....for the 396 days of powerful prayers coming from all over the globe....for the 9504 hours of hope....for the 570,240 minutes of grace. If I could go back in time & do it all over again, I would. Even knowing the anguish & pain & heartache of how it would end. Even knowing that my heart would be broken. Again. Ya know why? Because HE takes us in. Again & again & again. And we break His heart. Over & over again. I can't imagine NOT showering them with that kind of love for 13 months....396 days....9504 hours... In the grand scheme of my life, that's not very long.

Use it up!

You can't take it with you. Your 'stuff', your time, your money, your smarts.

When you're done, you're done with it all.

Use it up now.

Live every moment all the way. Don't hold back. You never know if you'll get the next breath, the next minute, the next hour.

Don't live half-way. Jump in headfirst. Make memories that will last.

Use your "good dishes". Wear the 'fancy clothes' & the 'special' perfume. Do it today.

It may be all you have.

Oh yeah. I've got it bad.

Spring Fever, that is.

March 7-11 was Spring Break for us. We go back to school on Monday after having a week off. And you know what? It was such a tease....now I can't wait for summer!!!

I didn't even realize that I was getting to that point in the year yet. You know what time I'm talking about. The point where you start counting out days til summer on your calendar. The point where you start thinking of what you're going to spend the summer doing. The point where you start dreaming of the kids running through the sprinkler & popsicles melting & running down your elbows. The point where sidewalk chalk looks enticing and the smell of freshly mowed grass makes you smile.

This week was full. Very, very full. Every single day I was out of bed by 7:30 or 8:00 at the very latest with a long list of errands & things to do around the house. I ran til midnight or later most days & then crashed when I hit the pillow again. But you know what? Even though I spent a hundred hours in the car running around getting things done, I did a lot of other things too.

I ate cupcakes from a local gourmet cupcake store. For the heck of it. Because we happened to drive by. (and they were fabulous!)

I layed across my bed & read from a new book in the middle of the day.

I watched a movie with the kids.

I sat & admired the sunshine coming in through the blinds & casting an afternoon shadow on my bedroom wall.

I ate junk food & drank soda nearly every day. (Ok, so maybe this one wasn't something to be proud of. I'll definitely have to do better on this one during the summer!)

I drove past the snow cone stand & checked to see if there was a sign up telling when it will open for the summer!

I changed my blog background because it reminds me of summer.

I talked with my neighbors in the front yard & stood in the street barefoot to watch my kids ride their bikes up & down the street.


I will be honest. I'm not the least bit thrilled about having to change my clock tomorrow night before I go to bed & lose an hour of sleep, but I know that once I do, summer is right around the corner & soon enough I'll be enjoying my days at home again with my kids. I was a stay at home mom for nearly a decade before I went back to work & I guess I will always be a stay at home at heart. The perk of my job is that beginning this summer, I'll actually get paid to stay home & hang out with my kids! And boy oh boy am I looking forward to it!

Summertime here we come!!! See you soon!

Five Question Friday

1. Do you know what your REAL hair color is?
Yes! I've never done hair color of any kind because I know I'd never keep up with getting it touched up every 6 weeks. I have a hard time getting in for a haircut/trim every 6 months!!

2. Do you plan ahead for summer, or fly by the seat of your pants?
a little of both

3. What is your favorite meal to cook?
The question is better asked: What do you NOT like to cook? I cook about 6 out of 7 nights a week.

4. Do you get offended by not receiving thank yous?
Yes & no. I don't necessarily 'need' to be thanked but when you put forth a huge effort and expense & get blown off or never even acknowledged, it can be a little frustrating. It sort of depends on the situation.

5. How did you meet your best friend?
When I think of my best friends, 2 ladies come to mind....closely followed by about 100 others. Honestly, I don't have many friends that classify as only 'acquaintances'. When you become friends with me, we become part of each other's lives and I get attached to you! I am SO blessed with a lot of really close friends!! But for the "main" 2....

Kristi & I met at church when we were little.

Bethany & I met online in the late 90s.

I don't know what I'd do without either of these ladies! I talk to both of them nearly every single day by phone, text, email, facebook or something!

Spring Break 2011

I must admit, this school year has gone by pretty fast. It seems like we just began the year and it's already time for Spring Break! We don't have any fascinating & exciting plans for this coming week, but I know we will be spending lots of mornings sleeping late & just enjoying our break from work & school.

What are your big spring break plans?

Five Question Friday

1. Have you ever forgotten your child in a store or at school?
No. Thank goodness. But I've had horrible dreams that I have!

2. Where did you go on your very first date? (Like...first first, not first with your spouse or current significant other!)
The very first "real" date I went on was with a boy named Chris. We went to a Mexican restaurant that no longer exists in our town and had a platter of stuff that we loved, so we got the same thing over & over the rest of the times we went there. It was a big circular dish with all these different "fixins" on it. They gave you a big container of warm tortillas & you could fill them in whatever way you liked---chicken, beef, veggies, etc. No idea why I remember the particular dish, but that's what we had.

3. What's your "silly" fear? (We're not talking water and heights.)
I don't really think it's silly, but I guess other people would feel differently. And I suppose "fear" isn't really the right word for it, but mice/rats/rodents give me the creeps. We're talking some serious heebie-jeebies. We used to live in a very old house that was constantly infested with mice. I hatedddddd it! I was soooo glad when we moved out of that house!!!

4. Confrontation: do you cause it, deal with is as it comes, or run far far away?
run! I hate conflict, hate to confront people. In fact, I'll let people walk all over me for a LONG time before I finally boil over & stay something. And if I'd just said something from the get-go, I wouldn't be looked at as the evil witch, but I don't. You'd think that by now I would've learned that lesson, but I really just hate to have conflict with people!

5. Wood floors or carpet?
I love how wood looks & would enjoy having more of it in our house, but for now we have mostly carpet. It's gross and I know it, but we can't afford to replace all our floors, so we just have to live with it.