Of Clothes and Close Calls with Cats

Clothes and Cats, two reasons I’ve made trips to Roseville in the last three days.  Vastly different motivations, I know, but both trips had happy endings, so I thought I’d share.

Tuesday I went to visit my favorite clothing thrift store: Clothes Mentor.  I should be more specific, I went to visit the one and only thrift store where I buy clothing for myself.  You see, I love buying things at thrift stores.  Things for my house, books, vases, furniture, clothes for my kids, it’s all good!  But I just can’t stand digging through piles of random clothing to try and discover (if I’m lucky) one thing I might possibly wear.  I guess maybe I’m too picky.

But Clothes Mentor is different.  They only carry brand name items that have been in stores within the last one or two years.  The store is clean and bright and so well organized.  Everything is by type of item (jeans, pants, t-shirts, long sleeved shirts, dresses, etc) then subdivided by size and then they hang it all in order by color, which is fantastic.  I love it.  If I’m trying to locate, for example, a black t-shirt in a size medium, there’s just one little place in the store to look.

Here’s my loot from Tuesday’s trip:

One pair of Apt. 9 jeans, one GAP t-shirt, one Banana Republic top, two Limited tops, a Stone Mountain purse and a pair of (totally didn’t need them, but couldn’t resist) BCBG red suede shoes.  I think I did pretty good for $75 and change.

For anyone who wants to check it out, here is the link to the Clothes Mentor website.  They’ve apparently got fifty-seven stores in twenty-three states, so there may be one near you!

Today was my second trip to Roseville.  This one wasn’t something I was planning.  It all started when I was getting Lydia out of her crib in the morning.  I glanced out the window and noticed some movement in the corner of our yard.  It was one of the neighborhood cats who appeared to be batting at something.  “Oh good, he’s got a mouse,” I thought, then looked a little closer and realized it was a little bird.

Now I knew as I ran down the stairs that if Peter had been home, he would have thought I was being silly, but honestly, it wasn’t like the cat was hungry.  The cat has loving, attentive owners who feed him on a regular basis.  He didn’t need the poor baby bird for nourishment, so I intervened.  I scooped up the cat and sent him off in the direction of home, grabbed a box and an old towel from the garage and took the little bird (who had an obviously injured wing) into the house.

The girls were very interested in the baby bird, but agreed to let him rest while they ate breakfast and got dressed.  Once everyone was ready, Lydia, Alethea, Dee and the bird had a brief meet and greet before we all piled into the car and headed off.

Our destination?  The Wildlife Rehabilitation Center on Dale Street.

My sister’s friend told me about it a while back.  They take orphaned or injured wild mammals (including rodents), birds and reptiles.  While the pictures in the lobby of the Trumpeter Swan and the baby beaver were a lot more impressive than one little fledgling Yellow Bellied Sapsucker (which is what they tell me our feathered friend was), it was still an exciting little excursion for me and the girls.  During the ride down I got to answer Alethea’s bird questions: “Are the birds in the sky dirty too? Or just the one we found?”  and “Why don’t birds wear shoes?”

So now you all know where to find deals on designer duds as well as a place to take injured squirrels, all in Roseville, Minnesota.  Aren’t you glad you stopped by?  And why don’t birds wear shoes, anyway?

Call the House

I just dropped my iPhone into a can of paint.  It sank right to the bottom…. very quickly.

This ranks right up there with the time my pink Motorola RAZR went flying out my car window onto the interstate outside Philly, although at least this time there aren’t PA State Troopers to witness my shame.

The phone isn’t working at the moment.  I’ll let it dry off and see how things look in the morning.  I’ve been telling Peter for months now that I need to go and get a new phone, but I’ve been putting it off because I kind of resent spending money on electronics that will just become outdated anyway.  Barring a miracle though, I’d say that now I really actually need to go get a new phone.  I suppose that’s what I get for painting at 2am.

So anyway, if anyone needs to get a hold of me… call the house.

To Seattle and Back Again Part 1

Call us adventurous, call us crazy, but on Saturday morning the 10th we hopped on a Seattle bound airplane with the girls for our ‘spring break’ vacation.  We thought the early morning airplane ride might be a lot for the girls to handle, but surprisingly they did pretty well.   Since food is one of the only things that keeps Lydia’s interest for long periods of time, we let them both eat as many snacks as they wanted.  Consequently, we went through almost an entire bag of Teddy Grahams, but that along with books and a nap for Lydia and a Clifford DVD on Daddy’s laptop for Alethea kept the girls busy for the duration of the three hour flight.

After we arrived, we got our rental car, picked up a pack ‘n’ play from Peter’s cousin’s house and then headed to my aunt’s house in Tacoma to get settled in.  We had dinner at a fun restaurant in Puyallup called the Powerhouse.  The building was constructed as a power substation for the Puget Sound Electric Railway in 1907.  Good food, cool atmosphere.  We recommend it.

Alethea didn’t eat much though, and we discovered why shortly after we arrived back at my aunt’s place.  “I need to throw  up,” she told me as I was getting the girls ready for bed.  And thus began the worst night of vacation ever that involved not one, but two sick little girls, multiple bedding changes and not much sleep.  Uggg…. “Tomorrow will be better,” I kept telling myself.

Sunday morning came and the girls were done being sick, so that was good.  The weather was overcast, but not pouring rain, also good, so we decided to try Point Defiance Park.  We originally thought we might visit the zoo there, but Alethea was fairly adamant that she didn’t want to go.  Keeping in mind the $30 in wasted admission fees that preceded our disastrous tour of the Nashville Zoo on our last vacation, we nixed the zoo plan and went for the free Owen Beach instead.

Owen Beach, Point Defiance Park, Tacoma, WA

The beach was nice.  Gorgeous scenery.  I’m sure with better weather we could have stayed all day, but it was in the low 40s and we hadn’t brought mittens for the girls, so once they got whiny, we decided to try to find lunch.  At first Alethea balked at the idea of another restaurant, but finally she conceded that if we could find a quiet place that served peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, she’d be okay.  A quick consultation with our GPS revealed that we were less than two miles from a place called the Antique Sandwich Co.  I pulled out my cell phone and with a brief call confirmed that they indeed served PB&J.   On the ride over, we wondered what parents on vacation used to do before Garmin and iPhone and crossed our fingers that the Antique Sandwich would be quiet enough for Alethea’s taste.

It was perfect!  Not only was it quiet, with PB&J on the menu, but it had a stage that was covered in toys!  The girls played happily while we waited for our food and then we dug in.  Alethea didn’t eat much again, but Lydia thought the gourmet peanut butter with all natural raspberry jam was pretty doggone good.

Antique Sandwich Co, Tacoma, WA

After lunch we headed back to my aunt’s house for some much needed naps.  That evening we ate at my aunt’s house and got to visit with my aunt and uncle, as well as my Grandma Frances who lives with them.  We were really glad to be able to see them and for my grandmother to get to spend some time with the girls.  Although I enjoyed visiting with my family, I sensed that Alethea wasn’t having a blast.  “Tomorrow will be better,” I told her, “We’ll do something really fun!”

Monday arrived rainy and cold.  That further cemented our initial plan, which was to visit the Children’s Museum in downtown Tacoma.  After talking it up to Alethea and telling her how much fun it was going to be and how there were going to be lots of things for her to play with, we drove downtown, found a place to park and walked over to the museum, through the front doors, only to discover that one feature of the museum we hadn’t known about was Member’s Only Mondays.  Groan!  After declining to purchase a $100 annual membership, we headed back out into the rain, to make the six block trek to the History Museum.  Alethea decided to punish us at that point by refusing to be carried, so we trudged slowly down the sidewalk, to arrive at the State History Museum’s locked doors marked “Closed Mondays”.  To make a long story short, Peter ended up carrying a screaming Alethea eight blocks through the rain back to the car, where we buckled in two screaming girls and drove to a playground where we mused over the fact that we’d spent a bunch of money on plane tickets to find ourselves on a wet playground in 40 degree weather while our friends back home basked in an un-Minnesota-like 70s and sun.  “Next year, we’re doing Florida,” we agreed.

The one bright spot on Monday happened that evening.  It really was wonderful watching my grandmother play with the girls.  She truly enjoyed them and I’m so glad they got to see her.

Alethea, Lydia and Great Grandma Frances

Monday was our last day in Tacoma.  “Let’s get an early start,” said Peter that evening. “I’ve checked on everything we want to do in downtown Seattle and it’s all open on Tuesdays, so if we get packed up fast enough we can visit the aquarium and then spend some time walking around Pike Place Market.”

“Sounds good,” I replied.  “Tomorrow has got to be better…”

O Elise, Where Art Thou?

You probably haven’t been thinking this, but just in case you were, sorry for not posting much lately.

I have to admit, I’ve been a bit blue for the past week and a half.  Not for any particular reason.  I mean, everything is fine, nothing tragic to report.  I think I do know what’s bugging me though…

A week and a half ago Sunday was Lydia’s last day of breastfeeding.  I thought that after being a pregnant and/or breastfeeding mom for the past three years and seven months straight through, it would feel really fantastic to be just me again.  I thought I’d be flying high.

I feel completely out of whack.

I read this post by another mommy blogger though, and it really helped.  I mean, not helped me magically snap out of it, but helped me realize that I’m essentially going through withdrawal.  Apparently my brain is still craving the high created by the lovely ‘bonding’ hormones that your body produces when you feed your baby.

So if it’s not enough that Lydia was mad (and I mean MAD!) when I dropped her last feeding, apparently my body is punishing me too.

All that’s left to do is to keep telling myself what I’ve been telling Lydia.  We’re all done.  I’m sorry you’re sad, I know it’s hard, but we are all done.  And really, it’s for the best.

 

The Hallmark-Florist Industrial Complex (a rare post by Peter)

OK, so that title might get my login for the blog deleted, but I wanted to say Happy Valentine’s day to my talented and stunningly beautiful wife Elise. I am at work and short on pictures but I did find this one from our engagement photos 6 years ago:


(don’t let her tell you otherwise, she still looks that good)

Happy Valentine’s day, babe. Thanks for loving and supporting me unconditionally and for being such an awesome mom for our girls. I love you so much.

Before You Know It…

Do you ever end up somewhere that you never meant to be?

Peter and I did recently.

Here’s what I mean…

This summer I decided to participate in our neighborhood garage sale.  “Hey, Mom, feel free to bring over anything you want me to sell,” I told her, “And if you want to grab any of my stuff that’s still sitting around your house, you could bring that over too.”

Turns out there were lots of things I had yet to claim from my parent’s house.  Also turns out that my mom had just been waiting for an opportunity to unload it all.  Two carloads of stuff later, our third garage stall was full of boxes.  Ooops!  Me and my big mouth!

That was June.  Fast forward to November, Peter was sick of having a mess in his parking spot and was worried that snow would start flying before he was able to get his car in the garage again.  We spent most of a weekend sorting through my pre-marriage treasures as well as everything else that had accumulated over the summer.  I tried to get rid of a lot, but it was cold and there was just so much stuff, so some of it (okay, many boxes full), ended up coming inside to our basement stairwell landing for further processing.

Although Peter could finally park in the garage again, for some reason, he didn’t seem to think this was exceptional progress:

Now to find a place for it all.  Naturally, our basement storage area came to mind, but I realized within two seconds of opening the door that nothing else was going in there without some serious decluttering:

So my to-do list went from, Clean Out Garage, to Clean Out Stairwell, to Organize Basement Storage Closet.

But wait, the chain doesn’t end there, so stay with me.  As Peter and I were discussing the best possible way to sort and store everything in the storage room and stairwell, we considered the fact that we have a whole section of empty cupboard space in his office.

At first I thought maybe I could get all my gift wrapping supplies into the cupboards, but as I tried to make sense of it, it became apparent that the cupboards weren’t wide enough for rolls of wrapping paper, there wasn’t a good way to organize gift bags, and I simply had too much wrapping stuff to make it work.  “If only they hadn’t built this little bump out wall, we’d be able to fit in some tall storage,” said Peter.

“Maybe if there isn’t any duct work or anything hiding in there, we should take it out someday,” I said.  Then it occurred to me, “so before we talk about what we should with all our stuff right now, maybe we need to figure out what our vision is for ‘someday’.  Then we’ll know what’s going into the storage room ‘for now’ and what will always be stored there.”

So that’s when we sat down and realized that in a few years, we’d like to have a family computer for the girls to use too.  When that happens, we want it to be in an open space that can be easily monitored, which means definitely not anywhere that can be behind a closed door.  So ideally, in half a dozen years, we’d have a homework area in the family room.  And since it makes little sense to have a kids homework area in our current already-a-little-crowded family room, when we have a big office with lots of storage and extra work space right next door, we decided… drum roll please… to knock down the wall between the two spaces and have one big family room/homework area/play space!

Someday, that is.  Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

I know it will be expensive and will involve new flooring, paint (including ceilings), lighting, and well, basically everything will have to be replaced, but I’m so very excited about this!  I think one big space will be much more conducive to having a real family gathering area in our house.  And it’s so fun to dream.  I want a nice crafts/homework area and Peter has plans for a big TV and possibly a pool table.  We’ll see though…

Anyway, that’s how Peter and I started with cleaning out the garage and ended up deciding to knock down a wall in our family room!  Like I said, somewhere we totally didn’t mean to go.

Has anything like this ever happened to you?  It’s sort of habitual for me I think.  My projects are always more involved than they seem to be at first glance, although this may be the biggest snowball yet!

Sleep Deprivation

When it rains, it pours…

This week, Alethea is going through nuk withdrawal, has caught a nasty cold, and seems to be having bad dreams at night.

Lydia has five or six teeth that are on the verge of coming in and I’ve been attempting to wean her from her 5am feed.

Put all together, it means that I’m getting up every two to three hours each night.  Ugggg!  It’s like having a newborn again!

I sort of feel like I could do this…

… except that it would kill my neck.  And I’m certain that, unlike Lydia, I would not have been able to sleep through Alethea shouting in my face, “Wyd? Wyd? You look funny, Wyd!”

Anyway, that’s my excuse for not writing more this week.  I’ve got a couple posts that I’ve been cooking up, and hopefully I’ll get those posted soon.  Thanks for sticking with me!

Brain Dump

No common thread holding my thoughts together today, so hang on for a random ride…

* After a week of on again off again naps, it appears as though losing the nuks has made Alethea also lose interest in taking an afternoon nap.  Very sad.  But I think we have to do it, since one of the days Alethea actually did take a good nap last week, she also stayed up until 11:15pm playing in her room that night.  Seriously… Peter and I went into her room and said, “Goodnight, we’re going to bed.  Try to keep it down in here.”

* Lydia’s vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds.  One of today’s words was a good baby classic: ball (or as Lydia says it ‘bah’).  The other one really took me by surprise.  Tonight, when she was on her changing table, I pointed to her name above her and said, “L-Y-D-I-A, what’s that spell?  Lydia!”  Lydia got a big grin on her face, clapped her hands and said, “Id-ee-ah!”

* My friend and I were asked to do a presentation about home decor for the ladies at our church.  It’s flattering and somewhat nerve wracking to think people want my ideas about decorating.  “They do realize that our resumes include degrees in Biology and Philosophy, not Interior Design?” my friend asked me.  At least we get to be unqualified together…

* Alethea and I worked on making some valentines today.  I know it’s a bit early, but I got her some heart stickers and she was begging to use them.  Anyway, after making one for Gramma and Poppa and one for Grandma and Grandpa, I asked her who she wanted to make one for next.
“Jesus, I think,” she said.  Then, as she was sticking stickers onto Jesus’ valentine, she asked me, “Does Jesus have eyes?”
“Yes, Jesus has eyes.”
“Does Jesus have ears?” she then wondered.
“Yes, Alethea, Jesus has eyes and ears.  He’s a person.”
“Oh, I didn’t know that,” she said. “I’ll give Him this valentine then.”

* It feels like our social calendar is really full.  A lot of people getting married and having babies and generally wanting to hang out.  Oh, and have a date with my best friend Saturday morning to get pedicures together.  Absolutely. cannot. wait.

* Okay, one last Alethea funny from today and then I’m done.  Promise.  This morning I was verbally taking stock of our day’s progress as Alethea ran around in her underwear.  “Two girls bathed, two girls with fingernails clipped, one girl dressed,” I said.  Alethea sped past then stopped and proclaimed, “And one girl cold!”

And with that in mind, I’m going to go snuggle under my down comforter and pretend that we’re not going to have sub-zero temps the next few days.

Stay warm, my friends!

Days of Christmas Craziness

I know posts have been few and far between around here lately.  We have been BUSY!  So to catch you up on all our happenings over the last two and a half weeks, I’ve written a little ditty and it goes like this…

On some days of Christmas Craziness my true love gave to me:

Twelve Floats a Glowin’
Alethea, Lydia and I all got to experience our first Minneapolis Holidazzle Parade together this year.  I know, I know, I grew up in the Twin Cities and had never seen it in person before.  Shame on me.  It just wasn’t part of our family traditions growing up.  I don’t know whether it will become part of ours, but it was cool to see the girls’ faces light up as they watched the stunning floats go by.  This is Alethea and Poppa (Peter’s dad) waiting for the parade to begin (not sure why Alethea looks sunburned, the weather hasn’t been that nice lately):

And here’s Lydia making everyone laugh while we were waiting:

Ooooo lights!!!!

Eleven Singers Singing
I was in charge of directing our church’s Christmas choir again this year.  I decided to try my hand at arranging some of the carols we were going to be singing.  “How is the arranging coming?” Peter asked me several times in November.  “Haven’t started yet,” I told him, “but I don’t think it’ll take me too long.  I’m not going to do anything too fancy.”  Turns out even not fancy arrangements are a lot of work.  Especially when you forget to save one before you go to bed and then wake up on Saturday morning with two hours until choir practice and find that your computer has rebooted and you’ve lost eeevvvveeeerrryyythiiiiiing!  Three original arrangements (one written out twice!) and four rehearsals in two weeks makes for choir overload!  Peter told me that next year I have to be done in July or he’s pulling the plug on my directorship.  We’ll see.

Ten Students Playing
Tuesday was the Christmas party for my piano students here at our house.  We had a great time playing music bingo, eating junk food and performing Christmas carols for each other.  Alethea enjoyed getting to interact with all the ‘big kids’, though she was a little confused about what kind of party it was.  She kept walking up to various students saying in a cheerful voice, “Happy Birthday!”

Nine Presents for Peter
… and other assorted gifts.  Lots of Christmas shopping has been done and while I have done as much as possible online, there still have been a few trips out to brick and mortar stores to pick up this and that.  Peter and I even braved the MOA to get Lydia her Bitty Baby Doll from the American Girl Store, though afterward Peter commented that we should probably have just paid to have the doll shipped rather than deal with the crowds.  Bah Humbug!

Eight Dozen Cookies
The girls and I were invited to attend a cookie exchange on Monday with some friends from church, but due to Extreme Choir Week (see number eleven above), Sunday night was my first chance to bake anything.  So, I stayed up late baking my Coconut Macaroons and Chocolate Andes Mint cookies.  It was totally worth it though because not only did I end up with a nice variety of cookies for my piano party, I got to spend an entire morning chatting with other moms.  I really need to do that more often, it was such a blessing!

Seven Monkeys Climbing
Okay, so it’s not seven monkeys, it’s just one, but it feels like seven!  Lydia is now climbing on everything in sight, including, but not limited to, the stairs, step stools and Alethea’s child sized rocking chair (which is now in the basement because Lydia kept falling off of it).  I can’t seem to get anything done because I’m constantly rescuing her off of things and the day I finally put the gate up at the bottom of the stairs so I could clean the kitchen, she sat there and cried for 10 minutes!  You heard me right, easygoing, not bothered by anything Lydia wept like her poor little heart would break just because I wouldn’t let her climb the stairs without me.  Sigh…

Would you believe that she got up here all by herself?

Six Gifts from Santa
One of the great things about our neighborhood is that every year the ladies do a Secret Santa week early in December.  This year I got five lovely gifts left on my doorstep through the week and then Saturday was our brunch and Santa reveal, where we ate a potluck meal and exchanged our final gifts.  I had a good time planning a gift theme for my recipient (snowflakes!) and thought my Santa did a really good job picking gifts for me.  Alethea had fun going to the door each morning to retrieve my gift for me off the doormat.  She especially liked the Tuesday gift, which was mini chocolate bars, but then on Wednesday when she pulled the tissue paper off of pretty paper napkins, she said in dismay, “But it’s not food!!!!”  I guess you can’t please everyone.

Five Sets of 20 Cards
My photo cards from Snapfish arrived and all 100 of them are currently sitting on my counter in envelopes, stamped and addressed.  My letter is written and copied.  I just need to get the letters stuffed and envelopes sealed and they’ll be headed to the post office for mailing.  How glad am I that I bought stamps in November so I have zero trips to make to the postal counter?  SO GLAD!

Four Assorted Parties
Happy Birthday again to my nephew Deacon and my sister-in-law Leah!  We enjoyed celebrating with you!  The piano party (number ten above) and a football and pizza gathering with church friends rounded out our yuletide celebrations thus far.

Three Prescriptions Filled
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been to the pediatrician’s office in the last few weeks, but I do know that we’ve had three rounds of antibiotics to combat ear infections, one for Alethea and two for Lydia.  I wish we could just get healthy, but they’ve both got horrible colds again and after a couple terrible nights with Lydia, we’ll be going in for an appointment this morning.  I really hope it’s just a cold and not another ear infection, otherwise we may be looking at tubes for our baby.  She just can’t stay on antibiotics for weeks on end.  It does horrible stuff to her digestive system and that makes both of us cranky!

Two Rooms Decked Out
My holiday decorations are done!  There are a few touches in the kitchen, my office and the main floor bathroom, but I’ve concentrated most of my efforts in the living and dining rooms.  I haven’t had a chance to get pictures yet, but Lord willing, before the end of the week, I will post my final decor shots for you all to see.

And a Gorgeous Balsam Fir Tree
I’m pretty sure we found the finest tree ever grown in Minnesota for our home this year.  It’s perfect!  And we had a terrific time going to cut it down too.  We’ll, at least some of us did.  Lydia had a hard time sitting up in the sled and Alethea didn’t like being squished!  The adults in the group just about died from laughter as we watch Lydia channel Ralphie’s little brother Randy from A Christmas Story:

After tree cutting comes tree decorating though and the girls liked that much better:

Alethea, naturally, took her ornament hanging task very seriously and did a nice job of getting each one to stay on the tree.  This is the face of utter concentration!

And as you may have predicted, Lydia thought her job was to go around and pull down all the ornaments Alethea was so carefully placing:

We did finally get all the ornaments to remain on the tree and Peter and I both agree that it is the finest tree this family has ever had.

Ho, ho, ho!

So that’s what we’ve been doing lately.  It seems like there are never enough hours in a day, but clearly we’ve managed to cram some stuff into the hours we do have!  How’ve you all been?  Busy too, I bet!  We’ll, I’d love to chat, but we’re off to see our pediatrician.  Have a happy Christmas Eve, Eve, Eve today! Later y’all!

An Attitude Check

I saw this illustration the other day and I just had to laugh:

This is so me!  In fact, I told Peter, “I totally need this on a bumper sticker.”

I really can jump to the absolute worst possible conclusion in any given scenario.

Like earlier this week when Alethea was refusing to eat and was complaining all day long that she was ‘So tired!’  And I start thinking, is it possible that my sweet little daughter is depressed?  Or could it be something worse, like cancer?  Worry, worry, worry.

Or like how I’ve been feeling so unintellectual lately.  With my days consumed with diapers, meals and errands, it hardly seems possible that I actually have a B.A. in Philosophy.  I feel that I could be becoming boring to my husband and unable to carry on a conversation about anything other than my children’s eating habits and personality quirks.  I feel insignificant and wonder if others think I am too.  Worry, worry, worry.

Last Sunday in church our pastor referenced the Fruit of the Spirit in passing during his sermon.  It really was a good sermon about a whole other topic, but my mind wandered a bit at that point and I started doing a mental Fruit of the Spirit checklist.  I gave myself a passing grade on a few, but that ‘joy, peace, patience’ combo really was convicting.

Today I gave it some further thought and here’s what I decided… Is all my worrying squashing my joy and stealing my peace?  Most definitely.  Is my lack of joy and peace resulting in a diminished capacity for patience with others, especially my children?  Yes, I think it is.

Do I need an attitude adjustment?  For sure!

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” – Matthew 6:34

“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” – 1 Peter 5:7

Apparently I need a different bumper sticker: Anxiety Girl! Able to cast all her cares on Jesus in a single throw!

Seriously, how cheesy would that be!?!?

A better idea perhaps, being more deliberate about making sure other activities and commitments don’t crowd out my daily time of prayer and Bible reading.  I always feel so off kilter when I’m not spending time learning and growing in my faith each day.

During this Christmas season, I am resolved that I will not let the business and the fun steal my time alone with God!

Too long for a bumper sticker, perhaps, but I think it’s just what this Anxiety Girl needs.