Last week I got a gym membership. Crabby has been my middle name and I heave heard from several people that exercise really helps. Also, I jiggle in places that should not jiggle. General crabbiness and jiggly-ness are inversely proportional to each other, it’s scientific fact. Look it up.

I decided to try the body sculpt class at the gym. Lots of weights and stuff. I heard it was good and I had a friend taking the class and she could keep my accountable. Perfect. Tuesday comes and it’s time to body sculpt. I am pretty excited actually. I get to the gym early to reserve a spot and see a couple friends. I am feeling pretty good about myself. That is until I looked down at my feet and notice I am wearing Uggs and in my backpack I know there are no shoes. I even told myself to put shoes in my backpack the night before. I don’t generally wear shoes so leaving the house without them did not seem all that weird. It’s about 10 minutes before class starts and by now my friends in the class know and I feel like an idiot. They said just do the class in your socks. Well, I didn’t have any of those either. What kind of moron goes to the gym without shoes OR socks!!

I called my husband to see if he could bring me shoes when he took Brie to preschool and he thankfully said he would.

That fire was put out for now. I went to get my water bottle out next and (of course) it’s not there! Some where between my car and the inside of this one room I lost it. What in the world!!  This is the point I would like to tell you about why it sucks living in a small town, there are too many people around who know you to witness you being a complete disaster.

The good news is that the class started I had shoes and found my water bottle (it was in the car). I body sculpted and it felt good. Screw you exercise you can throw me crap but I’ll throw it right back! HA!

Then I left my water bottle and shampoo stuff at the gym. Whatever. I redeemed myself the next day. I went to and from the gym without incident.

Which brings us to today. I decided to skip the gym. I am actively trying to avoid getting sick. Normally I am not such a germaphobe but I have my reasons this time. I decided to ride my bike on my bike roller things. Easy. I get everything all set up and start to ride. Not 2 minutes later my bike starts shifting gears all by itself and then…wait for it… the chain breaks and falls off. Sheesh.

Ok Universe, you win. I’ll watch Korean Dramas and drink coffee instead, but next week I’ll be back!!

A while ago I did a post about folding fitted sheets. I learned the trick to making them perfectly square (or rectangular) and I thought it was my civic duty to share it with you. The other day my best friend sent me this:

 

And its true. I have magical powers. I can fold fitted sheets but I am the good white witch and I would like to share my powers (I say powers but there really is only one power, the folding of the fitted sheets). Don’t be scared. You can do it. Just become one with the sheet. You and the sheet have already slept in the same bed together. As a matter of fact I have it on good authority that your fitted sheet loves you and only wants to be folded into a perfect square. Don’t disappoint your sheets.

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Judging by the public outcry for help in this subject, fitted sheet folding, I decided to show you how it’s done.  Hold on to your seats because it’s going to be a wild ride.  Are you ready?  Do you have your fitted sheet to practice on?

You don’t have yours yet?  OK hurry up and get it.  I’ll wait…

Ok off we go!

First we have our fitted sheet.  It’s unbridled shape has been known to cause nightmares in certain countries.  Never fear, this sheet can’t beat you.  You’re about to beat it into a small bloody little stump.  That’ll show ‘em.

Go to one end of your fitted sheet and turn the corners inside out.  Only on one side though.  Fitted sheets in the wild are not used to the gentle touching, they are used to being violently shoved into a corner without any warning.  This will throw them off guard.

Then ever so gently, so as not to wake the beast, fit the inside out corner into the right side out corner.  The two should fit in perfect harmony.  The sewed corners should be touching in a delicate ballet.  First on one side…

…then the other. You should now have a fitted sheet folded in half with the corners tucked nicely into each other.  Look!  The fitted sheet is taking well to being broken!

Now you need to straighten out the top and bottom by pulling here and there and folding slightly on the sides to make a cute little square.  Look at the control, the finesse!

Ahhhh…the sweet smell of order.  The next thing you want to do is take one side and fold it to the middle.

Do the same thing on the other side so they meet in the middle.  It’s like synchronized folding.  Same on both sides.  Your fitted sheet is so happy right now not to be in little ball that it may just break out into a song and dance.  It happened to me my first time.  Really.

Now fold the sheet right down the middle where the two sides just met.  Perfection.  Grace.  Beauty.

I usually like to start from the bottom on this next part.  Take a section of sheet about 5 or 6 inches long and fold it up, about the size you want the finished shape to be.

Then fold it up and over again….

…and again…are you getting excited??!

And the last fold to get the perfect little square or rectangle.  Now you have tamed the beast.  You can cross this off you bucket list and teach future generations this most important skill.

Now go, fold and be happy.

I started to play the banjo a few months ago. I really really enjoy it a lot. I have also learned that I have a disease called stage fright. I stink when I try to play in front of someone (or something). A few people have asked to actually hear me play so I recorded a video that took 900 takes. Even this one is not great but I had a little distraction sitting behind me. Truth be told, even in there wasn’t a little distraction behind me I still would have been lousy. Oh well, I still think it’s great!

Sorry if I offended anyones ears. I warned you it was lousy

This past weekend has been a life changer for me. Justin began working very closely with The Exodus Road a few months ago. We were at church one Sunday and this couple comes up on stage and tells us about these children trapped in sexual slavery and how it was their mission to get them out. I was completely moved. Through  fog of tears I looked at Justin and said, “We need to give these people all of our money.” Well, we didn’t have a ton of money to give at that point so Justin suggested looking for ways to volunteer.  Well that turned into nearly a full time job for Justin. All that to say, Justin is is SE Asia right now helping to rescue these girls.

I will confess I had a seriously bad attitude about Justin going to SE Asia. I was mad because he was going some place exotic and warm and I was stuck being home where currently the temperature is about -4. I was so pissed that every time even a word was mentioned about his upcoming trip I would completely shut down, my insides would curdle and I would be raging. I even asked him to be sensitive to my feelings and quit telling me all about his trip. Yeah, it was that bad.

The day Justin left I was depressed. Not because he was gone, I was actually happy to have some time completely to myself. I was depressed only because he was going somewhere amazing. I tried to put myself in check by praying and telling myself he’s going in to brothels and bars and he’s gathering evidence to get trapped girls out. Well, I am sorry to say none of it worked. I would see pictures on facebook or a comment here and there and scroll passed it as fast as possible so I didn’t have to experience the rage and pain. It was selfish, but I didn’t know how to combat it. Prayer did not seem to be working (that could be because I was only preying half heartedly, I kinda liked being mad.)

So now it’s Sunday morning, I am at church and get a text from Justin. He had just gotten out of a bar and he told me what he saw. I started to get teary. He told me about a woman he met a second later and the tears came flowing. My husband was in a brothel talking with a girl, a prostitute. She was holding his hand and he said he just felt like she needed a brothers love. I was one step below ugly cry. I couldn’t worship, I couldn’t stand, I was a mess a freaking mess. I was hurting for this girl and all of the other girls, I didn’t care that he was holding the hand of a prostitue, I was actually so thankful he was there for her. I was feeling like the worst person on the planet because I was being a baby about having to stay home. It was awful. My heart was hurting more that I can begin to tell you. My insides were a mess of emotions being pulled in 20 different directions.

At that moment, all of my jealous feelings were gone. I could care less wether or not I ever made it to SE Asia. God showed me a part of his heart that morning and it was powerful. It put me in check for sure. I see what  bright light my husband is in such a dark place. What he is doing is amazing. My husband is a man with a soft and caring heart, he is the person to show these trapped girls love. They need a man who is a brother, who is safe.

I am so proud of what Justin is doing. I am proud to be his supporter. I believe so much in The Exodus Road.

This, my friends, is a life changer for me.

A few weeks ago we had new neighbors move in. We were worried, as one never knows who might be living next door for the next 10 years. We looked out our windows to check them out and we were pleasantly surprised that the new folks were our age!! That never happens in this neighborhood! About this time, just down the street, a pipe burst and we were put on a boil order. We had no idea if our new neighbors knew this so we took it upon ourselves to get a case of water and tell them about the water. It was also our excuse to go and visit them.

It turns out they did already know and had already bought about 6 cases of water but, it’s the thought that counts right? Anyway, as we walked up on to the porch we spotted a bag that said Chamonix on it. This is the cute little mountain town in France Justin and I took the kids to about 5 years ago. This was a good sign. Long story short, our neighbors are awesome. Ken is a major mountain man and Dorothy is pretty outdoorsy too so they are very easy for us to get along with. As if it could get any better right?

Well, here’s the kicker, they LOVE our girls. About a week after we met Ken and Dorothy, they invited us and the kids over for a baking day! Dorothy let the girls do most of the work and she didn’t even get frustrated! I told her she had super powers.

Then, they got a puppy and we get to watch him during the day while they are at work. Moose, the puppy, is totally satiating my need for a puppy. I love him. The other day Dorothy texts me and says that they would be happy to watch the girls for us since we have been watching Moose. I chuckled to myself thinking I had the better end of the deal. Moose is easy, no crying or temper tantrums, kids on the other hand can talk back. She assured me that my kids were great and that she would love to watch them.

We gave them their opportunity to watch the girls just four days later. Justin and I had a gingerbread house making party. One of the best parties of the year if you ask me. Great people and candy. Ken and Dorothy happily agreed to watch the kids. A day before they were supposed to watch the kids Dorothy asks if they could take the girls to the top of Pikes Peak for donuts. What? Seriously? Yeah, they took our kids to the top of Pikes Peak!!!

This was their first fourteener and they loved it!

They couldn’t stop talking about how great the views were.

I really love that there are cool people out there that can love on my kids better than me sometimes. They truly like my kids and it makes my heart feel so good.

The whole crew! Dorothy told me that she was just using my girls as an excuse to eat some donuts. I told her that I don’t even need an excuse to eat donuts. That’s probably why she is in better shape than me.

What I didn’t know is that Ken and Dorothy also bought the girls a little souvenir at the top! They each got a little pin. Ava said Dorothy collects pins from the tops of places she summits so she thought the girls should have one too. I can’t even tell you how awesome these people are.

Have I also mentioned that they love to come climbing with us and the kids. They are seriously the only young couple without kids that seems to like hanging out with us AND our kids.

For dinner, Ken and Dorothy made fondue for the girls. FONDUE! I would have made Mac and cheese or popped in a frozen pizza.

To be honest, I was a little jealous the girls got to do all of this stuff while I was at the gingerbread party. I almost wanted to skip the gingerbread house party.

So yeah, we love our neighbors and you should be jealous that they are not your neighbors because they are awesome.