BigFatOofta

Hello.  Would you like to read about our family's trip to the Chicago area?  Yes?  Read on. First, some disclaimers:  1.  While you might be about to read a whole itinerary of disasters or disappointments, please know that there are a handful of graces and goodness along the way as well.  I plan to write those at the end as well as sprinkled in between.  1a. I also am adding in drama and sarcasm in effort to be able to laugh off said disasters and disappointments. 2. I love my husband and feel so thankful that in the midst of all of the debacles, we remained a tight team.  Ok, here we go:  Friday :  8:15am - leave relatively on time  8:20am - Older two kids start saying "I'm hungry!" and mind you, they'd already eaten breakfast.  9am - Z starts fussing and not consoling or wanting snacks.  For those of you who know him, for him to refuse a puff or mum mum is highly confusing and concerning.  We ju...

I recently read a blogpost a friend wrote, and she was listing some of her current favorite things (if you are reading this, you know who you are, hi and thanks).  I decided to take a rather large step away from my typical flavor of blogposts and do something similar.  I mean, if you find good things, it's nice to share the goodness with others, right?  Ok.  So in completely random order: 1.    AppleWorks Dutch Apple Pie:  I know this is a local place, but hopefully some of you readers are local.  Joshua and I waited THREE years to finally bite the bullet and buy a mini of these, and let me tell you, it was worth the wait!  I would post a picture of said pie, but obviously it has been completely hidden away in our guts by now.  So, I leave you with a memory made with markers.  Don't be fooled by my amazing artwork, it tasted SO much better than it looks.   2.  Trina Turk for Bluesky Planner:  So, I...

Almost asleep. *baby cries*  Nurse 20 min sleep.  *baby cries* Nurse Repeat. All through the night. 3 days in a row. Teething.  I'm tired.  However, I'm not just tired physically.  It seems like all of the health-nut people are making/raving about all these delicious looking "health bombs" or "fat bombs" or "tastes-like-grass-but-it-looks-good bombs."  Bombs, that when a bite is taken from one, the result is an explosion of healthy nutrients in your mouth.    ***see pictures below***   Yeah.  Well, if I were a bomb, I'd be a tired  bomb.  My tired bomb consists of a dangerous mix of no energy, no motivation, anger that I'm tired, anger for no reason, dysfunctional fog brain,  tears about everything, but mostly tears because I'm tired, where just about anything  could set it (me) off. Biting into my tired bomb is ugly. Unhealthy.  I dread the Sarah who doesn't get sleep. I regre...

*Ahem* Let me just start out by saying....I have issues.  Big ones.  Cleaning ones.  Cleaning issues that extend out to extreme organizational nerdiness (or if I'm being honest...also neediness).  My issues are such that if I am not in control of the cleanliness and organization of my living arrangement, my internals do not do so well.  In fact, they can feel so overcome by chaos that I may just want to run away.   I thrive on clean. Organized. Functional...yet aesthetically pleasing...living arrangements.  But, I have another problem;  I have a family.  A family that I love to death, wouldn't trade for anything, find so much joy, happiness and life in.  Oh man, when I get to thinking about them, they are SO worth it, I almost could just stop here and not actually finish this blogpost.  Almost.   ...But issues.   Let me just put out there too, that I am in my waddling walrus point of pregnancy, so that when it co...

I'm ugly....but it's a beautiful thing. :) Disclaimer 1: this is going to be raw.  Personal. Just warning you. Disclaimer 2: If you see a bunch of quotes or pictures from FLYLEAF lyrics, it's because for the last few months, I've been listening to them on my runs.  God has used a handful of the lyrics to really spur me on in digging deeper into my own heart.  No, they aren't super theologically deep, but I'm thankful for the thought their lyrics have provoked... Let me give you a few snippets of my background to flesh out the picture a bit. Most of my life, I have been one of two extremes: 1. Highly praised and favored or 2. Highly assumed, backstabbed or just...the recipient of mean . For number 1, the main things I have heard over and again:  "You're so encouraging, the most humble person I've met, sweet, kind, beautiful, fun..." ... For number 2, I won't go into details, but let's just say my trusting vulnerable hear...