Anything and Everything

Our neighbor has been doing major renovations to his house, and does it look good. It's a rental, always has been, but the rentees never kept it up. It was in serious need of rebuilding and my neighbor has been doing an awesome job. He's a good guy.

I fixed my bike yesterday, (told you I was a handyman, well woman) not that it was a big deal... it didn't have a tire or breaks. I'm still working on the back brakes, so I know it will work before I get on the road with it. I much rather use back brakes to front, since you tend to flip over when using the front brakes. I have enough non-living things against me, I don't need to make my bike an enemy by default.

Cassie looks so cute in her too small sleeper, I ended up changing her into cute pj's since after a year old, I don't have footie pj's until 4 or so, and by then, they really either hate or love them, you know? So on that note....

It's Christmas today.

I've been waiting for September, not only does the paycheck come on the first, but it's Jeff's and Mom's birthday this month. That's not the only reasons, Laurel goes to preschool, and I'm trying to get excited about the fact that summer is over. Summer is my favorite time of year, although fall is nice too.

It's means it's time to start thinking about the holidays (yuck) and that doesn't thrill me too much. I rather be random when it comes to holidays. Like it is Christmas today. That would be fun, so unexpected and unpredicted. Totally random.

That would make it much more fun for everyone I think. Random Christmas. I mean why not? No one knows when the birth of Christ was anyways.

It probably won't go over too big with those traditionalists I guess. But I'm pretty sure you could post it on the news and radio that it's officially Christmas today, so it gets to almost everyone.

Then we could give the 25th of December back to the pagans to celebrate. It was theirs to begin with anyways.

Random Christmas. That's hilarious. It cracks me up.

Almost more than the beheaded chicken I see every day when I run. I've got to get a picture of that.

Mel the hermit

Quite honestly I haven't had much to write. I either feel like complaining or getting on a soapbox, and quite frankly, I refuse to let myself do it. For the simple reason that I don't want to complain, though I feel like it. I doesn't accomplish anything, and I could (and am) be doing a lot more constructive things with my time.

So there I stand.

Hey wait, didn't I just step up on a soapbox about not complaining and being on a soapbox??? It's one of those Mel-isms of my life I guess.

I made it around the 2 1/2 mile "block" today. I thought I would start jumping and shouting when I got to my road, but I figured the neighbors wouldn't want someone whoopin' and waking them up now that they are retired and allowed to sleep in later. It just wouldn't be right.

I've been questioning God. Mostly His existence. I never seem to know when I'm doing the right thing, or God's will or anything. I spend more time wondering if I am doing the right thing, and quite honestly I don't have anyone to talk to about it. I usually just hash these things out on my own. I'd rather hide that I just don't know, than admit my stupidity in questioning the existence of God and His will. It's a pride issue. I know it. And I'm just too afraid to seek counsel. I'll be honest here.

It seems like I am suppose to be waiting, learning and developing my character right now, I just don't know where to turn besides reading myself to death, I think it's deeper than that. Anyone I would want to go to, has died or moved on, and I'm sure there is a reason for it. Maybe to make me have to work to find someone else to help me out. To break out of my shell and ask someone I don't trust for help.

It all comes down to people. My total weakness. I'd rather just write everyone off and become a hermit. It's easier to deal with me, and just me, than anyone else. And yet I know it's better for me to struggle with people than to be without them. That whole fellowship thing God talks about in the bible. We were meant to interact. No matter how much I hate it.

It's a wonder that I got married at all.

I went to a baby shower last week and my family went with me. My family was invited, that wasn't the deal; we were just planning on that I would go by myself, and Josh would stay home and watch the kids. Well it ended up being a really great thing for Josh and the girls, but every time I sat down, I would have to get back up again, mostly for Cassie. I got to talk a whole 2 minutes I think, and after several tries of getting involved I gave up. I'm not ready to have my girls running free especially Cassie who would go into the kitchen and have it destroyed in minutes. I'm not willing to deal with that. It doesn't matter to me if other parents let them run free, and give it a few years and the girls will be just fine running around. Which turned out to be a good thing that I gave up and left early, because I walked in the front door to Jeff on the phone and walked back out to go to the emergency room with him.

Which by the way, big thanks to Walters. You guys are great.

And Jen, wow, what a trooper. I figured she could handle it, but she really surprised me when she called to let Josh know what was going on. It shouldn't have surprised me but it did.

So God has a funny way of doing things. If I would have gotten involved, I wouldn't have been home for my brother. And really what is more important?

And then again, maybe He just caused it to happen to Jeff so I wouldn't get involved and lose track of the important stuff.

Either way, it doesn't even matter.

I'm just disappointed with myself, that's all. I keep asking for more chances and keep screwing up those chances. I'm just not ready to give in to this yet. Call me stubborn. So what have I learned???

God exists.

Be patient.

Keep the massive problems coming. I can take it.

Oh and I'm stubborn. Did I mention that?

My today.

Yet another interesting day.

We went to church and I was in the walker room, which had a non-stop crier during the second half of church. I thought I was going to die after looking up at the clock and seeing it said 10:10, everytime. And no, the clock hadn't stopped, it was just going that slow.

So the clock finally rolled around to 11, and we got home, and I actually got a nap! Yes, a full-fledge, (though kid screaming) nap.

The family and I went to a baby shower today, and Laurel had a blast running around with Haley, another 4 year old (to the day, actually, they have the same birthday.) and it was so cute watching them hold hands and have fun. Laurel is so big.

Then we got home, and I turned right back around out the door to go to the hospital. Jeff twisted his ankle at a softball game and passed out. I teased him as much as possible, we rated the nurses and I got to tell my funny story of the day.

Which really is only funny to me and Jeff, so it must be a Kingsbury thing.

M&M's

Not much today. I cleaned out some of the garage, and started to get Josh's tools out and in the pole barn, which when he got home, we put it back together out there. He was pretty excited about this project.

I have been somewhat unsuccessfully trying to clean out the garage. Well it wouldn't be so bad if we didn't have enough crap to fill a house that is already filled with my mom's stuff. So it sits in the garage in hope that something will break and brought in for use. (Yes this has happened pretty often. We have our coffee pot in, our microwave was for a while anyways, deep fryer, that is before it got fried, and so on.)

I cleaned out boxes and boxes of kids stuff, and rearranged things so we have one "too big for the girls" box. I got out Laurels school clothes. They weren't school clothes until this week, but hey...whatever.

That's it for me, been too busy thinking about boxes than what's for dinner. That is a lot easier for women to forget food than men, I've noticed. I guess that could be a good thing, instead of me sitting here eating Twinkies all day.

I really don't like Twinkies, so moot point. But M&M's always strike my fancy.

I just might be your friend forever if you get me a bag of M&M's.

The lost shoe

Last night we went on a walk. Not only was it a walk, but we went for 3 to 4 miles, which just about killed Josh, I'm sure. But I wanted to try the route out, to make sure there were no dogs, that the traffic on the road wasn't too heavy, and so on. It's a really pretty route, I love living in the country.

Anyways, after we got home, we realized somewhere along the way we lost a shoe. I walked up the driveway and no shoe. So we got the girls all settled down and in bed and decided to take a shopping trip. On the way, we drove slowly down the road, looking for the shoe and found it a mile down the road. Still intact.

Good thing, that was Cassie's only pair of sandals.

Preschool

I thought I was going to freeze my rear off this morning. I decided to not take a jacket out to run, since I get all warm anyways, and the jacket just ends up hanging at my waist like a dead weight. Well that's what it feels like when you're running anyways. And I was glad I didn't have it when I got to my halfway point.

We signed up Laurel for preschool, and actually I wasn't even going to sign her up until I talked to (who used to be) our neighbor, and she signed up her 4 year old to this preschool. Quite frankly, I left it up to God, because I wasn't sure how I wanted to handle it. Certainly preschool isn't divine intervention, but I knew if something came up we could figure it out from there. So I got the numbers to call and I knew the person who was the contact, so we talked for a little while, one of the bonuses of living in a small town. I went to school with her daughter, and she actually remembered me. Which I think is a good thing, since in elementary school I wasn't a bad kid hardly at all. Minus the whole kicking another kid thing, oh and punching a kid because he tried to punch my brother and...well okay, so I could have been the bad kid....I was just very protective, that's all. Call it my aggressive nature.

So anyways, I signed her up and I know she isn't ready to go to school for 2 days all day yet, but I think it will do her a lot of good. She's been having trouble going on Sundays to the kids class and has been sitting out with me in church. And yes, I make her sit through all of church, we don't sneak out before the music. She knows it was her choice to be there, and that she is suppose to be quiet. Anyways, she's a good kid, but by going to church with me, she isn't interacting with kids her age, and learning how to make friends.

And really I want her to have a better chance than I do to make friends. I was a pretty fun kid, but after my dad passed away I became a recluse. I didn't want anyone near me, just for the simple fact that I didn't want to lose them too. I started to get into fights. I was angry, all the time.

And Laurel doesn't need to be that kid. I want her to make mistakes, and figure them out. That's how she will grow. But unless she goes out into the world to face kids, she doesn't have a fighting chance. I think of how much she is going to hate the fact that I leave her there all day, and she will cry when she gets dropped off for school. I want to just say that she'll be fine here at home, but I know that her going to school will do her a world of good as well as bad. But that's life, you got to take it all in, and it's not about how good or bad the situation is, it's all about how you handle it.

So that's my 2 cents on hashing out why Laurel should go to school.

The Clothesline

I just walked outside to hang up our bedspread and broke not one but two clothes lines.

Is that theoretically possible?

Obviously I just made it possible.

Post-it notes

If I were single I would put up post-it notes everywhere. I've never encountered this kind of person until this week. I walk into the kitchen and see this sticky note on our stove hood with a recipe on it for No-Bakes (mmmm, my favorite) and so I added it to the other sticky note Jen left with her cookie recipe in the cupboard (just so the other post it note doesn't get lonely, which the first note is pretty cute, it has Alltel all over the front, and let me tell you, sticky note turn on).

So anyways, I would have these ridiculous sticky notes everywhere, and most of mine would be pretty dumb, because I'm just not creative enough, or something about it makes me laugh, and no one else gets it. Whichever. Someone would always be making fun of me. Whether it was about the collage of sticky notes or what was written on them. No one can help but read a sticky note.

Tomorrow's blog is on push pins, and the rest of this week, I will be exploring other useful office items, so stay tuned.

Guilty as charged

I've been neglecting my blogging duties.

Oh well.

I warned everyone anyways, since I've been busier, I haven't blogged... So it's not totally a bad thing.

We've been fixing up the house around here. Painting, repairing, trimming, you name it. Since Dar got a new bed, I've been painting it and today get to touch it up, so we will see where my painting skills lie.

It's sad that I am not much of a tomboy anymore, I'm not a heels 24/7 kind of girl, but I'm just not that tomboyish anymore. I'm different every day. Sometimes (though rarely) I dress to impress, but most days, I'm comfortable, which isn't always that fashionable (and consists of pjs).

Yesterday, after I played softball, I went over to Josh's parents. Josh was over there with the girls, and it ended up that the next door neighbor kids asked Laurel to come over and play. Well, I guess they have been asking Laurel for weeks to come over, but Laurel didn't translate to us that she was asked over. That girl needs to learn some communication skills. What can I say, she lives in her own little world. Hmm, wonder who that's like....

Anyways, we went over to play and Laurel is afraid of dogs, and have this huge dog that's only a year old, so of course, he likes to jump and lick and gets excited and it freaks Laurel out. We finally convinced Laurel that she could co-habitate in the same space as the dog, and Josh walks over because Dar is literally trying to jump the 6 foot fence to play with the kids (she doesn't like being left behind). Story: Dog starts getting wild again, and Dar takes it, in fact, loves it. Laurel freaks out again, climbing the nearest human (me) to get away from it. The dog went inside.

So this three-ring circus starts, I'm sure the neighbor wasn't expecting the whole Pung family to come into their yard because here comes Cassie with my sister-in-law. Well Cassie can't be constrained, and thinks she is still in the country and starts crossing into other people's yards thinking it's a great chasing game.

Yeah fun. I have wild girls, and quite frankly I like their streaks of independence.

Oh yeah the point was that I went over in my softball clothes, which are sweats and a baggy T. And I must have been a mess, since I had dog hair and sand everywhere. I felt bad until the neighbor came out in pretty much the same attire, and we had some decent conversation.

Oh that was lengthy and really pointless, why didn't somebody stop me?