Comparison

Come on, ladies. We all spend too much time comparing ourselves to others.

Her wardrobe is to die for.
She has a better job than me.
They have new furniture.
Their house is newer.
They don't have student loan debt.
She's pregnant.
Her house is immaculate.
She doesn't have an ounce of flab on her.

And we all know that list could keep going.

For the most part, I am content with most areas of my life. I am fit and healthy - but I haven't always been. There was a time when I was 30+ pounds heavier, diagnosed with PCOS, and fighting depression.    I am ecstatically married (I like that better than "happily married"!). Meeting Blake was the most amazing thing EVER! I was fortunate enough to be offered a really amazing position in a tough job market. Our apartment, though TINY, is adorable and we had everything we needed to create a cozy little home. And though we don't have kids yet, I think everyone knows I am crazy about our furry babies. :)

But over the past few weeks, the comparison bug has hit me hard. I want new clothes and new furniture and to be more productive and to have two bathrooms instead of one and to have a regular full-time position with benefits and to be pregnant.

We'll get there, eventually (hopefully). All of those things aren't too far within reach and it's hard to be patient. While most people are getting settled down in their mid-twenties, Blake and I are just beginning. We're sacrificing now and investing in our future. It's tough to wait, but it will be worth it.

And that's about the most transparent I'm gonna get! :)

Tough Week

Although it started with an off day, this week has been tough! I picked up Arnold around 1:30 Monday from the vet and shelled out a few hundred bucks for his weekend visit. Then, it was back to work on Tuesday... where I have been.... uhhh.... less-than-motivated. I also have a huge ulcer in my mouth that has been killing me since the weekend. I put a "Canker Cover" on it last night and now my whole lip is swollen. I also have a major headache. Yesterday, I accidentally listened to three chapters of Leviticus that I have already listened to (to keep up with our Bible reading plan)... The laundry basket continues to appear full although I have literally done AT LEAST eight loads of laundry since Friday!!!! Granted, I had to wash Arnold's blankets twice because he puked on them, but still... I don't even feel like we've made a dent in the dirty clothes.

But you know what IS great about this week? It's almost over.

Anyone else having a rough go of this week??

Love in Library Land

This week in the Crestmont library, we celebrated Valentine's ALL week long!!! Maybe I should have done this activity the week before Valentine's Day to add to the holiday build-up, but I march to the beat of my own drummer. And, for the record - the kids on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday didn't care that it wasn't Valentine's Day anymore. They were just as excited.

Anyway, the point of this post was not to justify post-Valentine's Day activities but instead to share with you what we did this week!

We watched Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch by Eileen Spinelli. I say watched because you can see some of your favorite books come to life on StorylineOnline.net . The website has a limited selection of popular books read by famous actors (Haylie Duff, James Earl Jones, Betty White, Al Gore, etc.) and is brought to you F-R-E-E thanks to the Screen Actors' Guild!

The story is a fairly simple one - a predictable and lonely old man, Mr. Hatch, finds a mysterious box of chocolates on his doorstep and a note that says "Somebody loves you!". He tries to figure out who sent him the chocolates, but he is so overcome at the idea that someone loves him that he starts to do all sorts of crazy things! He wears a crazy tie, he helps his neighbors, he chooses ham instead of a turkey wing for lunch, he bakes brownies! His excitement lasts for a few weeks until one day the mail-man comes by and says.... oops. He delivered the chocolates to the wrong house. Mr. Hatch goes back to his predictable and lonely life. That is, until his neighbors and friends hear of the incident and decide to throw him a surprise party where they celebrate how much they love Mr. Hatch!

It's a cute little story, and kids K-2 can appreciate and understand it. After reading/hearing the story, we discussed the beginning, middle, and end of the story and we talked about how we can show people we love them EVERY day - not just Valentine's Day! Then..... activity time!! Here's what we did:

The plan was to make our own box of "chocolates" for Mr. Hatch! I used two pieces of red cardboard to create a giant heart (taped down the back middle). For the "lace," I cut paper doilies in half and taped them around the edges. The students put their thumb-print in the shape of a heart inside a cupcake liner. 

So adorable! This was one of those activities that required me to go around to each individual child. I helped them stamp their thumb with ink, press their thumb in the right shape, and gave them a baby wipe to clean their finger. 

The one at the top is my thumb-print... you see below that not everyone's turns out perfect, and we (of course) talked about how that is okay!

For some reason, I can't get the picture of the completed box of "chocolates" to upload... I will keep working on it, but I can promise it's adorable!

While they waited for me to come around, they wrote a note to Mr. Hatch and drew him a picture. I put these up on display in the hallway in the shape of a GIANT heart! (The picture won't upload, sorry!) These were really cute - and I plan to have Mr. Hatch "write back" this week and I'll share that with the kids! They will love that. 

I just couldn't leave this one out. This is one of my favorite kiddos... who, as you can tell, has quite a personality. He was not happy at the moment, therefore.... this angry-face picture. :) 

We had a great week in the library! I hope to post more pictures of what we've been doing soon!!!