Lessons from reality TV

Perhaps this is just a sorry attempt to justify the hours I spend viewing bad reality television, but I've been thinking a lot lately about how grateful those shows make me for my family.

One theme that keeps coming back to me as I watch Say Yes to the Dress and Jon & Kate Plus Ei8ht is that I am sooo thankful for my mom. Of course, I'm grateful for my dad, too, but these shows are more about the moms. And the moms are CRAZY! Daughters will come out in a gorgeous dress that they are obviously in love with, and the mom will say, "Really? I think it makes your hips look big." It's unbelievable. So grateful that my mom knew to be tactfully honest when asked but also knew that her main job in dress shopping was moral support.

And don't even get me started on Kate Gosselin. There are so many problems with her mothering skills. But one particular sad thing is that she says she does the TV show so she can give her kids opportunities they wouldn't have otherwise---like going on lavish vacations. But, when they're on vacation, the kids complain the whole time (of course...they're kids). I can guarantee you they would give up the hot air balloon rides, the spa days, the over-the-top birthday parties to have a happy mom who would get on the floor and play with them. While I was fortunate in that I did get to take fun (but not over-the-top) vacations with my family, the memories I look back on most fondly are singing silly songs in the car together, playing games in our living room, going on church trips together.

I'm so thankful for the great example my mom was and is to me. I've always known she's a great mom, but the older I get, the more I appreciate her. And speaking of my mom, she started a blog! So, you should go check it out. I'm sure she'll have plenty of nice things to say about me. ;)

Good-bye

Katy and Jon (picture taken from Katy's facebook)

Well, I was living in denial, but the day finally came. Last Friday, Katy moved to California to join Jon who's in Marine Corps training. I'm so happy that they are back together after six months apart, but I was so sad to see her go. Jon and Katy were our first friends when we moved to Illinois, and the transition would have been so much harder without them. When we had been here just a few weeks, Darby had to go back to Texas for a wedding, so I was alone. Jon was busy, and Katy invited me over to eat dinner at her house. While I was getting ready, she got a call from her parents (her dad is the preacher at our church) saying that her brother and his family wanted to meet them for dinner in Decatur (about 45 mins away). She could have just canceled on me, but instead, she invited me to come along for the family dinner. I felt awkward, but I went, and had a lot of fun. Since then, we have spent countless hours eating dinner and playing games with Katy and Jon and Katy's family. Thankfully, Katy's family is still here in town, so we won't be losing them too. And, of course, we'll still see Jon and Katy when they come back to visit. I'm so glad Jon and Katy were here to welcome us when we arrived. At a time in our lives when we really needed friends, they were there for us (and still are). And while we'll no longer be seeing them several times a week, we are excited about keeping up with their new adventures.

The two best parts of this week

1. It was WARM! Like, in the 50s and 60s warm. :) Here's the snow mountain today. It really shows how solid it was since it's been above freezing for almost the whole week, and it still hasn't melted completely. And yes, those are huge chunks of our yard in it. Our neighbor on the bulldozer got a little carried away with the snow plowing, but at least we didn't have to do it, right?
2. We got a new couch for our guest room. We had an inflatable queen size bed, but it sprung a leak this summer and couldn't be patched. We've been avoiding putting an actual bed in that room because the room is small and Darby uses it as his music room. Darby's mom suggested a pull-out couch. And, since my ACU roommate and BFF Brittany is coming to visit in March (yay!), we had the push we needed to get it done. So, tax refund in hand, we headed to Ashley and got ourselves a sleeper sofa. I think it looks very nice in the room.
   

You know you've been together a long time when...

• you have to put back half the Valentine's cards you pick up at the store because you've already given them in previous years. Seriously, why can't Hallmark make some new cards?!?
  
• your big Valentine's date involves going to an early dinner, then going home to play a game and work on homework.
• you can admit to your honey that you don't feel like you have time to make the special Valentine's dessert that you were planning on, and he knows just what to say to make you feel ok about it.

So thankful to be celebrating my 10th(!) Valentine's Day with my wonderful husband. This past week has been pretty stressful with school/work stuff, and he has kept me sane, as always. I'm reminded every day how blessed I am to share my life with him.

I wonder...

how long it will take that pile of snow to melt completely? Considering the expected high for the next 10 days is no higher than 33, I'm thinking it might be March. Sigh.

We had a snow day on Wednesday, and it was wonderful. Although I'm a bit jealous of all of our Texas friends and their four snow days. I know, I know, no salt trucks or plows. Blah, blah, blah. But let me tell you, the roads aren't great here. Notice our snow/ice-covered street in the picture above (taken today, 3 days after the storm). But you're just expected to drive on it. In fact, I think the city just relies on the fact that people will drive on the roads and keep them from freezing over completely. Wah! Not fair! Only 2 more winters after this one, only 2 more winters after this one...