Resolution Check

OK.  About those resolutions.  I'm actually doing better than I thought I'd be.  Usually it takes me a little longer to get going, but this year I feel confident with where I'm headed.

1. Acts of Hospitality (mostly focused on inside my home, but outside too).
I want my house to be a home.  I want people to stop by.  Come over for dinner. Sit on the back porch by the fire pit.  Exhale and feel comfortable.
Y'ALL. We jumped into this one feet first.  We are hosting small group for our church.  I'm excited, scared, and praying no one opes the tupperware cabinet.

2. Document 1000 gifts. Without quitting. Even if people question my intentions.
I WAS doing this, but I quit because someone questioned my intentions. How foolish of me.  So I'm starting again. (Maybe one of my resolutions would be to quit caring what people think about me so much...)
In my head. Once in a while on paper. 

3. The baby books.  For the love of God, the baby books!
There's no explanation.  Just do it, man!
I"m saving this for summer.

4. Trip to Disney.
Booked, y'all.  BOOM.
This one might be getting postponed.  TJ has a major test at working coming up and the date is unknown.  

5. Go see TJ's grandpa in NM
Love this man. Love this family.  I would adore going at the time of the balloon festival so we will just have to see how it all plays out. 
He's coming in May, but I still want to go see him.  

6. Tone down thighs and waist (I'm talkin' inches, people!)
I'm continuing to jog.  I need to find a plan for this one.  I guess I'll go to Pinterest. Where all the trainers hang out.
I realized that to take off inches, you actually have to know what you're inches are.  I didn't take my inches at the beginning of this shindig, so I found some old paper with my inches when I was first expecting Si and didn't know it yet. Let's just say I've gone down from there, but I still ahve a ways to go.

7. Finish a 5K (actual race, not in my neighborhood.)
Signed up. BOOM.
I had to give someone else my place because my race coincided with the firefighter's ball.  Which, by the way, is prom for people that can drink legally.  Probably not going to go again. BUT I did get an AWESOME for me time the other night. I was so friggin proud I couldn't quit smiling.  That was evident when Faith looked at me crazy-eyed and said, "Why do you look like that?!?!"

8. Sell stuff that's clogging our lives.
I loathe garage sales and I get nervous for people to come scope out stuff I've put on Craigslist.  Any ideas for how to sell stuff another way?
Oh, if spring EVER GETS HERE, I am having the yard sale to end all yard sales.  Then I'm tossing the rest or making a goodwill trip.  We have to get rid of this STUFF! 

9. FINISH.  
I know alot of people have a focus word for the year as opposed to resolutions.  I would say that if I had to have a word it would be FINISH. I can sometimes crap out at the end and I dislike that.  So I want to finish well.
Praying and working and praying. 

less is more-1

source

Does anyone else feel like they’re living in the video game Frogger?  Everything is just zooming by you and all you want to do is get across the road unscathed? 

Literally, we are all speeding, driving out of control, watching our phone screens instead of the road, and on edge.  We just wait for someone to pull out ahead of so we can ride their bumper out of spite.  We are so far into this, if someone tries to pass us, well; we’ll just speed up and show them who’s in charge.  The other day, I pulled too far out from the stop sign to see if the intersection was clear and I thought a lady’s eyes were going to burn a hole through me.  As she turned and I pulled off, I had a moment of clarity.  This isn’t just driving.  This is life.  

We are all living at warp speed.  “Get the most out of every moment.”  Enroll our kids in every sport possible so they can have the "fullest experience possible."  So we can stress out about getting them there as they cry on the way because they’re three and practice is at 7 at night and they’re tired because they missed their nap because they had piano.  Wake up at 4:30 to work out to shower to go to work to pay for daycare to get home to make dinner to spend two hours with your kids before you put them bed.   Sometimes I think we’re living our lives at warp speed because we want to enjoy every single minute and in doing so we aren’t enjoying it at all. We're skiing across the top of the ocean, but we never dive down and see what's in the depths.  Ya know, where all the life is?

Why are we all racing each other? To win what?  Most miles driven in a week? The biggest house payment? The most time spent away from that house that you’re paying the most for?  It’s madness and I’m going mad. And getting mad.

Sometimes I just want to scream SLOW THE EFF DOWN! To myself. To my coworkers. To the mom, just like me, at Wal-Mart in her professional dress with her children who just came from daycare, who is in too much of rush to slow down to even notice the elderly person that needs help getting something off the top shelf. To the lady who glared at me while driving (literally to her, though).  

When do you call it?  When do I say enough is enough and stop sacrificing my precious people at the altar of comparison?

It’s time to pare down, people.  To figure out what and who are most important in our lives and focus in on them.  Not what we can have next, but how we can help more. Not what our next purchase is, but what we can give more of.  I’m not speaking for you, but the pendulum is swinging back in the Aragonlife.  We are sick and tired of running a race where everyone loses.  Our children will not have resumes full of activities and lessons while we strive to win this godforsaken contest.  

More (or less) to come…

Ummm. Whaddya sayin'?

Just a sampling of what it's like to live in my house.  Enjoy, folks.


"You know how my curtains are pulled back during nap?"
"Yes."
"Well, it's not from me looking out the window.  Its because I lick the window to cool off my mouth."
(Gagging.) "Then why do I get you an ice cold cup of water for your nightstand then?"
"Ummmm..."

***

"Daddy, I know boys are stinky, but I just think Thaddeus is the cutest little thing I've ever seen."
"Yeah, but he's still stinky, right?"
"Yep."

***

"Today a boy told me I had bad breathe."
"What did you say?"
"Well, I waited until he wasn't listening and then I told him his breathe smelled like a frog."

2014 Resolutions

"Mom, Elmo's on.  Shut that thing off."

1. Acts of Hospitality (mostly focused on inside my home, but outside too).
I want my house to be a home.  I want people to stop by.  Come over for dinner. Sit on the back porch by the fire pit.  Exhale and feel comfortable.
2. Document 1000 gifts. Without quitting. Even if people question my intentions.
I WAS doing this, but I quit because someone questioned my intentions. How foolish of me.  So I'm starting again. (Maybe one of my resolutions would be to quit caring what people think about me so much...)
3. The baby books.  For the love of God, the baby books!
There's no explanation.  Just do it, man!
4. Trip to Disney.
Booked, y'all.  BOOM.
5. Go see TJ's grandpa in NM
Love this man. Love this family.  I would adore going at the time of the balloon festival so we will just have to see how it all plays out. 
6. Tone down thighs and waist (I'm talkin' inches, people!)
I'm continuing to jog.  I need to find a plan for this one.  I guess I'll go to Pinterest. Where all the trainers hang out.
7. Finish a 5K (actual race, not in my neighborhood.)
Signed up. BOOM.
8. Sell stuff that's clogging our lives.
I loathe garage sales and I get nervous for people to come scope out stuff I've put on Craigslist.  Any ideas for how to sell stuff another way?
9. FINISH.  
I know alot of people have a focus word for the year as opposed to resolutions.  I would say that if I had to have a word it would be FINISH. I can sometimes crap out at the end and I dislike that.  So I want to finish well. 

Our People and My Cabinets

Remember a few posts ago when I said I had really disorganized cabinets? And remember how I told you to come over and look at them?  Well, I had a chance to put my money where my mouth was. (Is. Which is it?)

Sis turned 5 and we had a big party at our house for her.  We had our church pastor there, our friends, Faith's friends, family, and even the neighbors over.  I really tried to focus on making the day about the people and not stressing about my house and everything being in the proper place.  But I walked into the house and saw my husband and Faith's best friend's mom looking through our cabinets.  And everyone in the kitchen was watching them.  In disbelief. In disgust. In fear, I'm sure. Guys, it was like an Mt. Vesuvius of mismatched tupperware erupted and they were all standing in the wake! I stopped right in my tracks and just stood there with my chin hitting the floor.  I started making nervous comments about how disorganized they were and how I was having some sort of deja vu moment.  Everybody kept telling me that they weren't that bad.  (Yes, I have good friends that lie to me. Ha ha!) And maybe they're not.  But I know this- when everyone left I told TJ that I either need to 1)be okay with people seeing my cabinets like that or 2)organize the D#$% things! Well, that was a month ago and I have made no efforts to organize them so I guess I'm okay with you all seeing them like that. Unless you're OCD. Then don't put yourself through that kind of misery.

Speaking of Faith's party, I was completely overcome with thankfulness for our community of friends afterwards.  I just love our people.  I seriously get giddy thinking about how completely diverse they are and how they love our children so well and are so overwhelmingly wonderful to us Aragons that completely suck at being good friends. I love that we have one friend covered in tattoos talking to our opera singer friend next to our race car driving friend who is talking with our neighbor who is a 50-year-old student.  And don't forget our horse riding, harley riding pastor and his daughter that did horse rides for the kids. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it.  And then I walk in the house and there's kids playing everywhere and my family is all in there talking and having fun.  Pure bliss.  It, of course, got a little crazy when Faith knocked the opera singer's daughter's tooth out and busted her lip on the lawyer's daughter's head.  But whatevs. That's how we do a cowgirl party around here!