…well my favorite part of summer every 4 years. The summer olympics!!!! Woot woot….
For the next 10 days, you can find me glued to my couch, screaming and shouting….crying….wiping the sweat from my palms as Gabby Douglas competes on the beam and Michael Phelps reaches out his crazy long phelanges to that wall. Gymnastics and Volleyball on TV at normal hours and pretty much on demand every single day (versus 1am in the morning on obscure stations)???? I’m so excited!!!
This little big man is 8 years old today! I am so in love with his energy, a sensitive and affectionate nature, his love of his sister, and all the snuggles I get each morning from him. He continues to be in love with hot wheel cars, superheroes, basketball and nerf guns (this makes present shopping a breeze!). We are excited to celebrate him today with birthday treats at school and some fun family meet-ups this week.
Please specially pray for:
– WB is grieving his relationship with his biological Mother right now and thinking about his birth story/birthday has been very hard and confusing for him….please pray for some contentment in his heart that God had and has a plan for his family. A place for him to grow and thrive and heal. ❤️
I will not apologize for my lack of posting because life happens, teens and homework happen, a general lack of inspiration happens. And I am at peace with that. I will say that I do miss the processing and creativity that this blog provides me an opportunity to do. So I’m hoping to be back in the swing of things and ready to bust out some posts this weekend! And until then, a cute pic of my favorite boy during my favorite time of day (edited by my new favorite photo app A Color Story):
This weekend, I made a last-minute decision to spend the weekend at a scrapbookig retreat and it was seriously some medicine for my soul. I had an amazing tablemate, lovely conversations with old friends, and my own nights in my own quiet dorm room. With hours to do nothing but craft and relax, I came to realize that this is such a missing piece for me. This full time of our lives is EXACTLY when I need to be making time to fill my tank back up in this manner. Pictures beware – you’re about to be mass uploaded and printed and headed to a Costco printer!
Making me feel guilty for slacking on publishing two posts a week here in this space. Telling me to say yes to everything people ask of me. Wondering if someone else can do _______ or _______ better.
So this week I am choosing what to focus on. This week I devote my time and my energy and the voices inside of my head to my family and to my volleyball team (specifically some hard-working seniors) that deserve a coach devoted to them. So this little blog will be bare and my kiddos at work might get a less than 100% present counselor…..and the world will keep spinning for one more week…..
right?
Did you know my most adored movie Inside Out came out on DVD this week? Click here for a much more clever depiction of those silly voices inside of our heads.
And I am completely okay with that. Now that all of the sparkly pretty blogs are popular, making money, attracting gazillions of views a day, I can squeeze in and do what I want. Write random musings of my chaotic, but mostly boring life while possibly making you laugh. Maybe I could spread a little website goodness around to others looking for a quick minute of inspiration, advice, and perhaps just a bit of escape whenever you need it.
A little bit about the name of my blog – I am obsessed with oxymorons. Words strung together that shouldn’t be together but normal people kind of like that because when do words, things, people ever go together without a little bit of contradiction and mess right? Oxymorons make me (and my lovable but crazy family) feel NORMAL. Imagine true shenanigans….go ahead, close your eyes….is it a circus behind those eyelids? a playgound filled with 2 year olds? your bathroom? your hoarding room that you always have to shut the door before peeps come over? your heart?
Loving these little annoying phrases might be the libra in me coming out in full force. Two scales trying to find balance, forcing her even keel on everyone, indecisive….you name it, I fit it. I love being organized, but I am terribly messy. I love food, but hate to cook. I hate clothes, but love shopping. I love road trips, but really hate driving. I long for social relationships, but will often choose a quiet night at home over a raucous night out. I hate conflict, yet I’m pretty good at solving it.
My list could go on and on, yet here is my main truth – my life, like all of yours, is filled with stressors like two jobs, foster kiddos, traumatic backgrounds, abusive stories, homemaking and my own ridiculously high standards of living – this is my shenanigans. And the only way I know how to simplify that madness is to simply EMBRACE it. Label it as my normal, my daily purpose, and love it for making me the person I am today.
My intentions for SIMPLE SHENANIGANS –
1. A consistent place to write down my thoughts, my inspirations, my story to be preserved forever.
2. Spread a little mama/girl love to my friends and family with links, resources, articles that might help with life, choosing joy, parenthood, Bachelor in Paradise commentary, or whatever else might spring to life here.
3. Not be annoying (if I’m being honest, that is my goal in most new and vulnerable situations).