be brave.

Be brave.




You all know I struggle with this.  If there ever was a faint heart. . . a shrinking violet. . . a fainting goat . . . well, that's me.  Oh, I always make it through alright.  But not without a good freak-out first.


That's why I instantly loved Bravelets and their story.



The Bravelets Company was started by a daughter whose mom was diagnosed with breast cancer.  As their page states:




There are times in all of our lives where we need to be brave – whether for ourselves, for our family, for our friends, or even for a complete stranger. Bravelets™ bracelets are more than just something to wear on your wrist. They are a symbol of hope, strength and courage. They are designed to help you be brave in the toughest of times.


$10--that's right--TEN DOLLARS from every purchase goes to the charity of your choice.  On my first visit to the site, I found causes dear to my heart, the MS Society, the American Cancer Society, and many I had (thankfully, probably) never even heard of.




However, they did not have a page for Craniosynostosis.  Not yet, anyway. 




I am EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE that all it took was a little message from a little ol' mom in South Dakota and now Craniosynostosis has a Brave Page, too!  Just like every other cause, $10 from each Bravelet will go to Cranio Care Bears!


Visit https://www.bravelets.com/bravepage/craniosynostosis-awareness for different styles, products and prices.


As Teresa told me a couple of weeks ago as I was climbing up into the attic, "Face your fears, Mommy!"


Let's all be brave today.

Saint Makers

I heard a great quote on the Catholic Channel the other day.


Mark Hart was a guest on The Catholic Guy with Lino Rulli (of which I'm not particularly a fan, but on that day I decided to keep listening . . .) 


Anyway, they were talking about how Lino is a 40-something single guy with no children and Mark is married with 4, including a new baby.


Mark called children "saint makers."


Wow. Isn't that true?  I know it is for me.


Every day my children draw out my patience, courage, all of the qualities that are not quite there yet.  How do I do?  Some days not so well. 


But, some days I take a deep breath and draw up that extra ounce of patience to get through the tense moments without yelling or losing my cool.  Those are the times I am allowing them to help me be a better person. 


As a parent, I often focus on how we are raising our children and shaping them as children of God.  I forget sometimes that it goes both ways. 


It's easiest to show love to those we DON'T live with every day.


When asked how we can promote world peace, Blessed Mother Teresa once answered, "Go home and love your family." 


Yes, it's that simple.


Not easy.


But simple.

My fictional kindred spirits

I'm convinced that Patricia Heaton, or at least the characters she plays, are my kindred spirits.  My life closely followed her fictional life on Everybody Loves Raymond and now does the same on The Middle.  It's pretty crazy. 


If you spend any time with me at all, you will eventually either hear me say, "This is like that Everybody Loves Raymond episode when . . . ." or you will just look at my life and see it for yourself.  (Most recently, this happened when part of our old chimney came crashing through the basement ceiling.  "This is an episode of Raymond," I told David.  "No, he said.  That was a few years ago when Landen drove the tractor through the shed.")  He was right.  We had surpassed it.  We had now reached a whole new level of absurdity.


What I loved about the show when it was new, and still love in the re-runs is that their conflicts are so typical.  In fact, the first time I saw the famous suitcase episode, I was actually holding my own suitcase experiment.  (I ended up putting it away in the end, and thankfully it did not involved stinky cheese.) 


Now I am a fan of The Middle.  Again, I see myself in Patricia's matronly character, Frankie Heck.  (I am happy to see they have updated her look a bit this year.)  The Middle is much more of a parody than Raymond, and that's what makes it so great.  We can watch it and say, "Well, I might have done that once or twice, but never THAT badly."  She's always trying to keep up and always a step behind.  That's how I feel most of the time.  And, sometimes I even see myself in Brick, the lovable, quirky bookworm.


In both of these shows, the married couple and surrounding family may have their differences and disagreements, but they always love each other in the end.  I guess that's why I love watching them so much.  I like to see a happy, or at least peaceful, ending.  That's where it isn't "real," I suppose, as real life doesn't follow a neat conflict/resolution script. 


Sometimes it's just nice to know all will be well in 30 minutes or less. . . or to assure myself, "I've never dumped a bowl of cereal in a Ziploc bag and sent my child to school with it.  I'm doing alright here."

2 years

Today marks two years since our nephew and cousin Luke went to be with Jesus in heaven.

Please say an extra prayer for his parents, siblings and extended family today.

Thank you.

Rachel's 2nd year photo

I finally got 2 year old pictures taken of my little Rachel girl.  I expected her to be cooperative (as she usually is), but she was not.  In the end, between her squirming around and my lack of camera focus, I found one nice smile. 

It is in those times I really appreciate the photographers of the world. :)

Baton Rouge

My mom and I had a great time on our little trip to Baton Rouge to visit my Aunt Carol.  Of course, the absence of my Uncle Sonny was felt often, but we still had the best time we could.  As Carol said, he was always having fun, and he would still want us to have fun.  And we did.

 

I enjoyed the local fare while we were there--a catfish po'boy (AKA a sub sandwich), boiled shimp (not the first time I have had Gulf shrimp, but the first time they were served to me with their eyes and legs still attached!), crab cakes, boudain balls (fried Louisiana sausage), red beans and rice, seafood pasta . . . and I brought home a big King Cake, since it is Mardi Gras season! 

 

On Sunday, we drove to a town called New Roads to a great historic restaurant, Satterfield's.  We had a beautiful dinner on the False River, a manmade branch of the Mississippi River.  It turned into quite the road trip, as it was only 30 miles from Baton Rouge and took us several hours to find it, but the tour of rural Louisiana was beautiful so we didn't mind.

 

Now it is back to the normal routine again.  We had an extra day of "vacation" yesterday as the kids were granted another snow day! 

 

I much prefer temps in the 60's.  :)

 

 

 

A Good Day

 

Today was a day of major accomplishments in this house, thanks very much to my mom-in-law and aunt-in-law Darla.  They not only helped me clean this house, which is SPARKLING right now, but they helped me do other things out of my expertise. 

Tonight shelves, towel hooks and a new bathroom light are hung on the wall!

Darla and I spent a good part of the day tiling the entry stairs.  We decided that we could go into business--but only projects with three stairs--or less!

 

It is good to get this stuff done as I prepare to fly out of here for a few days.  It sounds like I will have to endure one more blizzard before I enjoy balmy temps for the long weekend!

 

Mining for Diamonds

 

Our boys love to watch Gold Rush on Friday nights.  If you keep up with it, you will know that some of the miners have now moved to South America and are trying for diamonds.

Well, Nathan spent most of his Saturday mining for diamonds, too. 

He had his own "wash plant" and everything.

He was pretty excited about his findings--he said he had more than the Gold Rush guys!  (Which, sadly, was probably true.)

 

New kitchen . . . new recipes

Thank you for bearing with my sporadic blog posts.  We are getting closer to kitchen completion . . . and then I can post some photos!  David wants me to wait until it is COMPLETE.  Cabinets and appliances have started to go in.  It's exciting to see a glimpse of the final project.  Little things like walking on a finished floor and not fighting plastic to emerge from our bedroom have been a treat after this process! 
There is good and bad in taking on a remodeling project mostly on your own.  The good part is you know that the workers will show up.  The bad part is that you are the worker and you may be working at 2am or later sometimes!  This project has brought obvious joy, but also lots of anxiety (for me), and so we are both happy to see it wrapping up. 


I have tried a couple of new recipes while we have been in our downstairs kitchen. Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta was a hit.  I actually used shrimp instead of chicken and added an extra cup of sour cream.  You can find it on my Pinterest Recipes board or click on this link http://suchamom.com/2013/11/chicken-bacon-ranch-pasta/.


The other, Crockpot Cheese Tortellini and Sausage, I made last night.  It received a 50% approval rating in our family.  Rachel couldn't get enough!  This I made just as it said, except I substituted a can of tomato soup instead of the diced tomatoes.  It's also on my Recipes board or also here
http://www.keyingredient.com/recipes/573551783/crockpot-cheese-tortellini-and-sausage/.


I hope you are having a great day!  I will check in again soon . . . I promise.

2014

Well, here we are--2 days into 2014! 

Resolutions anyone?

Here are mine--

1.)  Finishing this kitchen project within the next week or so (this totally SHOULD be able to happen).

2.)  Take down the Christmas tree before February.  (Hey--technically the Christmas season STARTS on Dec. 25!)

3.)  Keep on putting one foot in front of the other!

That's right--it seems as if I have found myself in a bit of survival mode again.  The thought of resolving to do anything more is just a bit more than I can handle right now!  I'll get there . . . just not right now.

Part of it is that life in the Melius house has been a bit topsy-turvy for the past 26 days, for a very good reason, but still a little crazy; part of it is that winter is just not ever good for my mental well-being; and part of it is that life has just been HARD lately for some we know (my grandma breaking her pelvic bone in December and still recovering, David's uncle suffering stroke shortly before Christmas, but thankfully is recovering very well, a friend's mother dying suddenly before Christmas, the 6 year old son of one of David's neighbors growing up losing his battle to leukemia on 12/31).  It's been a bit rough getting this news.  The reminder of the difficulties of this life never seem to be far away.

BUT, we continue to keep looking to the positive.  As I said, David's uncle Doug is doing well and he and his wife will soon welcome a new baby son!  My mom and I are preparing for a trip to Baton Rouge to visit my Aunt Carol in a couple weeks.  My brother-in-law Rick is here right now helping David finish our ceiling.  Our family has enjoyed a HEALTHY and relaxing Christmas vacation, filled with way too much Wii, but who's complaining?  No one.  There's always something to be thankful for.