Saturday Smiles...

Things that made me smile this week...

1.  I have a wonderful new friend at work named Marie.  She is the sweetest lady.  She is 57 years old and she calls me "kid".  She'll say "hey, thanks Kid, what would I do without ya"  and it makes me feel so happy inside.  Anyway she shared her story of meeting her second husband 4 years ago after being in a bad marriage for 21 years.  And she beamed like a 16 year old as she told me how the year they dated was the best year of her life and how he had completely changed her life and makes her the happiest woman alive.  I smiled because I can totally relate.

2.  Kaleigh is at the stage in life where she must do everything by herself.   And she is very headstrong and determined.  But the other day she comes running into the kitchen as fast as her little elfin' legs could carry her saying over and over...  "mom, you hel me, you hel me?"  I couldn't resist the offer and I ran after her excited to see what project she was working on that so desperately required my assistance.  She was trying to put the vacuum cleaner back into the closet, but it was getting stuck on the coats and it wasn't fitting correctly.  And she gets down on the floor and pushes it at the bottom with all of her might, grunting and groaning and then she says...

"oh my goomuss!!! It's so stuck..."  

And I fell on the floor laughing.

3. My friend and old Best Buy Supervisor, Kaedee had a baby a week after I had Peyton and had a baby four months after I had Kaleigh and she just found out yesterday that she is having twin sons in December.  I smiled because IT'S NOT ME!!  How rude of me huh?  Poor girl, could use a prayer or two.

4.  I smiled because I got pulled over for the umteenth time on Monday and didn't even come close to getting a ticket.  I know that I am jinxing myself by writing this, but ponder the enormity of it.... I am 41 years old and have been driving for 26 years, Son.   I didn't even have a pregnant gut to help me out this time.  I did it completely on my own.

5.  In the little over a month that Raleigh has been in his new position, he has gone from 14th to 1st place.  And on Wednesday the District Staff asked him if he would consider relocating.  He text me and asked me if he was relocatable.  And I said "not unless your salary is $150,000+ a year with a full time Nanny and a live in psychiatrist.  And he said....  "Oh".  I smiled because I am proud of him that he is that good.

6.  And finally...  last Sunday after church I took to cooking us up some delicious Costco Steaks on the BBQ for dinner.  They were magnificent.  They were an inch thick with just the perfect amount of marbling on the side.  And every thing was going really well.  Raleigh was back and forth, pushing the girls in the swings and adjusting the misters and refilling the pond.  And I lifted the lid to check on the perfection I was whipping up and I noticed that the flames were a little higher than they were before.  I adjusted the heat and said to Raleigh  "do the flames usually get this high?"  He was busy with the hose and he responded with a courteous  "uh-huh."  So I continued turning them and moving them out of the flame.  He finally turned around and looked over in my direction, most likely because he was hearing me kind of yelping and sort of in a little distress he said "oh dear, let me go get my squirt bottle and I will kill that flame, it's a little high"  And in the time it took him to get from the patio, to the bedroom and back, the BBQ was engulfed in flames and I was gathering up the children, ushering them inside, in an attempt to protect them from the 4 alarm fire that was raging in our backyard.  Smoke was billowing out of the BBQ and going up into the air and I am certain it could be seen for miles.   I was bracing myself for the enormous BOOM of the propane tank that was going to blow up any second, sending us to our deaths.  Death by Sunday Dinner is such a lame way to die.  And here he comes... running outside and I swear I saw a red cape flapping behind him as he hurdled the deck chair, threw the wimpy and completely ineffective squirt bottle on the lawn, grabbed the hose that was filling the pond (luckily and ironically) and he doused those flames like a champ.  He was the hottest fire fighter I had ever seen and he saved our lives, not to mention our dinner.  The steaks were just the way I like them well done!!!  And still juicy and tasty.

Brayden came downstairs all groggy and half awake... about half way through our meal and began making up his plate.  He was mumbling in a very grumpy, teenagery voice... "where is mine?  I asked for mine to be rare remember?  You know I don't like my steaks cooked this much.  Is mine somewhere else?  What is this crap?"  And Raleigh says in a very firm, but with a hint of a slight chuckle, trying to sound angered voice...  "Brayden!!!!  Your mom almost blew the house up cooking up this fine meal for us, you're lucky you're not in the burn unit.  Get your meat and sit down and eat it and thank your lucky stars you have that healthy piece of fully cooked beef and not third degree burns as well as a home in which to shelter your ungrateful self."  And then he grabbed my leg under the table and squeezed it like he does every time he teases me.

I laugh because... it could have happened to him right?  Just because it NEVER has... doesn't mean that it wouldn't have happened to him had he been the BBQer THIS TIME right???  Right?  Ughhhhhhhh!