Keep Trying that Thing.....

I just found out that we are not getting up to 

run at 5:15 in the morning.....

Sooooo, 

I choose to stay up late and put a yummy post together.

K is out of town, so I have time to kill and stuff to catch up on.

First let me admit that since it became "Fall", 

I have been eating pumpkin pie

every day.

I have made two pies since October started.

Keep in mind, 

no one but me likes pumpkin pie in our home.

I did however just discover that our next door neighbor,

Charlie,

(Herbie's dad) LOVES it!

I sent M over yesterday with a large, slightly warm, piece of pie.

It was heaped with a giant mound of home made whipping cream.

Nothing is better in the fall.

I usually heat it up for breakfast, 

and then top with the cold whip cream.

I also eat it for snacks during the day.

I find it very comforting and enjoyable....

plus

I consider it fairly healthy because of the pumpkin....

lots of fiber.

The picture does not do my pie justice.

The lighting was poor, and the piece was ill formed.....

I am working my way through the last half of the second pie now.

Kevin has been on my case for ever about scrubbing the grout of our tile.

I have always been like,

why?

what's the point....it is just going to get dark again.

besides, no one knows it is supposed to be white,

it looks grey, plus it adds personality to our boring white tile.

(what was I thinking when I chose that 13 years ago????

I have a feeling it had something to do with money, and the idea that I 

was probably not going to have to live with it very long to begin with.....

moron.)

Anyway, Kev would not give it up.

I finally said, if you want it done so bad.....

go for it my friend.

So he and the boys did.

?

I came home from some half day volunteering event at the school this past 

Saturday and found 1/2 of the kitchen floor completely 

amazingly, startling white.

It literally looked like new.

They spent several hours on their hands and knees scrubbing their brains out.

Then Kev mopped it 3 times....

Take a gander at the mop he came home from the pawn-shop with.

Pawnshop?....for a mop?

I asked Ryker why they didn't just use our normal mop....

they couldn't find it.

I said, well how did you get the water wrung out?

Oh, dad would just hang it in the sink (in the garage) and grip the head tight,

then I would twist the handle.

?

whoa.

That is very interesting.

I admire K's dedication, and drive.

I plan on assisting the kids with the remainder of the floor this Saturday.

question: Do you prefer the dark or light grout?....just checkin.

K and all the boys recently went on another late night shark fishing trip.

L's friend Aiden joined them on the adventure.

They have been on other grand fishing adventures.....

but this one was different, in that it was a bit on the windy side,

so the water was rough,

which made the ship rock,

which made many, many, men and women loose their supper.

It was a vomit fest extraordinaire.

I really thought they would be cured of these trips with that 

miserable experience.

nope.

I have heard talk of the next one.

All righty.

I am excited to report that I will be working the polls on election day.

I have been trained, 3 hours worth, and am ready to go.

This may be the only picture I get to represent the actual event....

camera's, and pictures are strictly prohibited.  

I will tell you a lot more about this later.

 McCauley had a fun field trip to Green Meadows last week.

Here are a few cute highlights.

 We attended a wonderful reception last week.

Everything was beautiful,

delicious, and enjoyable.

It is fun to dress up and go out and enjoy the company of good friends.

Did I mention it was fun to dress up???

I went to my "mandatory" Choffy meeting tonight...

just kidding....I wouldn't miss them.

Tina runs these fantastic meetings for our little band 

of local Choffy soldiers.

She tries so hard and does so much.

She deserves every scrap of fantastic success that comes her way.

She motivated us tonight by challenging us to get out of our comfort zone.

She gave us a little poem to take home,

here are my favorite pieces of it....

 I used to have a comfort zone where I knew I couldn't fail.

The same four walls of busy work were really more like jail.

I longed so much to do the things I'd never done before.

But I stayed inside my comfort zone and paced the same old floor.

I said it didn't matter that I wasn't doing much.

But I could't let my life go by just watching others win.

I held my breath and stepped outside to let the change begin.

I kissed my comfort zone good-bye and closed and locked the door.

HOLD IT.

No WAY do I want to leave my comfort zone for good.

I am leaving that door wide open.

I want to come and go as I please.....

I definitely want to leave,

but how would I ever relax and unwind after being 

"out of my comfort zone" all day?

NO THANK YOU.

My comfort zone is my home.

A place to come back to.

You know what I mean?

Yes,

Leave.

but I need a place to catch my breath,

to regroup.

Celebrate my successes and failures in peace.

Gather supplies and muster courage for my next outing 

"outside the zone".

....... I think that is what makes it possible to leave our

zone in the first place,

the knowledge that we get to return.

Sometimes it only takes 20 seconds of outrageous courage.

just 20 seconds...

way less than a minute of bravery.

or 10 minutes to decide now is the time to make just 5 of those 

uncomfortable phone calls.

or 1 short hour to hold it together to teach 

or take a brand new class.

what ever it is for you,

keep trying that thing.