Trader Joe's Favorites

One thing I love about living in St. Louis is Trader Joe's. For those of you who haven't had the privilege of trying it, it's a grocery store that is sort of a World Market, Whole Foods, and Shop 'N Save rolled into one. They have the best chocolate, the cheapest wine (from what I hear), and the most fun healthy snacks of anywhere I've been--with the best prices! That's my commercial. I love trying things that other people recommend, so if you too are a Trader Joe's fan, I'd love to hear your recommendations. Some things I buy regularly are jasmine rice (thanks to Christa), BBQ shredded chicken (thanks to Dawn), cornbread mix (thanks to Amy), Joe's O's (their version of Cheerios but much cheaper--thanks to Laura), mandarin orange chicken and sweet potato fries (thanks to Elissa), and dark chocolate covered caramels (thanks to my husband).

So far, these things top my favorite list:

Carrot Ginger Soup (Big Sissy has loved this since she first tried it in her sippy cup)

Spiced Apples. They taste like apple pie, but there's no sugar added.

Dark Chocolate Covered Caramels. Yummm.....

Salt & Pepper Potato Chips. This is a new endeavor. The jury is still out on this one. Big Sissy said they taste like chicken. She must mean they taste like chicken fingers. They do, actually--a little.

Ezekiel Bread. This is on the "opposite of my favorite" list. This is the worst thing I've ever tasted. And it goes moldy in about one day. It's supposed to be a biblical recipe. Whatever. If that's true, it's no wonder the Israelites complained to God and asked to go back to Egypt. Maybe they had peanut butter and jelly on honey wheat there??

Psychoanalysis of the Three Pigs

A few years ago, when I was working on my master's in counseling (which I never finished because I had to go on bedrest when I was in my 3rd trimester of pregnancy--right before I got real live clients), I took a class on Psychological Disorders. It was one of my hardest classes and one of my favorites. The problem was that I was always trying to diagnose people, including myself. I became quite the neurotic hypochondriac for one semester. Maybe because of that class or maybe because I am naturally very analytical, or perhaps because I sometimes drink way too many Pepsis and stay up way too late; sometimes I psychoanalyze fictitious characters.

So for your entertainment, here's my analysis of the Three Little Pigs. You know, the ones that their mother had to force to leave home even though she warned them that if they did they would get eaten by the Big Bad Wolf.

Mother piggy was clearly suffering from an anxiety disorder spurred by the impending loss of her 3 beloved piggies and the fear of being alone. She was trying to appear that she was ready for them to leave home while instilling paranoia in them in hopes that they would stay in the pen forever.


As a result, two of her 3 little pigs developed a dependent personality disorder. They had difficulty initiating the project of building their own house and were secretly hoping that their 3rd brother would notice their helplessness and take them in. They could have also had attention deficit disorder, as they showed lack of attention to structural details and were easily distracted by the desire to sing and play all day.


After the volation of their personal property, their DPD became even more exaggerated. They suffered from brief episodes of panic attacks and clung to the 3rd brother in fear of separation. Their co-dependency and their brother's enabling led to a permanent cohabitation of all 3 little pigs.


The third little pig appeared to be the stable one of the group. He was able to focus on building a sound home and delay the gratification of singing and playing all day. He potentially suffered from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, though, judging from the way he carefully applied the mortar between each brick. He had a deep desire to be needed and was probably trying to take on the role of the father piggy, who was conspicuously absent in this story.


The wolf, clearly a stalker, is every pig's nightmare. His antisocial personality disorder is evident by his desire to live alone at the top of the hill, his failure to conform to social norms, deceitfulness, aggressiveness, reckless disregard for safety of himself or others, and lack of remorse. Signs of a conduct disorder are also present when you examine his aggression to animals, destruction of property, and conniving in order to break into someone's house.


After the final falling into the pot of boiling water, the wolf seemed to suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder. He continued to live alone but he never went down the hill again. In fact, he was so fearful of pigs that he switched to an all-chicken diet.


And they all lived neurotically ever after. The end.

The Brown Sheep of our Family

Most of you have met Lamby by now, or at least read enough about him that you feel like you know him. He is Little Sissy's best friend, confidante, sleeping friend. She takes him everywhere. She chews on his tail, she rubs her face with his matted fur while she sucks her fingers, she reads him books. It's really sweet, but he looks nasty. It's like old carpet that even though you shampoo it, it still makes your socks brown. I bought a replacement several months ago, but she wouldn't touch him because he was too new, was still pink, still had a blanket and said a bedtime prayer, and still had all of his facial features. Here's a picture of the difference then. Over a year later, you can imagine what he looks like now.

Lately, though, it seemed like she was ready to move on. Big Sissy was about this age when she voluntarily traded her beloved Dog Dog for a new mangy cat she calls Caroline Pudding. One day recently we briefly lost "Brown Lamby," as she now calls him to distinguish him from the despised newer "Pink Lamby." Seemingly undeterred, she picked up her plush Veggie Tales guy, Larry Boy, and said, "That's OK. He can be Lamby." I took that as a sign that she might be OK with cuddling with other friends. So two nights ago we lost Brown Lamby again. Our house is not big, but he was nowhere to be found. She cried briefly but seemed OK when I told her I would bring him in if I found him.

Today I found him. He was in the bathroom cabinet with all the bath toys. I almost took him in to her, but then I hesitated. This is a good time, I thought. After all, I don't want her to take him to college, and I'm getting bombarded with suggestions for his demise (send him on a "trip" that he never comes home from, dismember him piece by piece until he's just a lamby torso. These are lamby haters, I'm telling you!) Here's how it went down. Nap time was a nightmare. She cried. Daddy laid down with her. I laid down with her. She never did go to sleep. By nighttime she was so tired I thought she would surely just grab something to cuddle and go to sleep without a fight. What I didn't expect was that she would break my heart. She didn't throw a fit or get angry. There was no tantrum. She cried as though her heart would break and kept saying through her tears, "Brown Lamby. Brown Lamby. I really like him. Brown Lamby." At prayer time she even prayed that God would help her find him.

OK. Dagger through the heart. I couldn't stand it. Brown Lamby is back. My daughter loves him, so I might as well embrace him, nasti-ness and all.

Some Changes are Coming

The first change is that my "new" FREE bookshelf has made its way into the girls' room. I forgot to mention in my earlier post that the people not only gave it to me, but they also delivered it to my house and put it in my garage since it wouldn't fit in my car. Everybody was happy that day. They REALLY didn't want to go back home with it. Daddy let the girls help paint it, and they are very excited that they still get a book at bedtime even if they forgot to get one out of Little Buddy's room before he fell asleep. This is a really good change. Unfortunately, the cute bins from Target were not free, but they'll just be super cute once I actually label them.

The second change, much more significant, is that I am determined to get some discipline in my life. I've mentioned in previous posts how this does not come naturally for me. I don't do things the same way twice. I have to keep my vitamins by my bed so I see them in the morning, or I won't remember to take them. Here's a really embarrassing confession from a person who has been a Christian for a VERY long time: It's been a year since I've read my Bible with some kind of regularity. I'm serious. After I graduated from seminary, I "took a break" because it still felt like homework, then I had a baby, then I just never found a way to get back into the habit. I'm very externally motivated--like I'll do it if I'm getting graded on it or there's a chance I'll be really embarrassed if I don't do it. Taking seminary classes was perfect for me because I actually do cherish the Bible.

I love the New Year because it's a chance for a fresh start. Somehow getting a calendar with nothing written on it feels like the right time to undo some bad habits. So I'm going to try to read the Bible through this year. I mentioned to my husband that I'd like to do it chronologically, and he went downstairs and came back up with this.

Two seminary graduates in one house--we do not lack for Bibles. We have no excuses. Since the one thing I seem to be consistent at is getting on the internet (blogging, looking at Facebook, etc.), here's my new plan: I am not coming downstairs to the computer until I've first done my Bible reading. Today was my first day. According to research, it will be a habit in 20 more days. I love fresh starts! Now if I can just fit exercise in there too...

What I'm Looking Forward To

I feel good about 2009. I don't know why. Maybe partially because I'm not pregnant. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE my babies, and I actually am sad about not having a new baby to look forward to, but at the same time it feels kind of freeing to have a break. Like I can go on a roller coaster if I want to this summer. And I can enjoy the development of the children I already have without being self-absorbed or pushing them ahead to make way for a new one. And Hubby can take vacation time to actually relax instead of just helping out while I recover from giving birth. And MAYBE I can get my body back (we'll see...). Right now I feel really content about where we are. Here are some things I'm looking forward to in 2009.


1. Big Sissy starting school in the fall. I don't know if this will be preschool or what. I just think she's ready for some sort of formal education.


2. Little Sissy getting potty trained. Don't hold me to this one. It could take a while.


3. Little Buddy learning to walk and start to talk. He's already pulling up on everything and pulling things off shelves, opening cabinets, etc. Yikes. We're in a whole new world.


4. Our Simmons family weekend in January and a trip to the Smokey Mountains with the Brimm family in October.


5. Taking the kids to the pool this summer. I was too scared to take them all by myself last summer. I was surprised how much we missed it. I think this year we'll be ready.


6. Big Sissy has grown out of her tantrums (for the most part), and I look forward to spending time with her on a new level. She is becoming such a great helper and loves doing things with us. She always comes up with new and interesting ideas, and I love hanging out with her.


7. Little Sissy is 2 now, so who knows what the year will hold for her. She is gaining independence--learning to dress herself, use her stepstool to turn on lights, wash her hands, get things out of the cabinets, etc. I am enjoying watching that aspect of her development (while I am a little nervous about the tantrums starting again). Maybe I've learned a little and will handle it better this time around when/if it comes.


8. The unknowns. I look forward to the things that will take me totally by surprise. I love that I can't plan everything. And I'm glad to have my friends and family that I can share those things with as they come.


Thanks for joining me in the journey and reading along as I share. I love having you all as part of my pilgrimage through life.

That Darn Muffler

I've heard missionaries talking about their country and its corrupt government--how if you have money you can buy your way out of punishment for any crime, etc. I'm just thinking that it's not so different in the good 'ole USA. We've seen plenty of examples of superstars getting away with things, but how about our traffic ticket system? I got a speeding ticket a few months ago (yes, I was breaking the law and had to explain that to my children). We paid into something called a prepaid legal plan, where money comes out of our check monthly and then we get "free" legal services. We did this because we had 3 kids and no will. We decided we should probably have a say in what happened to our children and money in case something ever should happen to both of us.

So...after I got the ticket, we contacted our attorney who did our will. He said he would "take care of it" for us. There are no legal fees, right? The next thing that happened was that I got a letter in the mail saying my charge had been reduced to a noisy muffler violation and that I owed the city $175. The speeding ticket wasn't nearly that much. This is all so weird to me. I got charged with a lesser "crime" and now I'm paying someone a lot more money. This isn't corrupt, right?

2008: The Year in Review

Happy New Year, everyone! I just bought Time Magazine's Year in Review, and I thought I'd do that before I throw out my old calendar.

January: This month was mostly about getting ready for the new baby, constantly checking my blood pressure and sugar levels, fretting about clothes not fitting, excited about the new child coming. Of course we did our January family weekend...AND Big Sissy had her first dentist visit. Little Sissy also moved out of the crib and into her "big girl" bed.

February: Little Buddy arrived and we spent the month getting adjusted to our new "normal" in our family. We were so blessed with meals and visits from friends while I recovered. We fell in love with this little boy immediately.

March: My parents went to China, Hubby's aunt Grace passed away, and we celebrated a snowy Easter. We started practicing getting out with all the kids.

April: I discovered a twist in my spine and started my VERY frequent chiropractor visits. Big Sissy reached the peak of her 3-year-old tantrums and nearly drove me insane.

May: This was a big one. I celebrated my first mother's day as a mother of 3, I attended my graduation ceremony, and we did a family vacation to Arkansas and Branson. Chiropractor visits continued, and Hubby went out of town for the last week. I survived.

June: We joined Hubby for a business trip to Springfield, and we went back to Silver Dollar City. We were otherwise busy with normal summer stuff: zoo, buttterfly house, parks, VBS.

July: I started working at Mother's Day Out on an as-needed basis. It was nice to have a little extra income, but after a few months I realized it wasn't working very well. This month my dad retired, Little Buddy moved out of his baby carrier and started solid food, and we celebrated Independence Day with Hubby's brother and family in Indiana.

August: More summer stuff--Muny, Raging Rivers, Bethalto Homecoming, Hope Church shindig. Little Buddy finally rolled over, and his laugh became the highlight of our days.

September: Little Sissy turned 2, we decided not to send Big Sissy to preschool but she started her preschool choir, I became a discussion group leader for the new year of M.O.P.S. Big Sissy's tantrums seemed to get better, but then all the deep questions of life started. And so did the rain in Missouri. We experienced a lot of flooding in our area.

October: We started our weekly excursions to Pizza Street, we enjoyed dressing up in preparation for Halloween, the rain continued...

November: Big Sissy turned 4, the girls got bunk beds, we had a monumental presidential election, and we went to Branson again with Hubby's family. The stock market dipped to an all-time low, and the holiday festivities began.

December: Shopping, cookie days, celebrations. An official recession was pronounced, and the year finished as Missouri's heaviest rain year in history, including the flood of '93.

As with all years, this was a year of great highs and unsettling lows. I'm thankful for perfect peace that sustains us through both, and I look forward with anticipation to what 2009 will bring.