A Small Victory

I hate it when I don't have time to blog, because then I have days like today when I have so much to say but none of it goes together.  So, this will be a post of randomness. 

First, a funny story.  The day after I posted about the dreaded turkeys they showed up again in our front yard.  The boys were getting ready to leave for school and decided to "track" them around the yard a bit.  Of course, they were too noisy and had the turkeys heading for the road.  One of the neighbor kids saw the turkeys and started chasing them.  Now at this point, my hubby went outside and asked her to please stop chasing the turkeys.  She did not listen.  Here comes the funny part.  Those turkeys got so spooked, they started taking flight.  I don't know if you've ever seen a turkey take flight, but those 40 pound birds don't get off the ground easily!  Three of them didn't quite clear the house across the street and slammed into the roof before making it over the top.  I cannot even imagine what it sounded like in that house to have 3 massive turkeys hit their roof at 7:00 in the morning.  For days there were 3 big dents in the snow on that roof, made me laugh every time I saw it.  The best part???  Not a turkey in sight since that day.  Small victory for me?  I think so!

This next story has no victory for me at all. For the past few nights, my husband and I have decided to play cards instead of watch tv.  Now I have never been good at cards, probably because I grew up Baptist and good Baptists do not play cards.  Also, my mind just doesn't wrap around the whole concept of cards.  I think I'm good at many things, but cards is most definitely not one of them, I'm the one who nobody wants on their team.  So, anyways, we decided to play gin rummy.  Pretty easy game, I picked it up well, I thought.  I honestly do not ever remember being as frustrated as I was the past 2 nights in a row.  I am either the most unlucky person EVER or I'm just an idiot who really can't pick up a very easy game.  I would have the best hand, ready to lay it down and Billy would draw just the card he needed to beat me.  This happened over and over and over.  If you know me, you know I'm pretty cool-headed, I bring a sense of calm to crisis situations and rarely lose control.  I was absolutely seething, ready to punch a wall, or Billy or anything in my way at the time.  UGH!!!  I'm mad just thinking about it.  I really am a good sport, people.  I know how to lose gracefully, but something about losing when I don't seem to have any control whatsoever over the outcome just about did me in.  Not much point to that story, but now you know not to have me over to play cards.  Unless, of course, we're playing for money and you want a sure thing.

Now I can't remember what else I wanted to talk about.  We're leaving in about 20 minutes for the long drive to my in-laws for Thanksgiving weekend.  Looking forward to some real shopping!  Oh, and of course, for Thanksgiving...Am I the only one who thinks the actual Thanksgiving dinner is horrid?  Everybody else is stuffed and I wish I could get away with just eating pumpkin pie.  I love the season of giving thanks, it just seems like every year it goes by and I have a sense of "we MUST do that better next year".  I don't know, just my thoughts...

Turkeys

I know what you're thinking.  "Another blog about being thankful, blah, blah, blah".  Well, I am thankful, I am blessed, but this is not that kind of post.  This is a post about blasted turkeys.  There's about 20 of them in all their nastiness out my front window right now.  If you know me very well, you know I hate, HATE birds.  Birds of all shapes and sizes, but especially the very large ones.  Their nasty, sharp claws, wrinkly skin, ugly beaks.  Ewww, ewww, ewww.  Apparently there was an incident at an aviary (I think that's what they're called) when I was young and ever since I have been deathly afraid of birds.  I used to have nightmares that a chicken was under my covers flapping around, scratching me and it couldn't get out because I was holding the covers down.  Yeah, it's that bad. 

So these wild turkeys have been hanging out by our house for the past few days.  They're huge and the tracks they're leaving are really freaking me out.  Luckily there hasn't been anybody around to see me looking out all the windows to see if they're around and then running for the car in sheer terror.  I'm trying to hold it together for my boys so they won't be afraid (and so they won't laugh at me), but it's really, really hard. 

The worst part it, Taylor (my 9 year old) will be getting his turkey license and fully intends to shoot a turkey later this year.  So, just like the elk meat hanging in my garage, we're going to have turkey hanging in our garage.  Seriously, people, I don't think I'm gonna be able to handle it.  And, I really don't think I'm going to be able to cook it or eat it.  I'm cringing just thinking about it and that's months away.

I once saw a show that had a man who also hated turkey but he was so bad that he wouldn't even eat turkey of any kind.  He just couldn't do it.  I laughed and thought he was crazy, but I'm starting to wonder if I'm headed that direction.  I'm supposed to be a "mental health professional", I really need to get a handle on this...

Meat

First of all, I just discovered there's another blog titled Regular Mom.  So much for me being original, I don't even have that going for me!  Oh well, I like the name anyways. 

Now on to my topic.  There's an elk hanging in my garage.  Well, actually, there's 4 legs with large amounts of meat attached to them and some unknown parts (except the testicle hanging there, I do recognize that, yuck) hanging in my garage.  Not really sure how I feel about this, but I'm avoiding the garage as much as possible until I figure it out.  The last time he killed an animal (he shot a buck when we lived in Grand Junction) it went straight to the processor and came home nicely wrapped in clearly labeled packages.  This I am okay with.  He has asked many times if I'm going to help him "process" this meat.  Which means cutting it all up and wrapping it to go into our freezer, into my cooking, and into our mouths.  My response to him is "I'm not that kind of wife" and "If you expect me to cook it and eat it, I will not be taking part in the processing of it".  He keeps asking...  I'm trying to be the supportive, encouraging "helper" wife I know I'm supposed to be, and I'm so happy for him and his successful hunt, but I think the line might need to be drawn.  We've also been given different advice from about 10 different people on how the processing of this meat should take place, what seasonings to add, whether or not to add some fat in, what parts to keep and not keep.  Ugh.  Do we really have to talk about this so much?  I just have to say, I'm ready for this to be over so I don't have to talk about meat anymore. 

Disclaimer:  Now, don't get me wrong, I'm totally impressed with you women who hunt with your husbands, or without, and who involve yourself completely in the process from start to finish.  I don't have an issue with hunting, I'm really thankful for the provision God has given us!  I just don't really want to be the one doing it.   And since it's my blog, I get to share my opinion.  Take it or leave it!!

Grace

Thank you everyone for such sweet comments and, really, just for reading!  It's kind of fun to know other people give a hoot about what I write.  I need to tell you all, though, I am honestly not fishing for compliments here.  I'm totally happy being a regular mom!  I think if we're all honest, we can say none of us really have it all together.  And that's where grace comes in.  I'm totally content in the fact that I'm not perfect, never have been, never will be.  I'm a sinner saved by grace and I love that I can show others grace in their non-perfectness.

On a completely different note, I just have to brag on my hubby a little bit.  He shot his first elk ever this morning!  I'm so happy for him!  I'm also happy for me.  Not so much for the freezer full of elk meat, I'm kind of a priss and will probably have to mix it with ground beef to be able to tolerate it much.  But I am thankful for the meat, don't get me wrong.  Anyway, I'm mostly happy to have him back and participating in the family again.  He's been out of the house by 5 every morning and home well after dark with wet, dirty clothes and a worn out body.  So, yes, I'll be glad to have him back.

Another completely different note.  Our kids have had their pumpkins for 2 weeks now, asking almost nightly to carve them.  I've put them off and am finally letting them carve them today.  Unfortunately, the pumpkins are looking a little sad.  I won't be surprised at all if we cut the tops off to find them totally rotten.  Good times.  Guess I better get to that...

The Big Why

Never thought I would be a blogger.  Lately, though, Pinterest has led me to many different blogs of people who seem to have it all together.  Perfect moms, perfect sewers, bakers, party planners, gift makers, etc. etc. etc.  I'm not really that great at anything.  I don't really have that strong of opinions about much of anything.  Really, I don't have much to say about much of anything.  (I might regret saying that later)  So why blog?  I think surely there must be other people like me out there who don't have it all together.  If I can be encouraging to even one of those people, then that's why I'm gonna blog.  Us regular people have to stick together! 

So here's why I'm calling myself the regular mom.  I work outside the home.  My kids go to public school (I know, gasp).  We rent our house.  I like to coupon, but not excessively.  I'm frugal, but I like clothes and shoes and bags and ...  I like to dress stylish, but need a tutorial on how to do it.  I like to sew, but again need a tutorial.  I'm not creative.  I try to feed my family healthy foods, but they still prefer processed foods.  I really want to be organized, but I'm just not.  I really want to work out, but I usually don't.  Is that enough? 

I guess you just need to know not to come here for advice on any one thing or for creative ideas or tutorials.  Or recipes.  Or workout tips.  But if you want to feel better about yourself because at least one other person out there doesn't have it all together, then this might be the blog for you!