Sometimes when we write, we lay our heart out on the table and ask people to guard it for us. This is one of those times. Today we're going to take a break from crafts and glue guns because I need to share something with you. I'm sharing it with you because I know that some of you are in the same boat, the same place, the same struggle. If nothing else comes of this, I want at least one - you know if it's you - to know that I'm here too. You're not alone. Months ago the walls started to crash in around me. Things piled up faster than I could push them away. Life got hard and every day a … [Read more...]
Fourteen. Hold Me.
I've learned that as a parent, there comes a time that instead of counting up, you start counting down. When your child is a newborn, you start counting the months until they eat solid food. Then it shifts to counting the years until they start preschool. Eventually you'll find yourself saying, "only two more years left in elementary school!" and chances are, that's about the time that those numbers start to make you realize how fast it's flying by. Then one day you wake up and say, "only two more years until they can drive," or "only four more years until college." Instead of … [Read more...]
Life Lately – ❤ February 2nd Edition
Hello happy crafters, it's your fearless leader speaking. Just kidding, I have plenty of fear. Yes I'll hot glue anything to anything or use glitter with undone abandonment but I'm not totally fearless. Here's what I fear: Snakes. Big time.Running out of coffee. My family fears this as well.My kindle dying, which happened this year. It was a nightmare. Walking into a room full of strangers. Introvert for life. Putting myself out there. Not just in the way of writing a blog that's read by a million or so people a year. No, I mean really just taking a leap into the unknown. Want to … [Read more...]
Life Lately – Christmas and More!
Christmas crafts are winding down. It's been a great season but it's time for me to put down the glue gun, back away from the glitter and drop the tinsel. I do have one more Christmas craft coming later this week and I might redo my Santa Bread post because my 9 year old is demanding we make it again. We usually give Santa Bread to all of our neighbors for Christmas but we didn't last year (We gave them yummy Christmas Jam instead) and she's a little bit upset about that. In case you've missed them, here's a few of the Christmas crafts / projects that showed up here on Clumsy … [Read more...]
Giving Tuesday
The older I get and the more teenage mouths I have to feed, the more I realize how deeply blessed we are every single day. Even in the hardest times, I am blessed more abundantly than many on this earth and that's not something I want to take for granted. Maybe I'll whine about the cost of braces or how the pantry shelves are empty when I just went to the store the day before - BUT - I live in an area of the world where braces are an option. I live in a country where there are grocery stores on every corner. Following Hurricane Harvey, I realized what it would be like to live with empty … [Read more...]
Things to do in Oklahoma City – Exploring the Downtown Area!
Last summer we took a little trip to the mecca know as, "The Pioneer Woman's Lodge" and somewhere between the south Oklahoma border, playing in the famous Oklahoma waterfalls at Chickasaw National Reserve, marveling at the powerful windmills dotting the prairies and Arbuckle Mountain Ranges and the beauty of it all, I fell in love with visiting Oklahoma. That's why this spring break when we were looking for things to do, we decided to take a trip back to Oklahoma. You might have read my earlier post about the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in Lawton, Oklahoma. That was the very … [Read more...]
Life Lately: Flower Pots, Shot Nerves and Harvey the Jerk
Life Lately. Shot nerves, shot teeth, shot flooding issues. But hey! It's all good. Am I right? Maybe. Ask me again in a few minutes. As I write this there's men here working on the foundation of our house. There's certain things they do tell you when they when you're preparing for the work to be done such as "we're going to have to break out this concrete" and we'll use jacks under your house to raise it. What they don't tell you is that they will use a jackhammer for approximately 9 hours to break through that concrete and the jack under your house will occasionally cause huge booms … [Read more...]
Trip to Oklahoma – You’re Gonna Want to Go
Oklahoma gets a bad rap. I mentioned to my friends on Facebook that we were heading to Oklahoma for spring break and asked what the best things to do were in Oklahoma. Real answers included: fly over it drive back to Texas I have had one semi bad experience in Oklahoma but that was just the year that our church decided to go somewhere closer for summer youth camp and we wound up at a really old camp in Oklahoma during a heat wave. It wasn't a great tip. But because of that one bad experience, I had pretty much stayed away from it. Then something wonderful happened, … [Read more...]
Gray Hair & Mother of a Teenager
When I wake up in the morning, I will be the mother of a teenager. Now let's take two seconds and try to be reasonable about this...... First of all, I don't know how I can be the mother of a 13 year old when I'm only 25. Right? Anyone else with me? The math just does not add up there in my favor. Actually I think the math what might have been the clue that led one of my kids to the truth. Second, I feel too young to be the mom of a 13 year old but that ol' mirror is a liar and tries to tell me differently. I used to look at it and see smooth skin with gravity that was in my … [Read more...]
Life Lately – Life After Hurricane Harvey
As of right now, we are 12 days away from being 6 months post Harvey. If you're new around here - welcome- but let me fill you in. We live in a suburb of Houston, Texas. On August 28th our town flooded due to the release of a dam to the north of us that was trying to deal with the high amount of rain we were experiencing. On top of the water that came rushing down the river at us in the middle of the night and the 50 inches of rain that we had already received, this area of Houston flooded to unimaginable heights. We live along a river in an area where it meets a lake. Flooding … [Read more...]
What to do When Kids are Throwing Up – More Tips and Tricks from Readers!
Many years ago I wrote a post titled, "What to do When Kids are Throwing Up" simply because that day my then preschool age daughter was very sick with the stomach bug and I knew that I had some tips and tricks that could help other parents in the same predicament. Fast forward almost 5 years later that that old post is still one of the most popular posts on this blog. The picture is grainy and old as dirt but the advice and comments on that post are worth their weight in gold, especially if you have a sick child. While I still stand by all the advice in that post, if you haven't … [Read more...]
Must Have Items from Trader Joe’s for Coffee Lovers
Coffee is wonderful. It perks you up, warms you up and just begs you to sit by the fire for awhile. Trader Joe's is just as wonderful. In fact did you know that you can find amazing items made with coffee at Trader Joe's? You're not really surprised are you? Where else can you also find bacon popcorn or the world's best frozen Mac n' Cheese? Mix the two things together and worlds of happiness explode. (OK - I've had a lot of coffee today.) But regardless of how shaky my hands are from this coffee high, there are so many great items at Trader Joe's for coffee lovers. … [Read more...]
