"A Wink and a Smile"

Today I am a little moody. I should be so happy because it is Saturday and my first uneventful one in almost 2 months. HOWEVER, I am tired and NEED SOME ALONE TIME! Last night my 7 .5 year old had her very first sleepover. Needless to say there was way too much loudness and not enough quiet and sleep going on. After this little girl went home, my husband left for the day to go to his work. I don’t love weekends like that. THEN, my 5.5 year old gave me a little guilt and begged to have her friend over for the day. I caved. Some days I just do not enjoy other people’s children (in my house for extended periods of time). That sounds terrible. I think I just needed a relaxing day after the holidays, the swim meets, the Mother-in-law, and my Mom. Tonight’s plan … my bed, a good book, and a nice cup of tea. THAT IS ALL!

Yesterday I thought I would do a good deed and weed out all the junk mail that sits on my countertop. For Christmas my husband gifted me with a pretty cool shredder ... I started to toss out some unopened envelopes with credit card offers. One of the envelopes was from a Catholic missionary. Recently I have received a lot of mail from a variety of missionaries and I always read through the letters. Yesterday however, I DID NOT open up the envelope. I just placed it into my paper shredder. BIG OOPS! Apparently they placed a Saint medallion in this envelope and my super, fancy, shmancy (and yes, anonymous person ... I know this is not a real word) paper shredder cannot shred thick metal (oops, I originally spelled this word as "medal" because the item was a Saint's medal). Was this a sign? Should I have taken the time to open up the envelope before just tossing it to my shredder? My punishment ... A BROKEN SHREDDER . Last week I nearly tossed out the Staples gift card cou...

... my husband and I got engaged. I wonder what percentage of married couples were engaged on Valentine's Day? It was a magical evening when I was proposed to by my dear. He is my best friend. He makes me smile everyday. He brings humor and joy to my days. He is a great helper ... definitely my partner in this journey called life. He works very hard at his job ... a wonderful provider. He is a romantic and a great gift giver (way better than I). His strong arms always give me the greatest of hugs when I need it the most. I AM SO LUCKY. Happy Valentine's Day to my Dearest LOVE !

What do we have in common as of today ? I am feeling rather brave to post a picture of me with braces. They have been on nearly 10 months now. Today my 3rd daughter {m} beat her big sisters to the braces game. Poor child inherited my awful bite, but we will fix that. At least when she finishes her braces bit, she will not have to have her jaw broken and realigned like her mommy. Happy BRACES day to {m] and Happy 37th birthday to ME! *I am not sure what is going on with esnips, but I LOVE this Stevie Wonder song ... just click on the play button. As a Mommy of 5 girls, HOW could you not like this tune?