And the award goes to....

It was a fun filled weekend, that ol' Staycation. She was a good 'un. Worth repeating, if you ask me. But even if ya didn't, you are reading my blog so really in essence, you did.

Just a few shout outs from the weekend.

The award for Most Brave goes to....CLAIRE! For her first solo tubing experience. FASTER PAPPAW! Runner up goes to BRETT who later went tubing with Claire.

The award for Most Number of Teeth Acquired during Staycation goes to....REID! For getting 2 new teeth along with strep throat to really make his first staycation enjoyable for him and his mother!

The award for Most Improved goes to...JUSTIN! For beginning the weekend by refusing to even touch the lake water and within 30 minutes he was a pro! Swam like a little fish all weekend. Even went tubing!

The award for Best Lake Jump goes to...BRETT! For his Cowboy jump which comes complete with a gallop across the dock, a fake lasso swinging, and a YEE-HA as he jumps in.

The award for Most Consistent Behavior goes to....LEO! For never going 60 seconds without saying MAH-MEEEEEEE except for rare instances in which it would switch to MIMI or PAPPAW

Honorable Mentions:
*Mandi for her keylime cheesecake and berries
*Allison for captaining the boat and mixing drinks (not at the same time)
*Justin for his one-liner: I'm being really good today, Mom. I wish there was another boy like me. (which I guess is actually a 2-liner!)
*Jeremy for cramming a whole weekend into 12 hours and then waking up at 3:45 am to take Allison to the airport and get to work on time this morning

and last but not least....MOM AND DAD. The host and hostest with the mostest! For cooking, cleaning, babysitting, bathing, feeding, and chasing after all of us all weekend!

oh wait....Mark. What the hell did Mark do all weekend?

It's Staycation, BABY

Oh staycation....how I have longed for you. and here you are! And just as expected, you have not disappointed. I wasn't sure we were ever going to make it. There were roadblocks along the way. Illness, neighborhood burglaries, freaky-deaky clients at work, dog feeding schedules, horrible traffic, a pit stop at the Clay County office, the list goes on. But the stars aligned just in time and here we are!

And this place was rockin' when we got here. Staycation Central (also known as Mimi and Pappaw's house) was in full swing. Doodle had a game of Polish Horseshoes going (a homemade drinking game of frisbee, and knocking beer bottles off of a 2x4), Dad/Pappaw/Ronnie was making cocacha's in the blender (yes, please), Greg was on the grill, and 5 children under the age of 7 were on the loose!

Famous Staycation lines thus far:
Justin: It's Vacation, BABY
Doodle: Courtney, where are my backup pants?
Dad: It's fantastico!
Leo: Hi Mimi, Hi Pappaw (which he says about 150 times per hour)

and it's only Friday morning....

The motto

A little over 3 years ago I came up with my motto. It's pretty simple. "It's not wrong, it's just different." It means that the way others do and see things is not wrong, it's just different than how I do or see them.

I came up with it when I was bedridden at the hospital for 3 weeks prior to my oldest son's birth. And let me tell you, EVERYONE handles that differently! And I had nothing to do but sit around and think about how everyone was reacting. I seriously spent about 90% of those 3 weeks by myself in a hospital room. What else was I going to do? I did a lot of thinking. And sleeping. And watching TV. And doing paperwork for work. And playing Sudoku. And more thinking.

And I started getting a little cranky about how people were responding. I have a bit of an issue with wanting to be in control and I had absolutely no control over that entire situation. People that I wanted to visit didn't. People that I didn't particularly care to see in that situation stopped by. The only way that I found peace was to recognize that everyone handles things differently. So I learned to forgive the ones that didn't stop by and really appreciate the people that took time out of their busy schedules to come by and try to break up the never ending days of bed rest. When I look back now I realize that there were tons of really generous family members and friends who stopped by with books, magazines, snacks, flowers, etc. If you were one of them, THANK YOU. I may not have said it then, but I am saying it now. Thank you.

So I've learned and am continuing to learn to appreciate others' perspectives. It's hard. I like to think I'm right damn near all the time! But what's right for me might not be right for everyone. It's a toughie. A hard lesson to learn. But I'm working on it. And when I get frustrated with someone else or start to judge his or her decision, I try to fall back to my motto. Is it wrong? Or is it just different than how I would do it?

Beep

I don't know what it is about voicemails but they send me into some sort of freakish panic. First of all, don't you think we are all aware of the process by now? Is it really necessary for every single answering machine and voicemail to instruct us on when and what do to? I mean seriously, I think we've mastered this one!

So as soon as the whole message thing gets started I get distracted by the other 150 things I'm doing and by the time it gets to the "BEEP" I have lost my train of thought. Oh crap, who was I calling???? I'll just start talking and leave the general message and maybe it will come to me. "Hey, this is Gwen" (should I be leaving my last name or am I calling someone that knows me well??). Sometimes I get brave and throw out the ol' "hey it's me" as if everyone should realize who I am just by hearing my voice. I usually remember who I'm calling about half way through.

And I always feel obligated to leave the date and time that I am calling. Like they are tracking me to see if I in fact called at the very time I said I did. And what if I say "about 10:30" when really it's only 10:20 and I was just too lazy too look at the clock so I rounded off? And then I'm thinking what if they get the message at 10:25 and they wonder why the hell I said it was already 10:30 when it's clearly not!

And then (as if the person listening to the message even cares) I feel the need to rattle off exactly what I am doing and my entire schedule for the day in case this person wants to try to call me back.

And speaking of calling me back, this part is the absolute WORST. I never know how to end the message without sounding desperate. "So call me when you think about it" (which obviously they will be thinking about it when they call! DUH!) or "if you get some time, just give me a call" (desperate and bossy!) or "I'll just talk to you when you call me" (ummmm OBVIOUS) or "just call me sometime and we'll catch up" (PLEASE! it's like I'm a 16 year old girl) or "I'll catch up with you sometime this week" (stalker!).

Then I hang up and play it back in my mind which only causes greater embarrassment. As my friend Rosie once said "MOVE ON...JUST MOVE ON." And so I do.