here's to the little things...

sometimes it's just easier to lie.

now...don't get me wrong.  i'm all about telling the truth.  but sometimes...like when your 6 year old daughter asks you if strangers can get into the house if the doors are locked...it's just easier to lie.

is that wrong?

i don't know.

but what i do know...is that when i am tucking her in, saying prayers, reading stories, and singing lullabies...a educational conversation on the danger of strangers and what to do if she is kidnapped just doesn't seem appropriate.

so, tonight...when she asked me that question...

i just said, "no."

****

last night i went to bed at 7:00.  i don't know the last time that i went to bed that early...but i didn't wake up until 7:30 this morning and i felt the difference today.

we made it grocery shopping before 9:30.  and that never happens.

also...when she insisted on bringing her doll stroller with elmo...i said, "ok."

 and that little distraction worked until the cereal isle.

that's when a box of fruit loops became way more important than elmo making it to the next isle.

so...the stroller and elmo balanced on top of the rest of my groceries while we dealt with a mini-tantrum.

i call it "mini" because it only lasted until the produce section where i let her pick out some apples.

these sweatpants are really getting some mileage.  i contemplated going and buying another pair...but then wondered if that would just be enabling my "not getting ready" trend that i have going.

my jeans feel tight and uncomfortable...which causes me to opt for the sweatpants whenever humanly possible.

i just hate tight jeans.

the jury is still out on if i "need" another pair.



chad calls me a marketer's dream.  like today...at the dollar spot...i "spotted" these valentine's pencils that had to be bought to replace the christmas pencils from the last couple of months.

we can't be having christmas pencils in the pencil holder after christmas, now can we?

never-the-less...they make me happy.

as does my writing environment.  you know how kids carry around a stuffed animal, doll, or blankie for comfort?  well...i carry around this slatkin & co. "winter cabin" candle.  i just move it around the house with me.  really.  i do.



another joy that i found today was the sound of trout's hooves...i mean paws...on the lawn when we play fetch.  he loves to fetch a mini football and i'm not kidding when i say that when he runs, he sounds just like a horse.  and since horse hooves on a cobble stone street or dirt is my most favorite sound in the world (aside from my children's laughter)...it very much makes me happy.  there is this patch of our lawn that is just dirt because chad dug up the dead grass...and when trout hits it at a steady run...i imagine that i'm at the kentucky derby...listening to the horses run.

i just love it.

i don't know if all big dogs sound like horses when they run...

i'm just glad that mine does.

here's to the little things.