WE ARE BECOMING OUR PARENTS!!!

The past few weeks at home, I have discovered we are becoming more and more like our parents every day! Little things at first, now its becoming transparent. I'm a little freaked out by this, but at the same time feeling quite at peace with our lives. If becoming my parents means living a happy, productive life then bring it on!

I remember how close my mom and dad were. Everyday they told each other how much they loved each other. I remember my dad coming up to my mom in the kitchen and giving her a hug and kiss as she was cooking dinner. When they sat together in church, his arm would always be around her shoulders or holding her hand. In walmart or other stores, they showed their affection toward each other by holding hands or talking low. I always wanted a relationship just like that. And now I realize I do.

My dad loved everything old fashioned. He liked raising chickens, turkeys, rabbits and guineas. He liked having a garden that he worked with his own hands. As a child, i never really understood those things. In my mind it was just easier to buy everything. It didn't seem to taste any different if it was bought in a store or raised in our yard. I thought it was just too much work, rediculous, and swore I would never torture my children with it. But, a few days ago as I walked through our freshly tilled garden with my daughter, I started remembering how much I enjoyed walking behind my dad as he drove the tractor through the garden and feeling the freshly tilled soil around my bare feet. I started to feel that proud feeling that I think he felt all those years. Its not the taste of the food, but the feeling of accomplishment. To make that extra effort to grow our own vegetables and raise animals for food taught us that hard work really pays off. I am beginning to feel that sense of pride and accomplishment.

Tonight, after dinner, I asked Chris if he wanted a cup of coffee. After eating I had this sudden urge to have a cup of coffee. He looked at me and agreed that it sounded like a good idea. As we were drinking our coffee, we watched tv and browsed through the sale ads. He asked me, "are we turning into your mom and dad?!" well, Chris, I think we are! Ten years ago, that would have bothered me to know I was no longer that teenager that knew so much more than my parents did! However, today, I am proud to be like them!

I am proud to have a home of our own, three beautiful children, a relationship that gets stronger everyday, working in the yard everyday, making things from scratch, and laughing when I see us sitting in front of the tv after the kids have gone to bed with a cup of coffee in our hands just like ......my parents.

I love you Mom and Dad!!!

Betty Crocker Move Over!!!!

I am having so much fun cooking! Admittedly most of the recipes are not of my own creations, but they sure to turn out pretty good! I do alter the recipes sometimes to adapt to my family's tastes! Several of the recipes I have been trying have been very inexpensive to make. Plus I listen and look for great deals in the grocery store. For example, my sister-in-law told me they had a 5 lb bag of red potatoes at vowels for 99cents! I jumped right on that! I found a great recipe online for a "baked potato salad" and made it for dinner tonight. Everyone loved it!

I have always wanted to learn how to make my own pasta. Have you ever gone to a real Italian restaurant? The pasta there is always so amazing because they make it themselves! So I have found a few recipes online for homemade pasta. I can't believe its so simple! Its just flour, salt and eggs! There are plenty of different varieties, like spinach pasta, but I think I am going to try this one step at a time. On top of the homemade pastas, I also found some great sauce recipes. I'm going to try some tomorrow night.

Chris is really loving my new found curiosity and energy, lets just hope we aren't buying all new bigger wardrobes anytime soon!

Pam and Chris?

Wow! I really forgot what it's like to eat a nice meal without breaking up an arguement, wiping up a spill, cleaning faces and hands, or satisfying any other need of my children! My husband treated me to dinner tonight at Red Lobster! We had an uninterrupted adult conversation all the way to Tuscaloosa, sat at a booth (not an extended table with a highchair), and ordered a meal without figuring up how much it would cost for all 5 of us! I have to say, it was just amazing! We had forgotten what it was like to be Pam and Chris, instead of Mommy and Daddy! I must tell you that many times I have had doubts. When I was working all the time and away from home, I though I had made a bad choice. Sitting at work all day long and then coming home to a dirty house, chores not done, homework forgotten, and a husband asleep in his chair, I blamed him. I thought he was lazy, that he didnt care how I felt, that he wasn't the man I married, and even worse I wondered if I just married him because I was scared of being alone! And I can imagine he felt the same way about me. But, tonight helped me realize that he wasnt our problem, and neither was I. It was our lack of time together! All day everyday, we have work, children, housework, yardwork, bills and STRESS!!!! Before we know it, we have forgotten why we started it in the first place! Or at least I did! Don't get me wrong, I love the things we are able to do as a family. However, every now and then we need a reminder of the beginning, what it was like before the kids. The first look, the first date, the first touch, the first kiss....how amazing those things felt! Tonight, I remembered all the things I love about us.....and it made all those everyday mountains look like ant hills! Before it was "The Clinks", it was just Pam and Chris!

A New Beginning

After working as a Retail Store Manager and hardly ever seeing my family, my husband and I have decided we will make it affordable for me to stay home! After a month of being at home with my children, I have lots of ideas on what to do with my time. First, I had to catch up on all the housework! Yes, it was an early spring cleaning. After accomplishing that task, I had to re-teach myself how to manage those daily tasks such as laundry, cooking, cleaning and on top of all that, being a mother to my 2-year old. So, I'm starting this blog as not so much a diary, but maybe an example. I used to stay at home with my older two children, but barely accomplished a thing. I spent most of my time sleeping or watching tv, something that I am determined not to fall into this time around. I think if I had some sort of inspiration during that time, things would have been different. So, I am going to start writing about some of the things I decide to take on in hopes that someone like me will be inspired to attempt and conquer. Most of my topics will be things that may seem simple to some, or impossible for others, but they will be the things in my life that are important. Things like potty-training my daughter, raising our new chickens, planting gardens, planning outtings with my family or just life experiences. I hope that my trials, errors, accomplishments, struggles and learning experiences will show other mothers out there that they are not alone. I also hope I can see how others have overcome their trials and get through those "every day things".