Where Have I Been?

Oh my! I can't believe it has been three weeks since I last typed an entry! Please forgive me! It's been busy busy busy, as all of you can attest to as well.

Mike and I decided that we were going to give our kitchen a little face lift. We always get the bug at this time of year to upgrade something in our house. Last year we re-did the girls' bathroom . . . the two years prior were spent on basement projects . . . this year - the kitchen.

It all started with me ripping the wall paper off. Now, I only had a border and wall paper at the wainscoting height . . . but still, what was I thinking? I've decided - no more wallpaper - ever. After the wall paper was off, I decided to paint . . . and then Mike thought we should do countertops and tile backsplash. Changing the countertops meant I had to re-cover our kitchen chairs. And, as long as I was buying material for that, I decided to make valances as well (and - no - not the poof valances that you stuff with tissue paper - remember those?). It was fast and furious, but in less than three weeks, it's all done - just in time for the Thanksgiving Day celebration at our house Thursday. I'll post pictures of the finished project soon.

On a completely other note . . . I need to get on a soap box - just for a minute.

It started last week when a strange car pulled up to my house. I knew it was a solicitor, so I met them out on the sidewalk instead of letting them in my house. A young twenty-something kid came up to do a "survey" on the environment:
1. Do you feel that air pollution is a problem in your area?
2. Do you think the air is fresher inside or outside of your home?
3. Does anyone in your family suffer from allergies?
Well that wasn't so bad, I thought to myself . . . and then he asked for my name and phone number . . . hmmmm. He said there was going to be a drawing for a $500 shopping spree, and it was tonight. Apparently they only give four of these "shopping sprees" away each year. Whatever, I thought . . . he doesn't have my address, so what's it going to hurt?

Well, amazingly enough, I was the $500 shopping spree winner. I received the call that very night. I was very skeptical at this point, and was a little rude while grilling the overly-sweet girl on the other end. She said the only "catch" was that I needed to sit through a 30 minute presentation on Rainbow Vaccuum Cleaners. There's always a catch, but I thought $500 worth of goods that were "Kohl's, JC Penney's or Sear's-like" was worth a half hour of my time - especially with Christmas around the corner. So I scheduled our "30-minute" presentation . . .

They were scheduled to come at 5:30p tonight . . . but showed up promtly at 5:08p - Sweet I thought - the sooner they'll be done, and we can get to dinner. Well the presentation lasted until 6:30p . . . and it was very well done. Mike and I were terribly grossed out by the filth in our carpets. We were convinced that we "needed" one, but knew we didn't have the $2100.00 to purchase one (especially after our kitchen upgrade). Can you believe it? $2100.00!!!!!

So what that it was and hour and a half of our time? I was going to get $500 of free merchandise!

As soon as dinner was done (at 7:00p) I hopped on-line to check out the cool products I could buy.

First of all - the items that were shown were completely stupid and junky - hardly Kohl's, JC Penney's or Sears-worthy, with about one millionth of the selection. There were about 8 categories including; home accents, sports and recreation, apparel, jewelry and watches, kids gifts, womens and mens gifts, kitchen items, electronics, travel etc . . . and anywhere from 4-7 items under each category (just like our local department stores - NOT!). But that's not the bad part . . . the worst of it is that I got the items "free" but had "only to pay for shipping and handling" which added up to anywhere between $5 and $20 per item - which is really what the items are probably really worth. Oh, and don't forget the $5 transaction fee . . .

So much for my little plan. I should know better to think that anything sold door to door would be above board. The only reason I did the presentation (that was supposed to be 30 minutes) is for the $500 I could use for Christmas shopping.

I'm so stupid.

So, if someone comes to your door for a "quick survey" - just shut the door!

Grace

The other day Faith made a couple of bad choices in the words she used when we were in the van on the way home from the grocery store. As a result, I told her that when we got home I'd give her hot sauce - our standard treatment for a potty mouth.

She HATES hot sauce! She can't think of a worse punishment. So . . . the whole way home she was crying and blubbering and begging, "Please, Mom, No! I'm sorry for what I said" . . . etc.

When we got home, I sent her to her room so that I could administer the punishment - and the blubbering continued. At this point I was feeling more than a little exhausted (grocery shopping with two fighting siblings wears on you), and I just didn't feel like dealing with the screaming and bawling and begging for ice cubes that follows putting hot sauce on her tongue. So, I went into her room, sat on her bed and had a little conversation with her about grace.

I asked her if she knew what grace meant. She knows it's her sister's middle name, but that's about the extent of it. I explained that grace is when you deserve punishment, but it is taken away from you for no reason at all - just out of love. And then I extended grace to her. We talked about how she really deserved hot sauce on her tongue for how she had spoken . . . but that I was going to extend her grace this time, and ask her to be sure not to say those things again.

Then we talked about the Grace that our Heavenly Father gives to us, by forgiving all of our sins and wanting to be our Forever Friend. We talked about how we deserve hell, but that God made a way for us to avoid eternal punishment for our sins through his only Son, Jesus.

It was a really neat moment - a teachable moment. She certainly has a better understanding of grace, and of what God did for us when He sent His Son to take our punishment.

The only downside, is that the next time she was going to be punished or spanked for something she yelled out, "Give me grace, give me grace, I need grace!" This was also a teachable moment . . . sometimes we have to be punished for our bad choices. However I couldn't help but smirking a little.