Hilltop--Heaven Sent

Most of you who have lived in Northwest Indiana for any length of time have probably heard about Hilltop. But maybe you've never been there, and maybe you don't know how NICE it is. Well. I own my own business and am a single mom on a limited income for the time being, and don't have health insurance. So I went there to see if I qualified for help with dental work that I DESPERATELY NEED DONE... and was scared because I'd never been there before and didn't know what to expect. I know when I've had to go to the welfare office before to get Hoosier Healthwise for the girls (health insurance for kids) I feel weird because I'm often going after work, which means I'm dressed up. I don't want people there who are legitimately in need to think that somehow I'm taking advantage of the system...and although no one there has ever made me feel that way I still sometimes feel self-conscious. I DID NOT feel this way at Hilltop! The room was a cheery bright yellow, the ladies at the front desk were super nice, there were pretty mums outside the front door. I don't know why cosmetics make such a big difference; it seems so shallow; but they do make a difference! I was very happy with my experience there-- and oh yeah I did qualify for the dental work:)

House for Sale

For those of you who haven't heard, the Wallace girls have found a super cute apartment with a pool in Parkview's school district and are READY TO MOVE. There's just a tiny step of selling the house first! So here are the stats:
2 Bedrooms
1 Bath
1 Car Attached Garage
Full Basement with walk-in storage closet
Schools: Parkview, TJ Middle, Valpo High
Taxes: $1130 with Exemptions
Appliances Stay (stove, fridge, washer and dryer, dehumidifier, lawnmower, window ac)
Updates: New roof 2008, new gutters 2007, new tub and plumbing 2007, new kitchen faucet 2007, new windows 2004
Other features: Hardwood floors, ceiling fans, updated decor/colors, ceramic tile trim around bathtub, Nafco floor in bathroom. Swingset also stays. Nice patio in backyard.
Price: $92,500
Address: 1003 Beech St, seven houses west of Roosevelt Rd, about 6 blocks north of the hospital. Walking distance to school, Kirchoff Park, Banta Center.
TELL PEOPLE! THEN WE'LL HAVE A CHRISTMAS PARTY AT THE NEW APARTMENT!!!!!

"Flourishers" Do It Better

Life, that is. Just read an article on Longevity, with 13 things that you may already do, that help us live longer. One is to eat purple food (grapes, grape juice, blueberries, raspberries, wine). Another is to drink green or black tea. Another is to have friends (awww). But one that stuck with me is the line between what they call Languishers and Flourishers. Kind of the "Glass is Half-Full" vs "Half-Empty" kinda thing. I mostly am a flourisher, in that I'm passionate and know what makes me happy and I laugh a lot and have great family and friends. I have my weeks tho when I'm a languisher, and I can feel it and I hate it! You know when you turn into a whiner and you know you're a whiner and you don't like it about yourself but you do it anyway?! Yeahhhh. Sooo, in spite of the crazy weekend I have ahead of me I'm gonna take two minutes and think about things that make me happy.

Candles.
Good strong flavorful coffee.
The beach.
Books.
Homemade soup.
Reading in bed at the end of the day with my kids.
Cooking.

There. I feel flourished already:) What little goodies make you happy?

Halloween: To Do or Not To Do?

That is the question. We definitely do. The girls aren't allowed to wear icky costumes--Hannah's gonna be Princess Leah and Sky's gonna be a Cubs player--but other than that we trick or treat and decorate and do candy and goodie bags with spider rings and all of it. I know one of our sweet friends southeast of here has to "cloak" her Halloween celebrations with her kids in order to not be labelled a heretic:) Fortunately in northwest Hoosier land I've not been accused of being a Pagan because we carve our pumpkins rather than paint them, but hey there's a first time for everything...

The Body Shop

Wow. That title could really make you curious now that I look at it:) Cars? Hair volume? Porn? What? Alas this post will be very innocent, as it actually refers to a new product line whose philosophy I REALLY like. The Body Shop is a line of skin care and makeup that is totally pro-animal pro-environment pro-fairtrade pro-everywomanisbeautiful and anti-chemical. Go to mistydemarco.com and read their About Us and Our Values. The founder has apparently passed away (really young at that) and I don't know that story, nor had I heard of them before, but my friend Cas in Indy says they do home parties and book shows (she's doing a book show now). Seems really affordable, might be good for Christmas gifts and stuff (the check from my Christmas Club comes the first week of November every year, glory hallelujah!) Cas knows how much I'm into the "naturale" philosophies and once I saw the website I liked it so much I wanted to share it with my fellow tree-hugging mommy friends!

Altogether Now...

Here's a strange phenomenon I've noticed. As an event planner I have weekends every 3 months or so with 4-5 things. As if humans have gotten together and intentionally gravitated toward one particular weekend and planned EVERYTHING at once. Or even unintentionally, whatever. I know we're all busy and we all have the occasional busy weekend, but it's not even that. It's as if we all subconsciously navigate ourselves to particular times/days/gatherings ALL AT ONCE. This has not only occurred one time! Next weekend for example, is one of those that after scheduling two things people would say they needed something for the weekend of the 18-19th and I'd say "Of COURSE you do. Of course." I have a bridal shower, a wedding rehearsal and ceremony, a 3 day church conference, a bridal expo at the Expo Center, and the kids have a cheerleading competition in Danville, IN. I don't even know where that is! So I have a schedule HOUR BY HOUR next Saturday for me, the kids, Dave and Alexis who are keeping the kids and doing the cheerleading, the church, and then Megan who is running the store for me for a couple hours after I leave on Saturday and then doing the reception so I can do the ceremony and then get to the church for the conference we're doing. That's just Saturday! Then there's a different schedule Sunday for each of us as well. It's just one of those weekends where you feel like you'd like to perfect the cloning process so you can clone YOU.

Adultery and the White House

Ok ok ok. I've been trying to educate myself, seriously, in an attempt to really understand who to hire to run my country. After all, I'm paying this guy to be trusted and from day to day I change my mind about who that's gonna be! So a couple weeks back I had the fun of posting about my love of Bill Clinton on The View one morning (cuz I like to get you guys all riled up!!!) and heard both online and by phone all about his adulterous exploits and how we as Christians shouldn't elect someone like that. But. No one talks about John McCain divorcing his first wife Carol in 1980 and marrying Cindy one month later. He'd met Cindy while still married to Carol, at a party during a political function, and is quoted as saying "By the end of the night, I was in love."

I'm not saying what Bill Clinton did was ok...but I know a lot of Christians who didn't like Bill because of his moral character and ability to deceive; is it ok though for a Republican candidate to have shady moral character? I don't want to hear about a guy's moral character while in a POW camp for 5 years and how he turned down the offer to come home, if once he got home he cheated on his wife (who'd been in a disfiguring car accident by the way) and married someone else 30 days after the divorce was final.

Now. Before a bunch of people start quoting books at me I need to read or sources I need to check let me say this. I've been on the receiving end of adultery, and no matter how you spin it or what book you write it's wrong. So I guess the only "source" I'd like to read is Carol McCains, and if anyone can find that please let me know! I want her story, and maybe it's out there and I just haven't found it?

Motherhood

Let me preface this by saying that I've obviously never been a father. And my kids' father is actually really good with them and to them, in spite of the flaws in his relationship with me. However. We've had a very difficult week in our home, some stuff with Skylar and lots of financial issues, not to mention the ongoing single mom take care of the kids take care of the house take care of the store try to be at the school once in awhile and oh yeah then there's church. So here's the thing. No matter how sad or tired or disgusted or angry I've been this week, I don't get to just STOP. And yet (and this is not to gender bash so correct me if I'm wrong) it seems like dads get to. Daddy's tired don't bug him. Daddy feels helpless so let mom fix it. Daddy worked all day so let's try to figure it out instead. It SEEMS like fatherhood sometimes...gets to stop. Motherhood NEVER STOPS. Never. If I have a wedding this weekend that takes all night Friday and all day and night Saturday it's up to me to figure out childcare. If daddy's gonna be gone for the weekend it's still somehow up to me to figure out childcare. Even in my wonderful sweet brother's case, who is an EXCELLENT daddy, if my mom or I can't babysit his son he just takes the day off cuz he "can't find a sitter." It seems like moms--at least the moms I know--just don't have the luxury of giving up that easily.