Clarkoween Eve

Despite being sick, we have successfully carved our pumpkins and documented the event with substandard photography. I can only stand up for a minute before swaying and sucking air, so this is what you get. ;)

Sophie's birthday party is postponed but we'll still have a little family party here tomorrow. She's not too disappointed, with the promise of an exclusive playdate next week with her bff Abby. She's satisfied with that. I'm more disappointed than she is. I bought all these cute Halloween decorations and colored sugar for cookie decorating, scary pencil erasers and pencils and candy for gift buckets, only to be easy-chair ridden and unable to be productive in any way, except for typing. Sigh. Oh well. The kids are happy, then I'm happy. There will be kitties and trick or treating tomorrow. Stay tuned for the scary kitty pics.

Happy Halloween Eve!

FALL in love with IOWA!

Iowa is a beautiful place. I thought I better say that before winter arrives in like a week and destroys all my hopes and dreams. Actually, I enjoy winter too, just not for six months straight. Through New Year, it's fine. Past that...no thanks.

In the past few weeks, it's been dreary and rainy here + cold = depressing. So as the sun actually rose today and stayed out to play, we took advantage and snapped some pics. The girls helped me pick out the most fabulous trees to capture. We did this with our Florida family in mind. Poor Floridians. Constant tropical awesomeness. Must be rough. But still, we thought they might need a lil bit of Iowa (minus the flu).

So, we drove around Polk City to find the best in show. Then the girls wanted their own photo shoot. When I say girls, I mean GIRL (Olivia) aka the poser. Model at heart. Loves to set up a good photo. Let's just say I nixed a few of her pose ideas....a bit racy for age 6. Rosie Posie Clark even stopped her soccer practice to pose for a few.

Bottom line: we love our little house (even though the roof is leaking), this town, and Iowa...in all its glory. ;) Happy Fall y'all.





Best buds










That's actually the pooper scooper rake that Sophie revamped.

Sly





This is my favorite photo of all time...























The house of Clark in the Fall

Signature Sophie (She's #1).

Homebound

El sicko. Me. Home from work. Short non-sentences.

I have the body aches, chills, hot flashes, and sleepiness. Nice.....

Olivia played hard in her last soccer game of the season today without her mama on the sidelines. Ouch. (Mainly for me). When I came home from work an hour early and knew I couldn't possibly go, I broke the news to her, telling her how much I wanted to be there and how she should play like a stud like always and tell mama all about it when she got home. I was begging for kid-mercy.

Not missing a cue from her H1N1 prep from school, she replied pragmatically, "You really shouldn't go out in public when you have the flu, Mom. You are supposed to stay home and rest. If you were not sick and didn't come, I'd be upset. But you can't come because you're sick. Of course I'd forgive you!"

Replies my 30 year old grown up daughter. Handing out some grace to her mama. Gotta love that kid.

Well, sitting here in my big chair, barely able to sit up and blog it, I'm sipping cherry 7Up courtesy of Steve and the rest of the fam is out at the pumpkin patch. Sigh. Oh well, might as well enjoy the people silence with a little college football for background music.

Here's to soup, 7Up, Lysol, Clorox Wipes, and "hanitizer" (aka-O&S version of hand sanitizer). Happy Flu Season everyone!!!

Man, that's tough

So, it's once again, confession time. I hate confession time. It makes me admit that I've been wrong, and who likes to be wrong? Not many a folk do, especially ones who are consistently right...like me.

Ok, sorry. Truthfully, I am nearly never right, but I always think I am. So, when I'm wrong it's a big bummer. In addition, speaking your faults is not the funnest thing to do (most fun, I meant). But, even so, I find it necessary to get back on the path I need to be on, so here goes. Sigh...

I trudged back to LA weightloss today, tail between my legs so to speak, having maintained my good weight loss throughout the summer and then some, clearly I didn't need help anymore. I was on my way! And the drive was inconvenient, and I wasn't eating the bars much anyway. I'd save gas and not go, yes. It would all be just fine. I'd continue to lose. For sure.

Or, I'd start a new job this fall and eat every night as much as possible while waiting for patients to show up. Either way.

Shoot. Luckily, I haven't done more than a few pounds damage. But it did teach me a lesson. No matter what you do in life, help is nearly always necessary. Help comes in many forms, the most obviously necessary, God. Second can be other people, other resources, other places. Whatev. For this particular problem, I need a place to go to weigh in, someone watching over my shoulder a bit, someone encouraging me to continue on the path I've set out on. And although I won't always have LA, nor always need LA, I will always need help in some form. I'll always need a friend or family member to keep me on the straight and narrow/thin path...he he he.

My need to stop eating Hot Tomales and Gobstoppers and cereal all night might be someone else's need to stop gossiping, or overspending, or being prideful. It might be anger issues, or lack of faith, or fear of commitment. It's what makes you fall from God's and your own expectations. There's a voice down deep that speaks the truth to you. It's the "you know better than this" voice. It fights against the "I've got it all under control" voice. The IGIAUC voice says things like: I could stop if I wanted to. I'm just not ready yet. I'll do it soon. Who's it hurting anyway?

Maybe you are a bit like me, and perhaps, you need a little help too? I don't know this for sure. It's only a sneaking suspicion that I can't be this alone in the world. And if it is true, please don't regress like me. Do not give in to the lying voice that tells us...."we've got it all under control".

Me: Discipline. Yuck.

God: Discipline. Worth it.

Me: Fine.


Whatever it is you long to do or not do, you can do it er not do it... Just don't forget the most important part: help...in the form of God first, then others. We truly are better together.

I know I am better with God, you, and a decent weight loss plan. Who/what do you need?

Puttin on your panty hose

Anyone see Dr. Phil today? I don't normally get to watch daytime tv due to my daily napping with Sophie (that was a confession so please withhold judgment), but we were up early and I caught the beginning of the show before I had to pick up Liv.

The show was stay-at-home moms vs. working moms. I must preface this by saying, I have been, and consider myself both a stay at home mom AND a working mom. I feel this way even more so now that I'm working weekends only. I'm home all week like a stay at home mom...SAHM if you will. I'm also working on the weekends. I've also been exclusively a SAHM and I've exclusively worked. I understand why SAHMs criticize working moms and vice versa. I've found myself jealous of both at some point in my mothering life. So I get it, I feel. What I didn't get today was this particular woman, a SAHM that had some severe judgments against those who chose to work.

Here is one of her quotes:

“I don’t really want to be told by women who pull on a pair of pantyhose every morning, and go hang out with their girlfriends, that I’m somehow less of a woman. I’m sitting here; I’m doing the most important job. I dare you go to go to your own mother and tell her that her secretarial skills are more important than her parenting skills."

I realize that this woman sits on the extreme side of SAHM views and I realize that not all or nearly many SAHMs feel this way, but it does disturb me a bunch. Secretarial skills? Chatting with girlfriends all day? PANTY HOSE? Is this really what women think of other women??? I'm sure not.

However, the most disturbing thing I found about this show is the fact that this debate really does exist. It not only exists, but we are fueling it. We are fighting against our own kind! Why is it that we cannot, as women, support eachother no matter what our choice is for our family? Why is it that we are not proud of our SAHMs AND our working moms? Why does one have to be better than the other?

My point is, mother guilt is the guilt of all guilts, working outside of the home or not. Why are we heaping more guilt onto each other's backs? Why do I secretly harbor jealousy towards SAHMs one week and working moms the next? I'm just as guilty as the next gal....except for the crazy left field SAHM on Dr. Phil today. She wins the pot for crazy "judgment" that she calls "a God given gift".

Ugh. I cringe.

Women. We are so awesome! We can juggle work, school, bills, soccer, 14 kids, a home, laundry, cleaning, multiple toilets, multiple schedules, meals, play dates, meetings, shopping, gardens, lawns, mail, updated photos of our kids, toy organization, filling gas tanks, recycling, dishes, sending greeting cards for everyone else's life events and somehow managing to look amazing at all times....mostly. Why don't we notice this about ourselves? And why not notice it in your fellow mamas?

I know most of you do this already, but this tv argument today really took hold of my heart. Why? I dunno. Perhaps because there's so much truth in it, it's painful.

So, let's put a stop to any mama hate we hear in the halls, y'all. You know the ones I'm talking about. We know a few....they think they are the one and only and their way is the one and only.

Let's throw a stick in those spokes. How about this statement? "I'm proud of you for making the best choice for your family."

Love yourselves, love others. We are all so awesome in our own little...and big ways. Now, THAT is God-given, and I think it's our jobs as mamas, working or at home, to shine some light on it.

Baby that babysits

We got the joy of watching my best friend's kids the other day. They were tons of fun and helpful since Olivia was out of school for the day and my girls were sick of each other already. Non-Clark bloodline was needed in our home. Two early outs and one no school day in one week!!! Ugh. What is the DEAL?

Anyway, what surprised me most about the day was how much Olivia wanted to help with the baby. She was all over it (see top picture). She told me that if I had another baby, she'd take care of it for me so I didn't have to do anything. DEAL! Just joking...sort of. Anyway, she couldn't have been more helpful. She pushed the baby in the stroller right next to the bigger stroller I pushed with the two bigger girls in it. She was really proud to help out and very careful at all times. What a big kid.

The funniest part of the day was unrelated to the children. While at the park, I sat on a swing next to the baby and kept her swinging. A FedEx truck blew into a parking spot next to the square and the FedEx man hopped out and headed my way, holding a package. I ignored him thinking it was impossible that he was coming to me... at the park. That's when he hollered, "You wouldn't happen to be a Clark would you?"

Dumbstruck, I said, "Um, yes."

"Neighbor said you headed out on a walk with some strollers. Just heading out of town and thought I might find you here."

Me: "OK....." laughing. "Only in a small town right?"

And just like that, he was off.

1. HILARIOUS that he came to the park to find me.

2. CREEPY that my neighbor saw me leave the house and told the FedEx guy that. :)

3. AWESOME that we got our new cell phones.

Open up

So...I've opened my blog up to the public. I've been thinking about it for a while and I've realized how much I enjoy reading other people's blogs. I go through the lists of blogs that fellow bloggers note on their own pages and I love to read what they have to say. It's like a giant delayed conversation, where we are all involved, and all connected in some way. We can all respond in our own time. We can all get to know each other in our own time. How cool is that?

I'm not one to want to stay out of the loop.

Not sure if any more people will read this blog, and I suppose it doesn't matter. I love the ones who already do. But it doesn't hurt to open up once in awhile, right?

The Strong Life Test for Women

The beauty of FALL

Today we ventured to Iowa City to visit family and the apple orchard. I had this weekend off for my friend Katie's wedding, so we decided to use the most of it and jam pack it full of activity. The weather was gorgeous today and the trees were fabulous. Check out our day!


Olivia, Lianna, and Ashley apple picking

Steve and Sophie finding turtles in the pond

Sisters

A lil tree climbing

Clark family

Check out that background!

Clark girls

The BIG apple

The BIG apple 2

Tree climbers

Tree climbers 2



Chillin on the hill

At Wilson's Apple Orchard outside of Iowa City today, we bought apples, pumpkins, peach butter, and apple slicer/corer/peeler, and a fresh hot apple turnover. We rode along on a tractor ride through the orchard and even through the river! It was a wild ride! Sophie kept saying, "This is dooms day." What a creep. :)

The girls had fun finding apples on the ground. They are $1 a pound from the ground and $2 a pound from the tree, so we went for the obvious deal. The ones on the ground are a plenty and good. I'll be sure to make lots of apple crisps in the next week. That's just what my expanding belly needs. No doubt.

Best of all, we got to hang out with family. Mom and Darrell, Lianna and Ashley (like family), and us...the Clarks. Shawn was quarantined due to the flu. :( We stopped and saw Grandma Betty on the way back. It was a wonderful day, and the scenery was phenomenal. What could be better than Fall?

Nada.

To my fellow coffee lovers and others too

Try this:

Belgian Chocolate Toffee creamer with Dunkin Donuts cinnamon spice coffee. I don't know why this combo works so well, but it totally delivers.

If you didn't know already, Peppermint Mocha creamer is back at your local grocer. Back with a sweet vengeance.

In other areas, I'd like to promote this:

Prunes. Yep, I said it. Sunsweet prunes in the plastic container. Sweet glorious goodness. And nothing can make you feel older than eating prunes. With age comes wisdom. Embrace it.

Homemade/heartfelt gifts. I was thinking the other day about this blue ceramic jar we got as a gift for our wedding. Thank you Sara and Chad. I remember exactly who gave that to us. Sara and Chad. I remember them every time I see it. Then there are gifts like the scrapbook my sister made me of the blogs I had written over the year about my kids. Priceless to me. It's one of the things I'd grab in the event of fire, which brings me to my next thought, fire safety. Don't forget. This week is make a fire escape plan week with your kids. No, I'm not joking and I'm equally aware at how old this also makes me sound. Whatev.

Back to gifts. This year, as with last year, I will be attempting to make most of my Christmas gifts. I just think this is so fun! And it's perfect for a person like me, who was born excited for Christmas months in advance. Although obscene, I will admit to thinking about Christmas somewhere around late July. Ahem. Anyway, what a way to satisfy Christmas spirit need than starting months in advance making gifts?! Making a photo book for a friend, compiling the best music onto one compact CD to share with your bff, homemade cards, passing along your favorite book, etc. Doesn't have to be much, but it means a lot. You can do it!!!

I also wanted to add that I bought new chocolate brown with black animal print plates at Target on sale for $3.74 for a set of 4. I also purchased the serving bowls to match. WHAT? Could things GET any better? Yep. They certainly could.

I'm driving 45 minutes in the wrong direction of the wedding I'm attending later today in order to sit in the freezing cold to watch a 6 year old soccer game. I'm so pumped!!! Sense any sarcasm? Maybe, maybe not. I suppose we can only speculate.

Olivia's first sleepover

Olivia is at her first sleep over bday party. Sophie is frantic and panicking. I never realized how close they were until they are apart. It's difficult to see when they are constantly trying to kill each other and fighting and whining to no foreseeable end. But when it's all said and done and Olivia is away and Soph is here to stay, she rethinks it all a bit. Maybe she does need her sister....Hmmmm....

Sophie can't stand going to bed without Olivia.

Tonight, she's down sleeping in Olivia's bed, tucked in amongst all of Olivia's things. The door is open to let the hall light in. Her books on tape are playing loud enough to drown out her fears and loneliness. Poor punkin. Maybe they won't fight so much tomorrow?

Growth can be painful.

She'll be just fine. :)

Oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah

Patients have arrived!

Oh yeah!

Oh yeah!

No more desperately trying to stay awake while doing nothing. No more whining about feeling useless and bored. Whooohooo!

We had another delivery yesterday and another mama come in with contractions. We are beginning to schedule two procedures per day, that being either/or c-sections or inductions. This will all but guarantee a full floor in a few weeks. So far, we just have one doctor sending patients out for inductions, but soon the word will be out. In addition, main has been overflowing...literally. They are so strapped for people that they've been calling us for help, and we tell them to send people on over. While not everyone is on board yet, we're getting there. The moms that do deliver out with us are so loved, cherished, and spoiled. Why wouldn't you want to visit us?!

Every shift, I see how awesome our management team is, how they value good work and teamwork. It is a fantastic place to work. I feel so lucky to be there.

The time flies now when I'm working. The mamas are happy. The babies are cute.

It is well.