Because my posts have been a little serious lately...

I thought it was time to lighten the mood a bit.  My bloggie-friend (which means we haven't met in real life but I'm sure if and when we do we will laugh our heads off!) Hillary over at The Other Mama (check out her blog--it's super cute!) is starting a new blog-carnival today--called Friday Favorites.  To join in, I'm supposed to post my favorite something.  Could be anything.

My hubby thought I should post about my favorite husband.  Good one, hon.

I thought and thought (for like FIVE whole minutes!)...and came up with my favorite....nothing.  Nothing!  Do I have no favorites???  Of course I do...think, brain-o-mine!  I decided I needed my nighttime treat to help me think clearer.  And then it came to me!  Literally.  In a mug.

I am going to post on...(the suspense is killing you isn't it?)... my favorite way to eat ice cream.  Seriously, I am.  It's all I got tonight, and I feel like being a little silly.  So here we go (drumroll, please).

Dawn's favorite way to eat ice cream:

1) in a mug.  (This was foreshadowed above--I'm fancy like that).  Any type of mug is fine, although I really like my minnie mouse mug if you had to press me on it.  I felt that was important to clarify in case you think I am completely apathetic about such important choices.

2)  propped up in our bed, with my comfy pjs on, and my heated mattress pad warming the sheets.  The ice cream chills me and I climb in the covers and it's all warm and toasty.  Ohyes.  The thermal joy of it all.

3)  scooped and brought to me by my hubby.  He has been the designated ice cream scooper throughout our marriage.  I can wield an ice cream scoop as well...but my dad always did it for us when I was a kid, and now hubby does.  It's pretty sweet, huh?

4) at the very end of the day.  The closer to sleepy-time the better, cause you know, it's healthy to slam sugar and fat right before you go comatose for seven hours.  And if we wanted to dream a bit, it's at the end of a day where I felt productive, and got everything done I meant to.  But since that has only been known to happen in reality three times, I choose to enjoy it on other days as well.

5)  watching something I love to watch on TV.  It could be So You Think You Can Dance,  American Idol, The Office (by the way, still recovering from Pam nursing the wrong baby tonight) or House.  We also love to eat ice cream while we watch The Biggest Loser--cause we love irony. And yeah, I know..eating in front of the TV...late at night...breaks all the rules.  Ohwell.

6)  with my man next to me.  Obviously.

7) with a surprise cookie on the bottom of the mug.  Hubby does this every now and then to surprise me and it's love in cookie form.  Or he's trying to fatten my up for some reason, which is one thing I don't need help with.

So there you have it.  My favorite way to eat ice cream.  If you think I sound like a sweet-toothed sloth--yeah, I resemble that remark. At least at 10 pm I do.

After this nightly ritual, I thought it only appropriate to also let you know my favorite workout video.  Consider it a bonus.

You're welcome.

Oh, and in case you are looking for something with a little more substance...follow Kristen as she writes from her Compassion Blogger trip to Kenya.  I'm loving it.

bright spots

Even amidst the dim and dreary, there are bright spots that give hope.  

As I posted on Friday, my emotions are pretty shaky right now.  It's easy when I'm in this mode to just assume every moment of every day will be difficult.  Yet there are bright spots.  Sometimes they are more than spots--they are big bright patches.  I have had some bright patches since I last posted, and wanted to share them with you.

So, grab some popcorn, sit back and relax and watch the slide show of my bright patches.

Wait.  There's no slide show??

Ohyeah...that's because I either don't bring my camera (Friday night), don't remember to use it (most of Saturday night), or don't remember to make sure it's usuable with charged batteries (this afternoon).  I hate that I don't have many pictures of my bright patches to share with you...please try to control your disappointment, it will make me feel worse. :)

Friday night we celebrated my dad's 66th birthday.  The family went out to eat at Carabbas.  Um...can I just say yummmm!?!  I tried their special surf and turf instead of my normal choice and it was SO yummy.  I can't remember the last time I had a steak.  I had a great time talking, and eating and drinking diet coke.  Afterwards we went to my parents house for ice cream sundaes and gifts.  I was in good spirits the entire time.  Bright patch! Check out the smile on my face:

Oh wait.  No picture.

Saturday night was Girls' Night Out.  I debated whether to go up until almost the last minute.  I had a rough, cranky afternoon.  However, I decided that my desire not to miss out outweighed my desire to stay at home in my safe emotional place--and I went.  Dear Carly organized us a fun fest--starting with dinner at Salsa Brava.  I need to have a moment of silence here out of respect for the goodness of God that is their blackened tomato salsa............ah yes.  As my pastor likes to say, it could change your life.  And then, as if eating three days worth of calories in chips and salsa wasn't enough, I managed to force down Margarita Chicken Enchiladas.  I mean, look at how good it looked...

Oh nevermind.  No picture.

Next, The Girls (Becca, Becky, Beth, Carly, Kerry and me) went to an improv comedy show.  It was hysterical.  Seriously. HYS. TER. I. CAL.  Kerry's pregnant and I thought she might either go into labor or pee her pants.  Instead she cried from laughing so much.  All of our faces hurt from laughing.  A highlight for our little group was when Carly and Becky got pulled up on stage to be part of the vacation-slides game.  They had to randomly strike poses up there...and I was impressed with their creativity.

And, miracle of miracles!  I actually have pictures of this!  Here are a few:

Here is Becky striking a pouty-face pose.

And Carly "praying"--she was trying to covertly share her faith with the crowd I guess.

And Becky selling out to the game as well as trying not to flash the audience.

And Carly sporting a truly sassy bird necklace that she hoped would make us think of the Holy Spirit. 

 It didn't, but it was really cute.

We had a great time, and I was able to laugh and chat and be in good spirits again.  I was glad I went.  Bright patch!

This afternoon, after a few days of gently falling snow, there was enough snow cover to go sledding.  I took the kids.  Even though all I wanted to do was cuddle up with a blanket and take a nap (usually what I want to do after a morning "on" at church).  Even though hubby didn't feel up to coming and I realized I wouldn't just be a spectator--but actually, youknow, sledding.  The kids had a great time.  I cracked up at Bubba's silly antics and Pickle's squeals.  And I sledded too.  And didn't hurt my old-self.  And I had fun. Bright patch!

This is the only other picture I have from this weekend-- Beth's car antenna.  The frost clinging to it (and basically everything) was truly spectacular this weekend.  Even after driving the car it was hanging on.  Kind of like I am...to Hope.  Hope that this season of emotional blech will come to an end--however God chooses to rescue me.  I'm holding on to Hope.  And thankful for the bright spots (patches?) that remind me He is there--sustaining.  And holding onto me.  I'm safe.

we'll work on the words another time

This made me so happy. Jason Mraz watch out!

sillyness

When your kids are the silly kind, you just might come home and find pictures like these on your camera. I did.

you know I didn't take this one...mess in the background...yuck.

check out my little doggie on his tippie toes

looking out the window for me to come home.

and never to be outdone...my pirate son

this one put me over the edge :)

Those kidderoos of mine make me smile every day. They regularly crack me up. (and are quite proud of themselves when they do, I might add.) My kids aren't just silly, they are actually pretty funny. And I am NOT biased at all. Okay, maybe a little biased...but that's a mom's perogative, right?

And although we have plenty of not-silly-AT-ALL moments...I'm so thankful that my kids have great senses of humor and make me laugh out loud (for real, not the LOL you text when you aren't really laughing...) on a regular basis. Laughter is a balm. And laughing together is a different kind of embrace.

unwrapping the everyday gifts with lovely Emily at Chatting at the Sky

Winkers on Sunday

Okay bloggies--many bloggers post beautiful pictures and worship songs or Bible verses on their blogs on Sunday. Others are super-reflective. Others don't blog at all on Sunday.

Me? I'm posting the winkers video link. Just saw the link on Missy's blog and I think it is the scariest and funniest thing I've seen in a long time.

So many to choose from...please comment and let me know your favorite!

Craft!--the new swear word

"Craft!" is a bit of a swear word at work and, consequently, at our house. It is not because I hate crafts (although I must admit I am not big on the Barbie Doll/crocheted toilet paper cover and the like). Or that I can't be crafty--I have been known to spend hours on a single scrapbook page and to wield a glue gun now and again. No, no...it has caught on due to one of many infamous dawn-shouldn't-have-said-that moments.

barbie-doll toilet paper holder

In the name of being REAL and authentic and all that, I must admit I blurt out the occasional c-word. You know the one--it rhymes with trap. I don't think it is a particularly attractive word, and won't let my kids say it, but it does come out of my mouth more than it should. I didn't think it offended anyone as much as sounded less-than-classy. (ya think?) However, I learned fairly recently that there are some close to me that really dislike that word. So, in the name of not causing others to stumble, I try to stifle my yucky-word (or at least feel bad when it slips out). For the record, when you grow up on Long Island--the c-word IS the nice word. But anyhooo...

So, you may have gathered that I work at our church. Sometime last year several of us were invited to a church board meeting to discuss a potentially tricky subject relating to the use of our newish church building's lobby. Since opinions were varied and strong, each of those invited had a chance to share their own perspective one at a time. The others listened carefully and awaited their turn to speak. It was very civilized and we were getting a lot out in the open. One wonderful guy stated that we want to make sure that the lobby didn't end up looking like a"cr*p bazaar". I thought that was interesting, wondering which of the ideas shared so far would make it look all cr*ppy--and what is a cr*p bazaar anyway?!? I dutifully resisted the urge to interrupt and ask for clarification because it wasn't my turn. And it was a board meeting--filled with church leaders who I respect and who employ me as a ministry leader. So I must obey the rules and wait my turn. So...I wrote it down to ask about it when it was my chance to talk.

My turn came.

I directed my comment at wonderful guy, "Can I just ask what exactly you mean by cr*p bazaar?"

The room quickly went silent.

Followed by SEVERAL others correcting me at once. "He said CRAFT bazaar!"

Giggling, I said, "Oh. Well then, that makes more sense..." We all chuckled. I think a few even guffawed.

And I crawled under the table to hide forever.

Not really...I pretended I wasn't embarrassed and made the rest of my comments. (I couldn't miss the chance to say what I thought...) And knew I had to share my flub with my fellow staff members and hubby--who would get great enjoyment from the story. Consequently, they have since adopted CRAFT! along with me as the exclamation of choice when it fits. And everyone enjoys remembering the day dawn "swore" at the board meeting. A classic dawn-moment for sure.

I knew our new swear word had officially made it into our vernacular when in the middle of the night many months later, my hubby's cell phone buzzed loudly on his dresser. Confused, he sleepily stumbled across the room to turn off the alarm clock. I didn't want us to oversleep--so I blurted out--it's not the alarm, it's your phone!

"CRAFT!", he muttered, still half-asleep, as he crawled back under the covers.

Yeah, I tend to overshare...

If you think I've got a lot to say....

imagine what she'll be like once she starts drinking diet coke! :)

I know...you think I must have been just like that as a baby. Back in the dark ages when I was a born, people didn't own video cameras. So, I guess we'll never know...

But, I must say, I totally get her.