Even A GRATEFUL Heart Can Get You a Speeding Ticket

I posted this Facebook status update (copied below) shortly before the events of this blog took place:

"Every time I think life is at maximum difficulty, there is something else that gets thrown in our mix to shake things back up and God proves life could always get harder.

I am trying to live the life Joel Osteen states we can live in his book, "Make Every Day a Friday." He reminds me to say THANK YOU for the house we live in, despite the fact that so many things have broken or fallen apart since we bought it... THANK YOU for the two beautiful boys we have rather than complain about the fact that we sleep 4-5 hours a night and take them to the doctor's office multiple times a week... THANK YOU for the jobs we have that we love doing, even though we work all hours of the day when we aren't with our kids... and THANK YOU for the friends and family we have, even though we might not get to see them enough in person to tell them.

THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. I know I am blessed."

This afternoon, as I was driving home, I was thinking about this post I had written shortly before leaving work, when I passed a church in Perrysburg with a sign that read, "A greatful heart is the key to joy."  Three thoughts struck me as I read the sign:

1. Dang it, I want that key to joy!!!
2. God put that sign there to reassure my Facebook post.
3. I was GRATEFUL I knew the correct spelling of the word GRATEFUL and wondered if the church had misspelled it on purpose when.......

          I got pulled over for speeding.

As the cop made his slow stroll toward my minivan, I tried to keep it together.  However, I lost the inner battle with my emotions and the tears started flowing.  (I blame it on my extreme fatigue and challenging week.) When Mr. Cop asked me why I was speeding, I made no mention of the ironic events I had seriously been pondering OR the grateful heart I was trying to have.  Instead I just cried, choked out my phone number, and told him I didn't know the speed limit. After checking my license, he asked if I still lived in Toledo.  I informed him we had recently moved here.

I'd like to say that the cop had a genuine concern for my tears and gave me a warning, but he did not.

I got the big blue bill.

As he gave me the ticket, he muttered, "Drive carefully", without making eye contact, and sent me on my blubbering way.  I am fairly certain he felt awkward since I was sobbing (the flood gate had burst), but I don't blame him.  There is probably a sign in his Perrysburg office that reads, "If you give every mother who cries a warning, we'll never make any money in this town"... so I forgive him.  He was just doing his job.

At first I was angry and sad.  I don't really care a lot about the ticket.  The money can always be justified by statements like:

• "Think of all the times I haven't got caught speeding!" 
• "It's the first ticket I've gotten in almost ten years." 
• "Dominic doesn't care. In fact, he won $200 dollars at work today which should cover it."
• "This shouldn't put too big of a dent in my insurance."  
• and the always encouraging, "At least we don't have a car payment!"

I think I was just angry and sad because it's embarrassing to get a ticket... and because I had just posted that life can always get harder.

So that brings me back to my grateful heart, which if you recall is supposed to be the key to JOY.

Here goes:
I am GRATEFUL to be an able-bodied citizen who can operate a motor vehicle... even if it is sometimes at too fast of a pace.
I am GRATEFUL to have a car to drive that allowed me to get pulled over.
I am GRATEFUL that our society has police officers who keep us safe from others... including ourselves. 
I am GRATEFUL that at the end of the day I can smile about this whole thing and know that it's not that big of a deal.

Techie Tuesdays: My Top 10 Most Used iPad/iPhone Apps

This week, I decided to knock out a quick "Top 10" list of apps that I use the most on my iPhone and iPad.  I am throwing them all into one blog post, because many of these are used universally and therefore I am probably not going to introduce you to much (or anything) that is new, exciting, and unique.  However, I wanted to pay homage to these apps because I truly use almost all of them every single day.  Please note that all of these (and so far all of the apps I've covered) are FREE!  Free is always good! :-)
OK, here we go.  I will alphabetize them so they are all considered equal!

1. Blogger (Social Networking)

Of course I had to give a shout-out to Blogger on my Blog! I still prefer to type on my laptop (I haven't used my laptop all year as much as I've used it since I started blogging. I just can't type fast on my iPad or iPhone and I have yet to invest in a keyboard for my iPad!)  Although you can't do nearly as much on the Blogger app as you can do on the actual website, it's still good for starting a draft, uploading pics, and editing posts.




2. Email (Business/Social Networking)

One of the best aspects of the Email system on iPads and iPhones is that you can get all of your messages sent to the same location, so you don't have to worry about checking your work/personal/family accounts.  I've been able to stay on top of my emails a lot more since getting an iPhone, because now I check them and delete them as they come in.  Before I was checking my email rarely and would just be bogged down and overwhelmed with all of the messages waiting for me to look through them.





3. Facebook (Social Networking)
Since SmartPhones came out, I have felt as though using Facebook is as easy as text-messaging.  I get updates on notifications, and I check them as often as I check my texts.  I know a lot of people think I am on Facebook all of the time, but I am not sure how many of them understand how little time I actually spend on it.  I can accomplish so much in such a short amount of time with the Facebook app.





4. Groupon  (Shopping/Dining/Entertainment)

If you aren't getting your "Group" on, then you need to start.  Groupon is a website and app that allows you to either use your Facebook account or create a new account and receive great-deal discounts on gift cards from local, national, and international businesses.  These deals vary daily, but they are usually about 50% off of the regular price.  I will use a popular local Groupon as an example.  Nagoya Japanese Steakhouse is one of the most popular Groupons around our area.  When it is available, they offer a 50 dollar gift card for $25.  What a great deal!  The only catch is that so many people need to buy the Groupon for the deal to be on.  I have only seen a deal get canceled a couple of times, and that was toward the earlier days of Groupon.  There are many pluses for using Groupon.  For starters, it's a great way to try new places for the first time.

BTW - If you do NOT currently have a Groupon account, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me and I will "refer" you! If I refer you and you create an account, I will get ten dollars to use on their site!

Now I should clarify that I don't use the app to PURCHASE my actual Groupons.  One of the best things about Groupon for me, as a Discover Card user, is that if I log into "ShopDiscover" and buy a Groupon I get 15% cash back on that purchase.  I will go back to my Nagoya example for this.  Since I spent $25 in order to get a $50 gift card to Nagoya, but I bought it through ShopDiscover I actually got $3.75 off of that purchase, making it really $21.75 for a $50 gift card.  However, then I take my Discover Rewards dollars (that $3.75) and increase them through their cashback bonus program, so that $3.75 becomes even more... up to twice as much (or $7.50!) This may seem complex, but really it isn't.  I love saving money!

NOTE:  I do not want to encourage anyone to open a credit card for these types of perks.  I only have one credit card (this Discover one) and I even consider letting that one go after going through Financial Peace with Dave Ramsay a couple of years ago.

Please purchase items responsibly!

4. Mint (Financial Planning and Organization)

I love Mint! I highly recommend it! This is an app (and website) that allows users to combine all of their banks, credit cards, and investment accounts into one place.  Once all of your accounts are linked, every check you write, debit card purchase you make, direct deposit or withdrawal, credit card swipe, etc. all gets filed chronologically through this site and placed into your personalized budgets.  I love how intuitive the program is.  It knows how to categorize almost everything except checks (those come up as they do on a bank statement as "Check 1234".)  This is definitely a great app for people who truly need to visualize their budgets.


6. Pandora (Music)

Pandora has taken over my musical life.  I used to buy hundreds of CDs and albums.  I have them all organized in files.  Now I rarely ever buy music.  Instead, I listen to it on Pandora or other similar music apps.  I use Pandora at home, school, and on the road.  I really like how if you pick an artist it plays music from other similar artists.  It also lets you give individual songs either thumbs UP or DOWN, and then it remembers what you like and don't like for future plays.



7. Pinterest (Crafting/Cooking/Hobbies)

Besides keeping family recipe cookbooks, I think cookbooks are quickly becoming a thing of the past.  Pinterest is my new cookbook.  I know from my job as a teacher that most learners are "visual learners", hence the success of Pinterest.  Pinterest takes pics of anything from baked goods to bedroom designs and allows users to "Pin" them onto various boards.  Each picture is linked to a URL which will take the user to the website that will instruct him or her how to make the pictured item.  What a concept!  It's a great way to keep all of your future craft/party/cooking/decorating ideas in one location.  You need an invitation to join, but anyone can invite you or you can request an invite through the website.  Let me know if you need an invitation and I will send you one!


8. Viggle (Televison)

This may be a new app for some of you.  I hadn't heard about it until last spring, when my former choir director told me about it on Facebook.  Viggle is an app that actually REWARDS people for watching television.  Basically, whenever you watch tv you can turn on Viggle and it will listen to your tv and give you points for checking in on that station.  Either it will be able to identify the show you are watching or it will try a couple of times and then let you search for it on your own.  Every morning I watch 13ABC news while I dry my hair.  I turn Viggle on and get rewarded points for simply watching the show I watch every single day!  Since 13ABC news is a local program it is not one that Viggle recognizes, so it doesn't matter that the hairdryer is going b/c it won't pick up the show anyway. I always have to type it in.  So far, I have earned a few thousand points but I have never redeemed them.  My former choir director has redeemed hers for gift cards, so it is legit.  A bonus to Viggle is that there are trivia games you can play during highly watched shows.  I like to play the Modern Family trivia game because it gets me more points!  A downfall to Viggle is that it really sucks the juice out of your battery, so don't use it if you won't be able to charge your phone during the day.  Honestly, I am not a big TV viewer but it's nice to earn something for watching the shows that I do watch!  If you are a person who watches HOURS of TV I would definitely recommend that you get this app!




9. Words with Friends

Words with Friends is a fun Scrabble-like game app where you and a friend can play either online, on Facebook, or on your phones.  Since I am an English teacher, I like fun word games.  This one in particular has me hooked because there isn't a time limit and you don't have to play every day.  Plus users can play up to ten games at once.  One thing I don't love about WWF is that there are words that are in our dictionary that are NOT accepted on WWF and then there are accepted words that don't even make sense!  Yet for the most part, this is a good mind-numbing app to play with a friend, family member, or complete stranger if that is your style.  Oddly enough, as I was typing this I just got a notification that it's my turn to make a move on one of my games.

Side Note: Although so far every app I have mentioned has been a free one, I actually just paid for the ad-free version of Words with Friends after using the ad-version for years.  I received an email two days ago letting me know that they were only charging 99cents for the ad-free version of WWF, so I bought it because the ads are slightly annoying.  Granted, I wouldn't have paid more than 99cents for the ad-free version, but I am happy with it because I use this app so much.

10. YouVersion Bible (Christian/Religious)

I like the YouVersion Bible app because once you create an account, you can flag your favorite verses and highlight passages plus make notes.  I also like the fact that you can choose which version of the Bible you want to read.  At both home group and church I have noticed an increase in people on their phones using this app.  I think it's fascinating because some people assume that anyone on their phone is texting.  HAH!  There is so much more to phones than texting.  If I am on my phone at home group or church it's either because I am using YouVersion or because I am taking notes on the NotePad app.  God is everywhere, right?  Even in our technology!


Well this concludes Lavender's list of app-obsessions.  I would love to know which apps you use on a daily basis.  If you were to select your 10 most-used apps, what would they be?  Once baby comes and BABY ESP for the iPhone comes out, I am sure that will replace one of these as one of my top ten apps.  More about that app though in a week or two.

Have a tech-fabulous week, friends!!! Learn something new and then come back and teach me about it!

What I Wonder: Our Upcoming Transitions

On Monday I had lunch with a couple of girlfriends who quickly commented on how extremely relaxed I seemed, despite all that I have going on right now.  I was flattered, as I know that oftentimes I am annoyingly stressed out, and I was very happy that the girls were able to note my calm demeanor without me having to say that I really DO feel calm.  In fact, it's bizarre how calm I feel about everything.  I know that I will be closing the sale of our current home and the purchase of our next home only nine days before my due date.   I know that I have absolutely nothing packed (well nothing more than what we binned in order to put our home up for sale.)  I know that I can't do a ton of work moving houses.  I know that my body is about to go through a lot during the birth of my second baby.  I know that soon enough I will be spending hours each day nursing, changing diapers, and NOT SLEEPING.  I know that I have virtually nothing prepared for my maternity leave and I haven't even talked to the person who is going to sub for me (in my defense, I was just given a sub a few days ago)... yet I feel completely calm.  At least for now.

I thought a lot about the positive comments from the girls after I left that lunch. Why am I so calm?  I should be flipping out in typical Lavender-style.  Perhaps it's because I already went through a month-long period of mourning leaving our home and debating whether or not we were making the right decision by moving.  Perhaps it's because I feel like I still have enough time to get all of my work done for school before baby comes.  Perhaps it's because a lot of this is out of my control.  MOST LIKELY it's because I am constantly reassured by my favorite Bible Verse:

Here it is again in a paraphrased version:

So yeah, I am personally at peace right now.  Mental peace.  It feels great.  So what do I wonder this Wednesday, you ask?  Well this is going to sound SO Mom-ish, so be prepared...

                                            I wonder how William will handle it all.

Toddlers are interesting.  I believe that they are truly creatures of habit.  For example, every night when we give William a bath we have to do the EXACT SAME THING.  Whenever someone watches William when we are gone, we assure them that he will tell them what is next if they don't know so they don't need to worry about it.

Here is the bath/Band-Aid/book/bedtime routine we have fallen into for the past... hmmmmmm... I'd say five months at least.

We let him choose what color tablet he will use to dye the water and then he throws it in.  We bathe him, then we rinse his back, then we rinse his head.  We lift him out of the tub and then we dry him off.  He says, "Brush your teeth is next" ... which it is ... and then when that's done he will say, "Band-Aid is next!" ... which it is ... We have to give him a Charlie Brown Band-Aid every single night that he plasters on his bare chest and marches around saying, "I got a Band-Aid!"  Then we put his diaper on him, dress him in his PJs, and then he picks out a "chair book" (which is a book we read in the glider).  He hands me the book and then walks to the ottoman where my feet are propped, grabs both of my ankles and hoists himself up to the ottoman, says "I climb Mommy Mountain!" and then, kneeling on the ottoman, he holds his arms out to me and says, "You got me?"  And I always say, "I will always catch you" and he does a little bit of a lunge/leap forward to the chair (over the small separation between the ottoman and the glider) and then we cuddle up with his blankie and mimi and read the "chair book" of the night.  After the book is over, he slides off of the glider and goes under my right leg, back to the bookshelf saying, "I go in the hole!"  He picks up one more book, walks it to his bed, and lies down.  I read him this "bedtime book" and then we say our prayers.  I always take prayer requests first and they have been the same from William for at least three months now.  He always asks that we pray for, "Chuck E. Cheese, The Giraffe Store, The Letter Store, and the Big Box Store" (translated that means Chuck E. Cheese, Toys R Us, Babies R Us, and Costco - and the ironic thing is that we've only take him to the first three of these places about two times each since he could actually remember... we are evil parents who always tell him that these places are sleeping when he wants to go there... I promise I will take him back to Chuck E. Cheese before baby comes though.  I couldn't live with myself if I didn't do that for him after months of praying for CEC).  So we pray and then do "tucky tucky" which sometimes is "mumify" which once turned into "Dadify" and then later "Lavender-fy"... so funny.  Then I kiss him on his cheek, tell him that I love him so much and then Dom does the same and we turn off his light and leave the room.  EVERY SINGLE NIGHT.

So there, that's why I think toddlers are creatures of habit.  Not to mention how William has to give a hug, a kiss, and a high-five to everyone he says goodbye to... in that order.  He will literally grab your hand to slap it if you forget the high-five at the end.

Therefore, despite my personal calmness... I have come to realize that I am extremely nervous about how William will handle his upcoming changes.  I usually feel as though we are doing the right thing by changing a lot at once, so that we can just get it all over with, but perhaps that will make William go nuts.

What exactly are the changes that William will soon endure?

Well, for starters he will become a big brother.  When we ask if he is having a brother or a sister, he usually answers.  If he says brother, the name he says is Keegan.  If he says sister, the name he says is Hannah.  Neither of these are names we are using; they are the names of the youngest boy and girl at the babysitter's house.  Sometimes though, William will say NO when you ask him if he's having a brother or a sister.  I am sure this is perfectly normal, but it worries me a bit.  Life is going to be a LOT different for the little guy.  He won't be the only kid anymore.  I know that eventually he won't remember life as an only child, but I am sure the transitional phase is a challenge.

Another change is our big move to the 'burg.  William has only ever known this house to be his home, so I am worried about how he will handle the move.  He once looked at a picture of the house and said that it was Margaret's house (his babysitter's).  I realized that they do kind of resemble one another.  We ask him if he's ready to move to the big house, and again he usually answers "NO".

We are also moving William from the nursery (he has been in the crib converted into a toddler bed for a while now) to his "big boy room" when we move.  We figured it would just be easier for him to do the switch all at once.  However, we are keeping the same nursery furniture and bedding... which is b/c we have all gender-neutral stuff and because we are cheap.  I always said I was glad we didn't find out with the first baby so we could just cheap-out and use the same stuff over for the next kid, but now I worry about the fact that the nursery will be almost the SAME and William might think it's his room.  I am working hard to make his toddler room look more enticing than the nursery, but this is another unpredictable situation we'll soon be facing.

A couple of other changes that William must go through in the near future are getting rid of the mimi (binky) and potty training.  For now, I am not going to fret about either situation.  OK, so my 2 1/2 year old still uses a pacifier and wears diapers.  Well, I have bigger battles to fight right now.  I can't make him go through ALL of these changes at once, so I am not going to even bother.  In fact, my pediatrician told me to wait on the potty training until the end of the summer... so I might go with that advice.  I know my babysitter prefers it done over summer, but he won't even be three until November so I don't want to rush anything. At this rate maybe it will be NEXT summer. Not that I want to buy diapers for two...  He's not super interested in it right now, although he is starting to get the idea that he should be peeing and pooping in the Elmo potty and not in a diaper.  Even the change in the fact that now he tells us when he poops in his diaper is a positive one.  We are working with that and trying to remind him to tell us BEFORE he goes "next time".  Finally, I am going to switch his car seat position from behind me to behind the passenger seat.  This will allow me to hand him items easily.

I just don't want him to think he's "being replaced" by baby.  Or hate our new house b/c it comes with a baby.  Or get angry with Dom and me because we took him from the home where he took his first steps.

I will keep you posted on how William handles everything.  Of course many people smile and say that this is NOTHING and that their kids were perfectly adjusted within NO TIME and many others say it is a challenge, but like everything else we will get through it. I know all the lines.  I have heard them a million times and I am prepared to hear them a million more.  I am just not prepared to live it all out... quite yet.

Wish us luck! Chuck E. Cheese did!