Lipstick and Legos

My mom was a stay at home mom.  She was always there whenever we needed her, and in my adolescent brain, that was what a mom was supposed to do.  Dads went to work, and moms cleaned the house, did the laundry, catered to their children's every whim, made dinner... you get it.  Fast forward a decade and you will find Amber Hodges teaching full time and expecting her first baby. Dewy and I always have had the same goals when it came to finances, albeit different ways of achieving them.  He believes in working, budgeting, and saving.  I believe in winning the lottery.  So when it became evident that I wasn't going to be able to quit my job and stay home when Rhett arrived, I had a really hard time.  I spent hours in the middle of sleepless nights crying on the couch talking to my unborn baby and telling him how sorry I was that I had already failed him.  What kind of mother left someone else to raise her baby? Barbaric, right? My actions and feel...

When I was growing up, us kids did NOT look forward to spring break.  While all our friends were off on wild adventures, we were at home.  Elbow deep in spring cleaning.  And we hated every second of it.  Before you go calling DCFS, let it be known that we had plenty of adventures, and were very fortunate children.  However, true to kid fashion, spring break put our blinders on and we were pretty sure we were the most unfortunate of souls and our lives were over.  Mom had a very specific system, and I blame this exact time every year for turning me in to the clean freak I am now.  We did a room a day, mostly because us kids figured out that if we worked faster she would make us clean more, but that meant that it took all freaking week to finish.  On day one, we would wake up and while eating breakfast, mom would write our lists.  I also blame her for my list obsession.  Whoever owned the room we cleaned each day was required to go in, st...

Last weekend was life changing.  Well... not really, but it WAS super fun.  Friday morning I got Rhett to school, Baylor to the doctor, my chores all done, and I left the premises.  I had the car to myself--which meant no listening to the movie Trolls--and finished up an audio book while I drove to the cabin.  Aside from it being freezing upon arrival, I spent the later morning and early afternoon in utter bliss.  Do you ever just want to be alone? Like no other human interactions whatsoever? I love people, but sometimes I just want to lock myself in a closet and not talk to, look at, or touch another person for a minute.  No three year olds playing with my hair.  No babies sitting on my feet.  No seven year olds--and their sweaty grossness--yanking on my arm.  Mama is in time out, people.  I started dinner, went on a trail-ish-run, and after a couple hours welcomed one of my besties to the cabin.  It was the perfect amount of alo...

I'm back.  Did you miss me? Ten days ago I was sitting in an uncomfortable folding chair surrounded by lovely ladies I'm growing to love.  As I sat there giving myself a much needed pep talk about powering through for another hour of being in a bra, the prophet dropped a bombshell challenge that made the entire room murmur and gasp.  Ten days of no social media.  Ten days.  There were three other parts of his challenge, but this point had all kinds of gals squirming in their seats.  The youth challenge was for a week! Apparently us women have more responsibilities we are shirking so an additional three days was necessary.  Don't be deceived here, I was never against this challenge.  In fact, I like a good challenge, and I was determined to pass with flying colors.  My main fear was that Dewy was leaving all week for another round of hiking with guns--aka hunting if you're new here--and I couldn't fathom how my evenings were going to be...

Let's keep the party going over here, shall we? I'm sure you've all been hanging on the edge of your seat waiting for the tour to continue.  If you haven't, well... shame on you. Our entry way was a big focus of mine when we designed our house.  Our previous home had a split entry, and after six years of trying to haul in infant carriers, children, groceries--all at the same time--I was adamant about having a spacious entry way.  The front door was always going to be a color, and the options I was throwing out caused Dewy major stress.  Don't tell him, but the bright colors I mentioned were just to watch him squirm.  I was always going to pick blue.  Plus the name of the color is Salty Dog, so it was appropriate when it came time to paint our dog house that I should pick that color to match. I wanted windows in the door, but not to forfeit any privacy, so the high window in the side panel and the three across the door nailed the goal.  As for the lig...

You know how when you get married you rake in a bunch of cash from people who came to your reception?  On our wedding night, we sat and ate pizza on the bed in our suite and opened all our cards.  We were PUMPED at the generosity of all our parents' friends--let's be honest, our friends gave us fun stuff... nothing productive.  The next morning, we ate breakfast and went to the Gateway mall in Salt Lake City to shop around and see a movie--killing time before our flight to Hawaii.  Dewy manned the cash because, well... I'm not trustworthy in a mall with cash.  It was quickly evident that he wasn't trustworthy either, but for different reasons. Dewy is so full of goodness.  He always has been.  As we walked through the mall, we came upon a lot of people begging for money.  Dewy physically cannot walk by those people without giving them something, and while I'd give them a smile or a wave and call it enough, Dewy started forking over our wedding m...

Yesterday a dear friend asked if I was interested in taking some veggies from their garden off her hands.  This is the first year in a long time that we haven't been able to cultivate our own garden because we were putting in an actual yard, so I jumped at the chance to snag fresh produce.  Can we take a second and offer a "hoorah" for generous souls that share their abundance? Seriously.  One of our new neighbors over here is more than eager to share his veggies with us.  He is the kindest older man, and even though he still hollers "Good morning, Amanda!" to me--I wave and reply "It's still Amber, Glen!"--I adore having him close.  He has brought over beets, beet greens, summer squash, green beans, winter squash... basically if you're going to help save my grocery budget so I can buy more crap off amazon prime, I'll let you call me whatever you want.  Wow... that derailed in a quick hurry, didn't it? Anyway... When I picked up the v...

Remember how when a relationship is in the newness phase it's all about making out, looking good, and being together as much as possible? And remember how after 9 years of marriage, work, and three children its still all about making out, looking good, and being together as much as possible? Wait... it's not? Well, why? I grew up with parents who ALWAYS had date night on the weekends, and when Dewy and I were engaged they offered me sound advice--guard date night with your life.  Stay within your means, and be smart, but never stop dating.  Now, I'm pretty bossy, and could have easily forced Dewy into taking me on dates, but lucky for me he has always been a willing participant.  Mostly because I put out after, but whatever.  Our dates always include food, because I don't maintain this figure by skipping meals, but that hasn't always meant that we went out to dinner.  When we were first married, and dirt poor, we would pack a picnic and go play catch at the ...

When Dewy finally reached service, and started getting the onslaught of texts I'd been sending him for over a week, he gave his hot little number a call--that's obviously me.  When I picked up the phone, a little too eagerly, and after a few inappropriate comments, the following conversation ensued: Me: So....? Dewy: Jake shot a deer! Me: Why would I care what Jake shot? Did you shoot anything? Dewy: Well, no.  But I have a lot of stories! Me: That is NOT why we go hunting, dear. Nor is that a legitimate reason to endanger the lives of your children. When Dewy comes off the mountain, he's like a new man.  He is more patient.  I believe this comes from the massive amount of patience required to hike for miles and pursue large game.  Or at least that is how he describes it... "Do you know how hard it is? How close you have to get to the elk without them seeing, hearing, or smelling you?" Well honey, I'm smelling you right now, and I can only imagine ...