winning and failing.

You might be familiar with the popular blog Failblog.org ?   Anyway, if you haven't been there, they typically have pretty funny news articles, videos, and images of events that have failed.  Go take a quick look and you'll see what I'm talking about. 

And, if you don't want to navigate over there, feel free to watch this little video we found on the site the other day...



(if the video isn't working, go to this page instead. fyi for some of you who didn't know this tidbit: if you right click on your mouse, you can see a mini menu that will allow you to "Open Link In New Tab"---that way you don't have to navigate away from here.)  The video is SO funny.

Anyway, I've been thinking a lot about my blog lately.  When I told the story about Cal throwing up and Tillie not making it to the potty in the same few minutes, I wasn't telling that story so you could feel really bad for me.  On the contrary, I write things down to record them.  I realize that EVERY ONE has these sort of things happen to them on a daily basis.  Every stage of life is different, but I'm convinced that one stage is not better or worse than the others.  They are just different.

Once upon a time, I was single.  My life was filled with crazy homework assignments, making good grades, church callings, trying to get into programs, working on portfolios, balancing a social life, and trying to get that cute red-headed-boy to notice me... (that last one? I totally accomplished.  The part about the grades?  Let's just say my last class at BYU (statistics) I earned a D, but I passed.  Way to go, Melissa.)  Anyway, it was crazy.  Just remembering it all makes me TIRED.  I wish I would have written more about about that phase in my life.  My memory is hazy about the details now.  My BFF and roomie (Sarah) and I had a quote on our wall that said, "Seen it all. Done it all.  Don't remember most of it." (do you remember, Sar?)  It's true.  I forget things easily.  Hence the reason I am starting to write it down.

I don't know when we took this picture, but look how happy I was.  Was it right after high school? on a break in college?  help rach and sarah.  see, my memory fails me.

When I was working full time with no kids, I remember coming home from work SO STINKIN' TIRED.  The thought of cooking something overwhelmed me (wait, that is still the case).  When I came home, all I wanted to do was put on my pj's and veg out.  I used to think, "One day when I can have the luxury of staying home all day, I'll be able to accomplish this and this and this..."  It wasn't the same life that I'd had a few years earlier, but there were still the failures and successes.

Pictures we took for our first Christmas card. we had just moved to Texas.

So, moral of the story, I'm realizing that each stage of life is filled with FAILURES and SUCCESSES.  And, as I have analyzed what this blog of mine is and isn't---I'm realizing I like to write about both the wins and failures.  Thanks for cheering me on, but please, don't feel so bad for me.  I'm fairly certain I've got a pretty good set up going on.

Anyway, like I was saying, the wins and failures... As I thought about this concept a few days ago, I found some good examples to illustrate them in my life today:

::: Wrapping neighbor gifts with Matilda... she was happy to help hold tape squares and I was happy she wasn't crunching my wrapping paper.  Sharing a mother bonding experience = Win.

::: While I was wrapping and having fun with Tillie, Calvin came up to my chair, pulled himself up, and proceeded to bite the side of my stomach (aka my lovely love handle) and yes, my shirt was covering the area.  Totally broke the skin.  I was bleeding.  Imagine me wigging out.  Small child biting mom's sensitive love handle = Fail.

::: My favorite thing ever is walking into the kitchen only to have a billion crumbs stick to my bare feet.  Not awesome.  Scrubbing my kitchen floor every day is never enough.  Two little messy eaters = Fail.

::: Wondering if I should ask for slippers for Christmas to avoid above problem =  Fail.

::: Having Tillie screaming and hollering for me in the middle of the night---why?  Because she had dropped her water bottle.  Fail.

::: Tillie climbing into bed with me at 6:30 a.m. so I could hold her.  Kind of fail, b/c she woke me up. But mostly WIN b/c she was so sweet (especially after she did a little burp and whispered, "Oh, excuse me, mom. I burped." and then put her head back on my chest.).  Holding a calm and happy child (not to mention, POLITE). Win.

::: Blasting Christmas music while creating home-made granola for the first time WHILE the kids were HAPPILY playing WITH EACH OTHER in the front room.  It was one of those moments where I thought to myself, "This is what it's all about.  This is what I was made for.  I love my life.  Nothing could be better than this."  Win.

::: Literally, minutes later I smelled something burning.  Oh, yes.  All of my granola.  The recipe I had made required things like FLAX SEED, WHEAT GERM, SESAME SEEDS, RANDOM NUTS---who even has this stuff on hand?  Not me.  I made a special trip to the store for those blasted ingredients.  I didn't even know what Flax Seed was.  Heck, I STILL don't know what Flax Seed is, but luckily I have a huge box of it.  Fail.

::: I was so angry that I had made such a huge mess with no return.  So, I chucked the burnt mess into the trash and resolved to try again.  A can-do attitude.  Win.

::: As I was pulling out the perfect second batch from the oven, I burned my arm off.  Well, not OFF, but I have a 1.5 inch burn on my bicep area from the cookie sheet.  When Aaron saw it, he was like, "How did that even happen?"  Who knows.  What a joke.  Trying to be domestic and getting third degree burns.  Fail.

::: Eating said granola?  Gross.  It doesn't even taste good.  Fail.

::: Cleaning up every last dish in the kitchen.  It was spotless.  Floor mopped.  Even the high chairs had been detailed.  Smelled lemon fresh.  Good work, Melissa.  Win.

::: Then, doing a Michael-Jackson-Quick-Turn to survey the rest of the house---It was like a bomb had exploded.  Clean laundry had been flung off the couch by a certain baby.  A box of Crispix had been poured out on the ottoman so that, "Cal could have a little snack."  Thanks, Tillie.  Toys were everywhere.  Who cares about the clean kitchen anymore?  The rest of the house is a disaster.  Fail.

You see, these are just some RANDOM events that have happened the last two days.  So, if any of these events sound familiar to you... good.  I'm not alone.  And, if you're wondering what the heck I'm talking about?  More power to you.

Different "trials and tribulations" for every one in every stage.
You win some, you lose some.

So, this is my blog.
You get what you paid for.
This is life we know it.