Confessions....Part 1

A collection of random musings and confessions....

1. I long to have a living that looks like it came from the pages of Pier

 One or Pottery Barn, somehow though I don't think that Pier One

and 5 kids go hand in hand..So for now I look at the pages and

 fantasize about a fab living room.

2. I want to go to disney world...taking the kids is just an excuse
 to go myself. I have a secret dream about having my vow renewal at
Disney World, or on a Disney cruise!!! Unfortunately the cost is more
than I can handle...so it'll be a dream for awhile.

3. I make up goofy songs for my kids when I make dinner.."Black
beans and red beans...yummy yummy yummy in my tummy." This is
one of my favorite make believe songs...

4. I love watching Phineas and Ferb on the Disney Channel. The
 show makes me laugh and I actually find myself singing the songs
 they make up on there.. "Gitchi Gitchi Goo means...."

5. I had to institute a no talking about farts, burps, or other
bodily functions at the dinner table. (Did I mention I have
3 little boys)

6. I'm a democratic catholic raised by protestant republican
parents. Needless to say we don't see eye to eye on a lot
of things.

7.I don't watch any celebrity entertainment and I
don't look at any of what my grandma use to call the
garbage papers. I think celebrity news is for people
who have an unsatisfied life.

8. I think Forbes magazine is way off base by saying that
Lady Gaga is more influential as a celebrity than Oprah.
Seriously...Lady Gaga is crazy and encourages people
to be crazy...that's not influence in my book.

9. I think that football coaches gossip more than anyone
I know. They have a whole website that is committed
to nothing but gossip about jobs..They just choose to
call it "scoop" not gossip.

Okay that's enough for now..I've got lots more but they can wait for another day!

Stay at home mom!

****This is a repost from a friends page on FB, these are not my own words, but I can honestly say that they are a thought I've had a couple of times...especially when I didn't get to something and I get the "What the heck did you do all day?" from Coach******



.A man came home from work and found his three children outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard. The door of his wife's car was open, as was the front door to the house and there was no sign of the dog. Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall. In the front room the TV was loudly blaring a Cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing. In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door. He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she might be ill, or that something serious had happened. He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door. As he peered inside he found wet towels, scummy soap and more toys strewn over the floor. Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls. As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the bed in her pajamas, reading a novel. She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went. He looked at her bewildered and asked, 'What happened here today?' She again smiled and answered, 'You know every day when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world do I do all day?' 'Yes,' was his incredulous reply. She answered, 'Well, today I didn't do it.



by Jennifer Johnson



I couldn't have said it better myself...Next time hubby asks you that question print this out and hand it to him...maybe he'll get the hint!

What I love Wednesday-Candles, Eskimo Kisses, and Quiet

That's right its time for another installment of What I'm loving Wednesday!!!
Today's contestants are Candles, Kisses and Quiet!!! It won't take a genius to
figure out why...

First up Candles. I love scented candles. Every time I walk by the Yankee
Candleshop its all I can do to not walk in there and empty my bank account.
 Most people would say they have a favorite smell..I like a lot of different types
of smells. For instance I always burn food smell candles in the kitchen, I burn
ocean or beach related ones in.....you guessed it the bathroom and I mix it up
between floral and clean smells in the living room...My favorite Yankee candle is

Storm Watch! I love the smell of this candle. The Yankee candle store says
 it smells like the Ocean Air right before the storm..I don't know about all that
 but I have always loved the smell of this candle and it is very comforting to me
when I do burn it..

Next up  Eskimo Kisses!  I remember as a kid my mom use to give me Eskimo
kisses...I always thought it was funny to rub your nose against someone else and
 I still do that with my kids today. I Eskimo kiss Coach sometimes too, although I
usually then give him a doggie kiss and he gets all freaked out about it... I don't
know what it is about rubbing your nose against someone elses...its kind of funny
that it can be so calming and reassuring to one. Whatever the reason I know that I
 hope my kids will pass on a good Eskimo kiss too!

Finally Quiet! Now come on with 5 young children you have to expect that I would
love quiet. There is never a dull moment in this house. I savor the times when I
can just sit back and hear....nothing! Well we all know not nothing...That clock in
 the kitchen, the sound of the refridgerator, the tumbling of the dryer, the sound of
 that fly,but when you have 5 children these everyday sounds get drowned out
by the talking(mostly at a level above indoor voice), or crying(mostly the 2yr old)
of the children.

Don't get it wrong. I have had times where I realize that the quiet is too quiet. The
constant and reassuring noise lets me know that all children are present and
accounted for and that they are all okay. I enjoy hearing them talk to one another
minus the fights and the talk about burping, boogers, and farts(I have 3 boys), it
is fun to hear them talk about things and use words that they heard us say...
coincidentally that is a topic for aother time... But sometimes the ability to turn off
the TV, the sound and just listen...well that's a moment that I hold dear!

Well thanks for reading this weeks update of What I love Wednesday! I hope
you guys enjoyed this one!! I know I enjoyed writing it!

This says it all....

So my first interruption of the new and improved Jordan Family has happened.
 Most of you may be thinking already but its only June??? Yes already! See
 Coach has decided to increase his networking by taking an 9 day trip to Winnipeg!!!
 He was able to get a guest coaching spot with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers(CFL).

I'm currently on day 3 of a 9 day interruption. Although I'm sure that many a fellow
 football wife would say that having him home is more of the change from the norm..
.but more on that later. Back to Day 3! Although he's "only" in Canada the
constraints of the schedule have limited any chance to talk, not to mention that it
 cost $.20 a minute to call home...thank goodness for free text messages!

So our conversations have been very limited and since Coach is admittedly not a
 fan of texting we have not spent very much time at all in conversation. For the
 average person this may not be such a big deal but for me it sort of is. See Coach
 is pretty much my only friend. A lot of you will say that isn't true but honestly
 I can count on less than one hand the people who text,message, or  try to talk to me
 at least bi-weekly(not even talking about weekly here) Anyway I digress that is
 a topic for another blog....

Not having anybody around can be a little challenging. It sure can be depressing,
especially when one sees picture after picture of people partying and having fun
 on FB. Knowing that my daily routine is pretty much a combination of school work,
 childcare and homework can lead to some melancholy. Ok I'm way off track now....

Back to Day 3! So today I sat down and made a list of some things, people and
 places that I can use to get me through the "interruptions" set to come in this crazy
 thing we call a life. I'm not gonna post the list today, it may be used for another day
 but at any rate "blog posting" was involved in the list.. I'm trying to decide how to set
up the posts I'm looking at doing...I also have a blog name change in mind...More on
 that in coming days and weeks... Anyway enjoy and thanks for reading!

Unanswered Prayers??? Or is the answer just delayed?

I know I'm not in the minority when I say that I've had a couple of
prayers go unanswered(it's more than a couple but who's counting).

Prayer is a tricky thing. People pray for all kinds of things, some times we
pray for health of ourselves and our loved ones, sometimes we pray for a
job or economic success. Sometimes we pray for love, happiness and
friendship.

In retrospect the prayers that seem to be answered the most are the ones
that I have asked for things that I can also help accomplish. Things like
guidance, faith, willpower, and compassion. Those are the ones that seem to get
the most positive results.

When I hear the words Unanswered Prayers I think of the Garth Brooks song
by the same title, if you haven't heard it please go look it up and listen. This
song always reminds me of all those childhood nights I prayed that a certain boy
would like me, or a certain person would talk to me...well needless to say those
things usually didn't happen.

Then I think about the things I have now. The life that I am busy creating and how
each step has lead me to the place I am right now. Not long ago I was telling
 my bestfriendthat I was glad that a prayer wasn't answered several years ago.
 He inquired why and I said because I have no doubt in my mind that if it had
 been answered that you and I would not be talking now.

Life is funny that way. God sure knew what he was doing when you let that
 one go unanswered.Maybe it wasn't really unanswered after all...it was just
 answered in god's time...not our impatient and instant gratification society but
in the timing that is right for the plan.

That brings me back to prayer....when we listen to our ministers and clergy pray
 in the church do we really listen. I know I am guilty of this, I start thinking about
the things that I want to pray about, the things that are on my heart. I'm ashamed
 to say it but I've even thought about what's for lunch after mass or how hot I am.
 I tend to lose focus when I pray and I know that when I begin to ramble I try
to close the prayer quickly with a simple "God you know what's on my heart"

I think that God does know what's on our hearts but he wants us to know
what is on our hearts too. Like I said before the prayers that seem to be the
most successful for me are the ones that I can affect. The ones that I can play
a part in...see to me I think a lot of people ask for miracles in prayers and not
just pray....

But that brings me back to the beginning and the Unanswered prayers...Do
they go unanswered because we didn't really attempt them, didn't really
believe in them or do they go unanswered because they where not right for
us????

What I love Wednesday- Brockport, The Canal, and Coffemakers!

It's Wednesday!!! I've decided to do a new column every Wednesday.

It's called What I love Wednesdays. One this day I'm gonna list

some of the things I am in love with this week. It may be a new thing,

it may be an old treasure, it may be a place, person or time but it

will always be something that I am excited about on this Wednesday!

My first new love is our new town! We moved to Brockport,NY
last Wednesday. Coach recently got a job as the DC at
this school. I was nervous about this opportunity, the
whole Cornell U experience left us scarred...

Well needless to say I'm loving it! The town is about 30 miles
from Rochester. It's on the Erie Canal. It's a little town that has lots
of modern amenitites (Lowe's, Walmart, Grocery stores) and also has
a very nicely preserved downtown section.

Now for the really cool part!!!!

Half the town is on one side of the canal and half the town
is on the other side of the canal...Which gives you these really
cool bridges that go up when a ship needs to cross the canal.

We where told that about twice a week a ship comes through the canal
but it hasn't happened that we have seen it yet. For me this is such
a truly amazing thing. The history of this country is based on
the Erie Canal....its so cool to look at it and say that someone
100 years ago was using this Canal to transport goods!

It's such a cool thing to know that you are in a town that
has such an amazing thing in the center of it...

My final love is my new coffee maker! Let me start by saying that
I am not a coffee drinker. I don't have to have a pot before I
can function in the morning. I do love the random cup of
french vanilla coffee, and I am a serious tea drinker.

I do however love the smell of coffee, my kitchen is decorated
in coffee stuff and I think that the most amazing places are
little coffee shops...

So anyway back to the coffeemaker! I got a Keurig Platnium!
These are suppose to be the big daddy coffee machines.
I got one that looks just like the picture. Plugged it in
and made a cup of Early Grey tea, plus some cups of
cocoa for the kids!!! I have to admit I'm in LOVE with
the machine.

I love that I can make all kinds of different drinks one
at a time. I don't have to make whole pots and a cup of
coffee/tea brews in about 40 seconds! This model has
different cup size settings so you can brew to taste, as
well as water temp settings.

This machine will surely get some use in our house!!!

Well that does it from What I love Wednesday!!! Check back

next Wednesday for something new!!!

Something old, Something new!

So its time....time for the big move! Well honestly anyone that

knows us knows that since March 2008 we have moved 6 times

this will be our 7th move!!! Needless to say I should be a pro

at all this moving stuff.

Our moves have been filled with excitement and hope, as we are

now and sadness and tears as a couple of moves in the past

have been.

It's never easy to move, for me it requires sorting out stuff and

letting go of lots of things that don't need to take up room.

You'd be surprised what you decide is nescessary and what

isn't when you move as much as we have.

Moving allows us to evaluate what is really important

to us. It allows us to let go of that shirt we haven't

worn in 10 years and to store away that little

trinket box from our friend we love so much.

It reminds us of those that really love us and

not just those that claim to care.

Moving also allows us to clean out some room for

the new experiences, and things that we can look

forward to in our next place. It allows us to

collect new things, or add to a unique

collection that we have.

For me, a person who likes to cook, I collect

recipes from the gals I meet. I also pick up the joy of trying

new things. In NC I picked up several recipes for soul

food. In Cornell I learned about wine and got a

recipe for a delicious hash brown casserole.

In WNY(my birthplace), I picked up recipes for

Chicken wing dip!

I also collect recipes for life. These ones are a little

more interesting. All the people I have met have taught me a

lot about life, love, living, dieing, and lets not forget football.

The blessing of moving allows us to free up space in

our houses and our hearts to make room for the new.

I think many of us hang on to things long past the usefullness.

We hoard things because they remind us of something special,

a special person, a special moment, a special place. It's good to have

some reminders of things. It's good to hold on to things

that we would like to pass on to people in our future.

But take it from a pro mover, your heart like your home

can only hold so many things and sometimes we have

to clean it out in order to make room for new things.

So as I move I will have two special boxes, one

I will mark with the word "Something Old". This box

will contain the things that are special to me

the jewelry from NC friends, or my Cornell sweatshirt,

my WNY photos and the special things that I have in my life

from all the places that I have been.  The second

box will say "Something New". This box will hold the

new things that I will get when I'm in my

new place.

When it comes time to move again, as I am

hoping that we will move(It'll mean something good for us). I

will look through the "something new" and transfer those

things to the "something old" box and begin the

journey anew!!!