Feng Shui

OK ... I may have officially lost it. Luckily I have a husband who lets me live in our house even though I bring home extremely random ideas on a fairly regular basis. Anyway, the idea of the moment is Feng Shui. I went to Starbucks today with my friend Claire and we were having a discussion of lots of stuff. Then we got to talking about life in general and how to make it better. You know ... just light conversation. (I swear - I think they put something funny in their frappuccinos or maybe they added an extra ingredient to their chocolate doughnuts today!)

Anyway, a lot of people think furniture arrangement when you talk Feng Shui. But what Claire and I were talking about had nothing to do with furniture. Feng Shui is an ancient Chinese practice believed to utilize the laws of both heaven and earth to help one improve life by receiving positive. In order to receive positive, you have to clear out the chaos. Claire was saying how she was reading about this. And she has translated this idea into getting rid of clutter. With so much clutter in a house, it's hard to receive positive energy. So, I think I'll take her lead and ditch some of the crap I know I don't need. I'm starting in my closet. Then I'm moving to the playroom. Then on to the stacks of kids schoolwork that they brought home on the last day of school (I have 4 piles that are over 6 inches high each!) I'm gonna let the positive in my life! I'll let you know how that goes. Because those of you who know me know that I am the queen of chaos. Perhaps after I tackle my chaos problem, I'll work on my procrastination problem. But I may need another frappuccino with Claire for that one. One thing at a time ... baby steps!

In other news ... our oldest kiddo (Nick) turned 11 last week! I can't believe it! Seems like he was just born. For his actual birthday, we all went out for pizza as a family. But the party was held the weekend before last. Several boys came over and I took them all to the movies and then we had a sleepover party. They wanted to see Narnia. NOT my kind of movie so I slept through most of it! Here are some pictures of the boys. Nick had so much fun having his friends over.

Marty and I went to a concert last night. It was a lot of fun. Perhaps a little louder than my usual taste in music but a really great concert. Lots of mosh pit activity happening. We chose not to partake in being passed around the crowd ... :-) The band was The Toadies. They played in a really small venue in Fort Worth and it was just a great concert. Marty said he was in heaven!

And tonight we realized we have too many kids. We have seen the future and it is not pretty! There are 7 kids sleeping in our house right now ... our 4 plus 3 others. Just another night at the England house I suppose. But you should have seen Lauren earlier tonight. She hasn't slept at home for like the last 3 nights or so so when we told her she couldn't sleep at her friend's across the street, she had a throw-down, massive fit. Like any good mother ... instead of consoling her, I got out my camera! This just pissed her off more! But here is one of the fun shots.

After I took the pictures, I went into mom mode and calmed her down, explained that we just wanted to see her and I struck a deal with her and let her friends stay here. All is good in her world again. But I got to tell you ... girls are a weird species! I don't even want to see her when she's a teenager!

Vacation Bible School starts in the morning and the kids are pretty excited about that. Nick and Austin are too old for camp but are going to be "volunteers" and help out with the younger kids. They had to go to training tonight. Nick is sooo excited. He's going to help out the first graders and Austin will be with the 3rd graders.

TAGGED AGAIN!
My friend Becky tagged me a couple of days ago so I think I'll answer that tag really quick while I'm already rambling about nothing. The tag was to tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours. There were other rules, too but I'm not much of a rule follower ... Becky is lucky I'm doing the tag at all! :-) So here goes...

1. I put 3 ice cubes in my milk. As if skim milk isn't watery enough already!
2. I eat plain oatmeal with flaxseed and vanilla whey powder for breakfast every single morning.
3. I have this weird thing where everything needs to balance out. For example, if I turn to my left to look at something, I have to turn back around to my right or else I'll be lopsided or something. This extends into my sleeping habits. I sleep half of the night on my right side and half the night on my left.
4. I set my alarm clock for 5:55 every morning. I am usually already awake when it goes off but I don't get up until it rings. But there is a reason for this. When I was in college, someone told me that anytime you look at a clock and it's a time with all of the same numbers (like 4:44 or 11:11), you should make a wish. So I get to make a wish every morning when my alarm goes off. (The wish is always the same ... Dear Lord, Please keep my family happy, healthy and safe. Amen.)
5. I keep my bottled water in the refrigerator but I don't drink it cold. I always let it sit out for a while before drinking it. I will even drink it when it's hot if it's been in the car for a few hours (sorry Claire, I know you told me that was bad for me).
6. I love to jump! I am wide awake in the mornings and sometimes I jump just for fun. I'll be standing in the kitchen talking to Marty or something and I'll just start jumping. Gets me going. Gets me warmed up to go to work and jump some more!

I'll shut up now. I've been thinking about some of my friends recently that I don't get to talk to or see as much as I would like. So for the music today, I have one of Lauren's favorite songs. It's Hannah Montana: True Friend. I'm not a big fan but I was reading the lyrics and this one is actually pretty good. So this song is for you, Lauren. Mommy is sorry she was taking your picture while you were having a fit and I'm sorry I posted it for the world to see! And it's also for my friends... especially those of you who are always there for me when I need you. (I included some of my favorite lyrics below.) I hope everyone has a great week!

You've got a million ways to make me laugh
You're lookin' out for me; you've got my back

You know the secrets I could never tell
And when I'm quiet you break through my shell

Somehow you're never out of second chances
Won't say "I told you" when I'm wrong again

A true friend
You're here till the end
You pull me aside
When something ain't right
Talk with me now and into the night
'Til it's alright again