Memphis Monday: SOUTHERN ACCENTS

OK, so it's actually Wednesday. Sue me.

I have enjoyed living in Memphis because I love Southern accents! I think Southern accents make everyone sound so sweet and kind. I adore being called "honey" and smile every time someone says "I reckon" or "y'all." I've had my fair share of times at the grocery store or restaurant where I had to ask for something to be repeated, but I even enjoy the misunderstandings. It makes me feel as though I live in a foreign place where I don't speak the language, and, in actuality, I don't. I love it.

Fun with Foil

For those of you that didn't know, this week is Green Week. What are you doing to improve the environment? Addie and I are reusing aluminum foil. I think I may market these ideas as a new line of children's hats. Gymboree, here we come!

Memphis Monday: PUBLIC PARKS

My friend Brittney does all sorts of fun things on her blog. She has a Flashback Friday where she tells fun stories from her life and Tell-All Tuesday where she writes little-known facts about herself. While running today I was thinking (as is my usual custom during this blessed alone time) how grateful I was for the park I was running in, and then my thoughts turned to the many good things about Memphis. It's easy to be negative (see my last post!) but it's so much better for your psyche to be positive...thus Memphis Monday. (People, let's focus on the good!)

Memphis has more public parks than any other place I've lived and, as a stay-at-home-mom who lives in an apartment, I appreciate the parks so much! I go to some sort of park nearly every day, whether it's to run myself, or just to spend time with friends. Many of the parks have short running paths, playgrounds, soccer and baseball fields, tennis courts, charcoal grills and picnic tables, gazebos, and in the summer there are ROSES. There is never a shortage of other adults huffing along the path with me or little kids going down the slides. It will be fun when Addie will be able to join in the fun. Great job Memphis! I truly love the parks!

FYI: I just looked at the Shelby County website and the Memphis area search for parks yielded 170 parks! Unbelievable!

Little Green was molested

Jason, Addie and I have now been officially inducted as Memphians. Here's why:
Yes, Little Green was broken into the night before last. As you can see, they broke through the driver's side window with this heavy metal thing that looked like it was from an old building. They took the stereo and left the mess for me to clean up.

I filed a police report and then had the car towed to the shop. A lot of the blame is ours, she hasn't been working (again!) since the beginning of March and just sat in the parking lot while we procrastinated deciding if we should sell her, junk her, or fix and keep her. I'm sure they were checking her out and decided a useless old car with a decent stereo was an easy target (we had installed Jason's old one right before we moved out here). Oh well, it made us get up and do something with her. The mechanic we took her to offered to buy her from us for $500 so that's what we did. I feel sort of sad about it, I've had her since I was 16. Oh well, time to move on I guess. Yay for Memphis!

Mafia

Thanks to our friend Shauna, my family has started playing online mafia. You can find a link to our game on the left-hand side of this blog and check it out. I'm the moderator/administrator of the game, and everyone else is either a mafia member, regular townsperson, detective or doctor. People get killed by the mafia and the rest of the town has to figure out who they are. It has been a lot of fun and has been a great way to get back into contact with some of our cousins. This sexy picture of Jason is what was posted when he was killed, it's his ghost.

The other upside of playing mafia, at least for me, is that I get to do some writing again. I've enjoyed coming up with the hilarious stories, although I am running out of creative ways to kill the people in the town. I have always loved journal writing, but haven't had to do any creative writing since probably high school, and the research papers I did in college just aren't what I would call fun writing. I've been toying with the idea of writing a children's book or youth novel, but it's sort of overwhelming at the moment. I just love scouring the children's section of the library, and think what a thrill it must be for those authors to see their names on the shelves. It's hard to get published, so for now I'll just think of story ideas and dream...

optometrist's daughter

Jason was telling me yesterday all about the proper way to fix the frames of glasses. He took out Addie's toy glasses and altered them for her. They were having such a fun time together, she kept laughing at herself in the mirror, he even had her wear them in the bath! Anyhow, here are the highlights.

the best version of myself

My friend and I were talking this week and she mentioned that her husband said he felt as if he were now "the best version of himself." I don't think he was implying he has now become his "perfect self" but that he's working on everything he can to meet his potential. I've been thinking about that a lot. I know we are placed in situations to challenge us, and for me, Memphis has been quite the challenge.

Our little family has had more trials these last 8 months then the rest of our marriage put together. There have been bad times, but there have also been wonderful times. Because of this, we trust each other more. We communicate better. We remember to appreciate one another. We encourage.

I now allow myself to lean more on my husband. I don't need to handle every emotional or spiritual hurdle by myself. Afterall, we're equal partners. We need to lean on one other.

I also have found that in some ways, I lean less on my husband. I CAN call the insurance company without feeling like a fool!

The examples of those around me have also encouraged me to examine my own life and see where I can make improvements. We have friends here who are extremely thoughtful, they'll drive to 3 grocery stores to buy you the perfect flavor of ice cream. We have other friends who put the daily spiritual aspects first, never missing a day of family prayer or scripture study. Others who focus on staying positive, never gossiping, educating themselves, etc. I look up to these friends and know I have a long way to go!

I am learning to enjoy time at home with Addie. It has been difficult staying home all day, I enjoyed working and feeling productive and bringing in a paycheck, but just recently I've started to feel the value of what I'm doing here. Tender moments with Adelyn are worth more than any paycheck I received or training I conducted. Understanding her needs, seeing her face light up when I walk into the room, having her forgive me over and over again, all teach me more about our Heavenly Father and His love than I have ever before understood. I really have felt the divinity of motherhood, and am in awe of my responsibilities, but also feel that I am equal to them.

I believe that a woman who actively strives to become a better version of herself is the best version of herself. I yearn to be a woman who is spiritually, mentally, and physically strong. One who is thoughtful, bright, optimistic, and kind. One who can see her mistakes and improve. As long as I'm pushing forward, doing better than I did the day or week or month before, I am the best version of myself.