WHOOPS!

Firstly, does anyone know how long it took me to change one little thing on my blog such as the colour of the text on the right hand side? A very loooong time and a lot of determination! It feels like such a major accomplishment to have finally figured it out! How come the blogger site couldn't write something obvious like 'edit text colour here' as opposed to the word 'advanced'???

Secondly, in response to my last post;

Tony posted this comment;
Woah! Tell us how you really feel! No wonder you were grumpy. However, just to clear something up, when she mentioned one of her boys peed the bed -- that wasn't me. And, I don't nap every weekend...
You're a wonderful mother and I love you more than anything. I'll do better to make your live easier.
You're the best!
Ice cream for you today.
Love, Tony

Awww, now that's just what a wife wants to hear and just what she needs to make her smile. BUT, I still beg to differ on the weekend napping...and I'm happy to keep a score card!

Also in response to my grumpy post I received a very nice email from a wonderful lady I know by the name of Diana Guptill. I met Diana when I lived in Hawaii for 2 1/2 years. I was/am friends with one of her daughters and was always invited to spend holidays at their house. Diana has raised 6 children who are all grown and married with their own families now. For those of us in the midst of parenting we all know that raising 6 children is a big deal and no easy task! Diana has a very strong testimony of the gospel, as do all her children, and last week she sent me a really nice email trying to give me some advice and relief to solving my grumpy problems. In fact, she gave me a solution for each problem I listed and it has been so helpful.

I would like to share a paragraph she wrote because I have thought about her words all week;

Families are wonderful and we have a life time to enjoy them and train them! :o) The example we set before our children will lead to how they raise their own families. One thing about teaching them, we never stop!
Try to be cheerful when presenting problems and solutions. Honey attracts flies more than vinegar does. It always falls to the woman who 'sets to the tone' in their home. While we feel grumpy and do not feel validated for all we do, we still have to teach by example. You might do this already, but having a chore chart posted where jobs can be rotated is also helpful. Chores first before play. Good luck! I hope I have shared something helpful. I've been where you are and I know how hard it is! Don't give into discouragement, show Satan you're better than he is and you will succeed! He wants us to fail. Well, he DID FAIL!! He got kicked out of heaven and doesn't have a body! :o) The Lord is on our side! :o)

I love her final words not to give in to discouragement and to always remember that Satan wants us to fail.

And here's to new beginnings of remembering to be cheerful when there's a problem...and the grandest chore chart there ever was! Thank you Diana.

Now onto my 'Whoops' post;

Monday after school I picked the boys up like I usually do. On our way home I looked in the rear view mirror at Ashton and noticed he had some pretty big side burns and very messy, overgrown hair. So, even though I had to be home in 45 minutes, I made a hasty decision to swing by the hairdressers and get him a hair cut.

Hasty decisions are not a good idea when it comes to hairdressers!

I walked into the hairdressers, told Ashton to sit down quickly and to jump in the chair that was empty. I gave the lady instructions to cut his hair around his ears and do a no. 2 shave. I particularly liked this lady as she’d cut Ashton’s hair once before and had done a really nice job. She raised her eyebrows at me when I said no. 2, but I didn’t think anything of it. I was anxious to go outside and talk with some friends from church. A few minutes later I sat on the couches in the salon with Juliet and the boys. We looked at magazines and talked. I also did something I’ve never done before...I did not look at Ashton the whole time he was in the chair and I didn’t look at the hairdresser either.

Usually I am quite an annoying customer for any hairdresser. I tend to keep a real close eye on them and do not hold back at telling them they’ve cut enough or I want them to do something different.

Hairdressers are dangerous people. Give them the chance and they will chop, chop, chop until there is nothing left! My past experience has also proven to me that they are not very good at listening to your instructions either.

As I continued to sit on the couch I noticed the lady who had been cutting Ashton's hair walked out the door to go home. I could see from the couches that a young man took over but I still didn't see Ashton.

Fifteen minutes later Ashton jumped out of the chair and walked over to me. As I looked up from my magazine, my heart literally sank because Ashton's hair was WAY short. Shorter than I liked and way shorter than I was use to.

The hairdresser noticed the shocked look on my face and said,
“You told us to do no. 2, but we did no. 3 instead”.
All I can say is thank goodness for that, imagine if they’d followed my instructions and done no. 2 (he would barely have any hair at all).
What was I thinking, I meant to say no. 6!
Ashton did not look like my little boy at all and that’s what horrified me the most, but luckily he liked it and I pretended to as well.
For some mothers this would hardly be a big deal, but I have always been so particular about my boys’ hair not being too short, and Ashton has always had fairly long hair.
Ashton was nearly born with more hair than he has now, but I just keep reminding myself that at least I won’t have to get it cut for a very long time!