Putting frustration into perspective

Just when I thought I knew it all and I had it all figured out I am thrown a curve ball and am reminded that I am not really in charge here. Yesterday I blogged about what a frustrating day I had. God heard, and she decided to put my frustration into perspective.

So today started as any other day. I got up, showered, dressed and got Madeline up for breakfast. Bryan (BIL) came over to watch Madeline while I taught my morning class. Class went really well. (I love this class already. Sometimes classes jell together and the dynamics simply work. This class is one of them, but that is a topic for another post...) I left class and was on my way to pick up Madeline when I stopped at QT for a drink. Got back in the car.

It. Won't. Start.

I can't get a hold of Bryan, Kevin is at work, Elliot is in Illinois, Kathy is at work, all four grandparents are out of reach, I. Am. Stuck. The jumper cables are not in the trunk. So I go inside to see if QT has any. Of course they do, but I have to buy them. ARGH!!!! Enter Tom, my first good Samaritan of the day. He lived a few blocks from the QT and said he could run home to get jumper cables, which he did. He tried to jump the car without any luck. Thank you Tom.

Bryan calls my phone, wondering why I am almost an hour late and I tell him my tale. He is wonderful and comes and gets me. Thank you Bryan. He has an appointment in the afternoon so he dropped me off at my parents house so I can get my mom's car. (It has a car seat in it.) I feed Madeline lunch and head back to QT with socket set in hand to remove the battery and take it to an auto parts store to test it.

With Madeline on my hip I open the socket set (upside down, ARGHH!) and then have to try to figure out which one I need to get the battery out of the car. Enter Gary, my second Good Samaritan of the day. As he was walking into the station he asked if I could use some help. I don't know if it was the fact that Madeline was sitting on the filthy ground using a socket set as toys or the look of sheer bewilderment on my face that made him stop but I was sure glad he did.

Gary took out the old battery for me. He loaded it into the trunk of my mother's car. He waited at the QT until I came back from the auto parts store with a new battery (b/c when they tested the old one it was beyond dead). Then he put the new battery in my car for me. He even spent 15 min fussing with the battery to make sure it was secure. This total stranger spent 45 min of his day just helping me. Gary wouldn't even let me buy him his soda. I mean that is pure love for human kind right there. From the bottom of my heart, Thank you Gary.

So to recap I now have a working car! Yea! But I also have my mother's vehicle at the QT too. So I called Bridget, one of the bad aunts and she came and rescued me. She left her car and drove my mother's car back to mom and dad's. Then I drove Bridget back to her car. Thank you Bridget.

I left school at 10:30am. I dropped Bridget off at her car at 3pm. 4 1/2 hours.

And how is Madeline through this ordeal? She is an angel. She is hot, sweaty and tired but she doesn't complain. She just watched Gary as he worked. She sat on my hip and waved at the people coming in and out of QT. She was pacient and sweet. I am totally in love with her.

How was I? I was a mess. Ok, not really. I only really lost my cool once, when talking to Kevin on the phone. (One of the 10 million times I called him at work today.) I was actually frustrated. But I kicked into action and did what needed to be done.

What did I learn today? Yesterday wasn't that bad and as Kevin kept telling me, today could have been a lot worse. I am proud of myself really. Before I started this examination of how I deal with negative situations I would have started to look for more negative events in the course of my day. But today, with the morning's inconvience behind me, I was able to come home and relax and say honestly to myself, "this morning wasn't the greatest but I am going to make the best of the rest of the day."

I am learning. Today was a glass 1/4 full kind of day.

mg

My new toys

I eluded to my new toy a few posts ago and I have been meaning to talk about it since I got it. Until now!

Last week my dad decided to buy my mom a fancy-pants (fp) D-SLR as an early birthday present. They were planning a trip to Maine and he thought it would be a great addition to their trip. He found a great deal on a Sony alpha 200, the next model up from ours. He was only going to get the camera and the 18-70mm lens, but for an extra $100 there was a package that got him a 75-300mm telephoto lens as well. Kevin and I have been talking about getting a beefier lens and so we paid dad the $100 (+ tax) and got ourselves a brand new, georgeous, incredible, space defying lens. (Can you tell I am a little excited?!?!)

So not only did we get a new lens but that also meant that we needed a new camera bag. Mom and Dad got the older one, which was not really old, just smaller.

Our new bag:

Isn't it pretty and green!

All the following photos where taken from the front wall of our house. The opposite wall is about 25-30ft away.

Old lens:

18mm
Please ignore the piles of junk. This was during Phase I of our bathroom project.

70mm

The new lens:

75mm

300mm

Totally rad huh!?!?! We think so.

mg

Frustration

I am once again having technical difficulties with blogger and uploading photos. I feel like a lazy blogger, b/c I took a day off! How ridiculous!

I am having such a frustrating day and this is just icing on the cake. I don't really have any particular reason for my frustration although I could come up with a list of 100 things that have frustrated me today. (the computer, Maddy's mood after her morning nap, heartburn for no reason, the massive pile of dishes in my sink...)

In an effort to be more glass 1/2 full these are the good things about today:
-Madeline got another tooth! (that makes six total with three more about to burst through!)
-Whole grain waffles, yummo!
-Madeline's smile when I get her out of bed in the morning. Priceless.
-Madeline "painting" the front walk way with a foam brush & water.
-Kevin coming home after playing golf this AM.
-All three of us heading to the pool after lunch.
-Madeline down for a nap, which means it is nap time for mommy and daddy too!

If I can get my computer/blogger situation under control I will post later tonight. If not, then you will have to wait until at least Thursday PM but more likely Friday PM. We have a busy few days ahead.

Now for that nap...

mg

Busy, busy, busy.

I feel like I have been running around all day long. Up at 8am with Madeline. Dressed, fed and out the door to run errands with Poppy.

Target. Best Buy. Creve Coeur Camera.

Back to mom and dad's to unload my old camera bag to give to them and load up my new green beautiful monstrosity of a bag. (Got a new toy last week, which I have been meaning to post about and just haven't..., and needed something larger than the bag we had.)

Then lunch with Mom, Dad and Buddy (Madeline, too.) Weird to have my "family" together for lunch. (without Kevin and/or Kathy) It has been years since that happened.

Off to FU to make copies of my syllabus for the class I start teaching tomororow. Did I mention I am teaching again this semsester?!?! So excited, sort of nervous.

Back home for nap. I was going to blog, but I was distracted by dinner plans and Days. (I know, I know, I shouldn't watch stories)

Up from nap. Kevin home. Dinner. Playtime. Bed time (for Maddy). Ironing. Cleaning. Folding laundry. Blogging. Now I am going to bed!

No photos this post. I haven't downloaded them to the PC. If I can squeeze it in tomorrow I will post them for sure.

Sorry this post was so random. I just felt the need to blog but don't have the energy to make coherent thoughts string together.

mg

MoBot again?

MoBot is one of my favorite places in StL. I find it so relaxing to walk through the gardens and look at the beautiful plants and flowers and know that I don't have to weed any of it. I feel blessed to have such a gorgeous place to visit so close to home.

Yesterday Madeline and I headed to MoBot with my Dad (Poppy) and aside from the 150% humidity it was a great trip.







As we walked past these sheep Madeline started going crazy from her stroller screaming, "BAAA! BAAA!" So of course she had to get out and play with them!

Now for a joke only three of my readers will get:
"Ewe not fat, ewe fluffy!"

"Mom! This lamb won't get out of my way!"

mg

My morning yogurt

When do I get to eat yogurt without sharing again? I guess that is what being a mommy is all about. I don't think I have eaten anything without sharing in the last five months.

mg

Google Tag

I don't usually do random blog games but this one peeked my interest. The premise, type in the answers to the questions into Google Image search and choose the image you like best to answer these simple questions. Some of these are pretty self explanatory, others are more complicated. Enjoy!
__________

My age:

A place I would like to visit:
My favorite place:
My favorite object:
My favorite food:
My favorite animal:
My favorite color:
Town where I was born:
A past pet:
My first name:
My middle name:
My last name:
I have a rule about using last names on the blog and I am not going to break that for this. It would become far to obvious if I posted the photos I found. Sorry guys!

A bad habit:
My first job:
My current occupation:
My grandmother's name:
What you are doing right now:
Sorry some of the images are so small. I guess that happens with photos off some websites.

Tag my blogging friends, you are it! Now you should answer these questions with photos!

mg