Ten on Tuesday

1.  I know alot of you read Momastery.  Did you read this, For Maggie, Who Lost Her Lobster? (If you haven't then read it now.  Right now.  Then come back.) Glennon is an amazing writer and I read this article in tears (and continue to read it that way) as she put into words how I often feel.  I don't struggle with an eating disorder or take lots of medication to keep me off the edge like she does, but I identify with everything else.  Especially the part about missing "the other side" and not being invited to parties.  It can be alienating at times to be an addict and that makes me extra thankful for my husband, who is always supportive.  He will leave the party as soon as I start feeling squirrely.  He doesn't keep (that doesn't mean we don't allow it) alcohol in our house, nor has he ever asked me to.  Sometimes he gives my hand an extra squeeze when he knows I need it.  He also knows that I sometimes miss "the other side" and that's OK. He knows, as well as I do, that the other side would never end well for me, and in turn him.  It's not worth the blessings God has poured out on our family to dance on that side again.  Not even for a night.
Read this one and this one too.  (I love that she has a sister like mine. And of course I mean amazing.)
2.  It poured rain on our Labor Day yesterday, so Jason and I took the kids to see The Odd Life of Timothy Green.  Such a sweet, family movie.  Emory and I were wiping away the tears.  The older couple behind us were weeping.  Full on.  (I love hearing the rain pouring when I am at the movies.   Makes it extra special to be there for some reason.)
3.  Jason is working on a budget (ugh) for us.  He printed out our bank statements to help him figure out our monthly expenses.  Then we had this conversation.

Jason: How many times do you think you went to the grocery store in June?

Me: Twelve?

Jason: How about twenty-one times. 

As you can see, my meal planning has gone out the window.  It takes me forever to do a meal plan, and I have three picky eaters (well, really four, because I am picky too).  Like over an hour for one week.  That is insane.  And don't tell me about a website that plans for you because we are picky.  I usually just try to make   it until Wednesday when the church cooks.  It's the best night of the week!

4.  I just read Same Kind of Different As Me.  It's a memoir about a rich art dealer and a homeless man. It's a quick read but very inspiring.  This is the second book I have read lately that has made me check myself about how I look at God's people.  Do I treat the people at my church differently than the tatted up lady with a couple of guys and kids with her at the grocery store?  Do I give the same warm smile I reserve for my friends to the person sitting outside the AA meeting who looked like they have been living on the street?  Am I loving like Him?  (Apparently I am behind on this book.  So many people have told me they have already read it.  Like last year.  I'd never heard of it.  Maybe people don't think I read.  I read people.)

5.  When we were in Tybee this summer, Betsy had a NYC friend staying in Savannah with her mom.  She invited us over for wine (and water) and cheese one night to meet some friends she had made in her mom's neighborhood.  At some point in the conversation blogs were brought up.  Betsy, my number one blog fan, piped up and said, "Oh, Payton's a blogger!"  I got really embarrassed and might have flushed a little.  I don't even own a laptop so I can't be a blogger.  I don't have any of those BlogHer things on the side of my blog with a bunch of sponsors and I still have a long blog name with blogspot in the address. The people who end in a dot com are real bloggers.  They sit in cool coffee shops and blog.  Most of the people I read online actually make money with their blog. (These things would actually be amazing.  Don't think I wouldn't want these.)  So for today I will say that I have a blog, but I am not a blogger. We'll see what else God has planned.

 6.  It's after Labor Day.  Every year Jason and I have a discussion disagreement argument about Labor Day and clothing rules.  I say no summer fabrics (seersucker, linen) after labor day.  He says he goes by the weather and not some made up fashion rules. I am a total rule breaker but this is a hard one for me to let go of.  Somehow this rule got inside me and will not leave.  Maybe it's because I was forced to go to White Gloves and Party Manners class at our local Belk department store as a child.  I have proof.  They did an article on our class in Woman's World magazine in 1985.  I'm kind of famous.

(Can you spot Betsy?)

7.  Why are you already in the grocery store Halloween candy? And why do I think I can buy you and put you in a cute jar and have the willpower not to eat you?  We both know I am going to eat you.  (Jason threatened to count the candy before he went to work.  Go ahead and count it.  I'm an adult.  Happy Birthday to the ground.  And if you don't know what that means you can watch it here. It makes me laugh every time.)  

8.  We finished the third Harry Potter book and watched the movie.  I'm little nervous about starting the fourth book because it is so thick!  How long is it going to take to read that out loud?  Reading aloud takes forever!  I read for an hour and a half the other night so we could get to the end.  My voice was all scratchy when I went to bed.  

9.  Jen Hatmaker-Not a Fan So funny.  (Have you read her book 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess? It's a life changer.)

10.  I feel like someone hits the fast-forward button the day after Labor Day.  Labor Day to Christmas just flies by with football, Halloween, Fall Festivals, Thanksgiving, and everything in between.  So, it's on.  Get ready.  (NFL starts tonight. This makes Jason smile from the inside out.  I like it too. I am little disappointed that it starts on a Wednesday.  Don't they know that So You Think You Can Dance is still on?)  Emory is cheering after a two year break so I think between college, NFL, our varsity team at school, and Emory's elementary team that football will be in our lives pretty much every day.