Kingdom Twindom +1

Over the past few years, I’ve had some funnily quirky dishwashers. But that hasn’t stopped me from loving them then or missing them now; nay, I have loved them all the more! Mostly, they’ve reminded me of my Pappaw. But also, I hate–loathe–doing dishes by hand. I think my fine-haired sisters might relate to the dreaded term, “dish hair”. Do you? It’s when steam from the dishwater actually ruins your ‘do. I have to plan my showers around doing the dishes, cause there’s no going out of the house with dish hair, y’all!

Of course, my hair is not the only thing ruined by dishwater. My hands also take a beating. I try, I really do try, to wear gloves. But the water gets down inside them and I have to turn them inside out to allow them to dry. I think my neighbors were probably growing tired of watching me through the kitchen window, flailing and beating wet dish gloves against the edge of the counter trying to force all of the fingers inside out. So, I can either find myself some full-length dish gloves or just go sans gloves altogether.

I tend to take the easier route, so sans gloves it has to be.

(Use the above link to shop the entire P&G store.)

That's why (segueue to the sales portion of this post), I am thrilled to learn that Dawn makes an Olay dish soap! I've ordered mine and I cannot wait to try it! It promises to improve my hands in five washes. I'm hanging a lot of hopes (and hangnails) on that claim, since washing dishes is about as close as I come to a manicure these days.

Maybe I should learn to wash dishes with my feet, too. Cause I could really use a pedicure!

Have you tried Dawn's Ultra Hand Renewal - Olay Beauty dish soap? What do you think? Do you have another favorite P&G product? I'm sure you do! I had no idea how many things they made before researching for this post! Olay, Dawn, Swiffer, Cascade, Tide, Oral-B...oh my! No matter what your favorite P&G product, you can purchase it online (through my link to the P&G website) for 10% off till the end of August! And stock up while you're there, because P&G is also offering FREE shipping on orders over $25! 

Please visit the P&G site through the widget in this post. Why? Because P&G will pay me for you patronage! And while shopping, check out all of the Olympic themed bundles that P&G is offering for the month of August! Cause really, one can never get too much of the Olympics, right?!

Go. Shop. Save. And thank you in advance for shopping P&G via Kingdom Twindom +1!

If you’ve started reading my book, you’ve probably noticed the startling lack of parenthesis. OK, no you haven’t. The lack of dashes? Commas?? Ummm…nope. Fine, I admit it, I like punctuation. I like it a lot. Except exclamation points, I have to force myself to use those. Well, not on Facebook. When on Facebook, I wink and exclaim like a mad woman.

Like a mad woman, I tell you!!!!!   ; )

The reason my book is not drowning in parenthesis is because El was one of the first to read it. She kinda set me straight with the whole, “This is a book, not a blog,” line. And alright, she didn’t really say that. I was inferring the parenthesis.

But y’all know I love ‘em, parenthesis (saying what I really mean inside of what could have been a shrouded yet punchy sentence). I just didn’t realize how much I loved them.

I’m also pretty crazy about italics.

This week, though, I had a very eye opening experience while brushing my teeth (meaning I couldn’t answer, I could only nod).

“Hey Mom,” Bay Bit sneaked up behind me.

“UH! Uh-uh,” I mumbled through foam.

“How many days until our date?”

“Hhee,” I held up three fingers.

“Oh, OK,” she smiled. “I thought it was two days (cause yesterday you said it was three days). Remember when we went last time and I got macaroni (well, we said we wanted a steak but then we decided it was too expensive so I got macaroni) and it was really good?

I nodded.

“Well, I liked the macaroni (even though we really wanted steak), but next time I want something different (but I know we can’t have the steak). Are we going to go to the same place (I liked that place but you said we might not go there next time)? It’s OK if we go somewhere else (I know it’s really fun to just go out without the other kids, I was just wondering), are we? Also, are we going to have pancakes for breakfast (cause Lil Prince says he wants pancakes, but I like oatmeal, and Tiny Dancer wants cereal)?

I spit. And I smiled.

Like mother, like daughter (I guess).

You know how when you’re a kid and you get back from summer camp, the first day home is a major bummer? We can all remember back that far, right? Well, I’ve laughed several times at the day-after-the-high feeling I’ve felt today. Not a major bummer; but noticeable, nonetheless. Cause yesterday was totally awesome! I decided to offer my book for free for the first full day it was available. I believe in this book, so I figured the goal was just to get it out there and then rely on word of mouth. Well, in the fourteen hours in was advertised as free, it was downloaded 1,265 times. And when I Facebooked about how fast they were going, a friend did something I would never have thought to do and checked the Amazon Kindle Best Sellers’ List. And I was on it! In the free category with hundreds of other books, 31 Days to Lovely made it to #5 in Religion/Spirituality, #3 in Christianity, and #1 in both Christian Reference and Christian Meditation. God just never stops surprising me, y’all!

Today was much less eventful. Although, I have heard from a few of you who are already enjoying the book. I cannot even begin to tell you what that means to me! Tonight, I took half of my first set to dinner. My anniversary date with Bay Bit reignited a Mommy and Me Date Night tradition that I had sadly let fall away. Cuddle Bug was the last of the big kids to have a date; but we’re now making this a regular Friday night tradition, so they’ll each get a date once a month.

To kick-start communication, I’ve asked each of them about their goals and dreams. I asked Lil Prince what he dreams about, and he somehow steered the conversation to video games and I was forced to smile and nod because I really had no idea. But, at some point, he said something so funny that I laughed out-loud–really loudly. At that, he giggled and grinned from ear-to-ear. “You’re so funny, buddy!” I said.

“You know why I am so funny?” he asked, still giggling and beaming.

“Why?”

“Cause I dream lots of jokes,” he said, “there are lots of jokes in my dream!”

“There are?!”

“Yeah, and I’m so funny cause I just say the jokes from my dream!”

“Huh.”

A little later in the evening, I started telling him about a famous evangelist after whom he was half-named (he was named after a grandmother who shared a name with an evangelist). About thirty seconds into my description, Lil Prince’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped. “That’s IT. Now I know it!!” he yelled (and I shushed him).

“Now you know what?” I whispered.

“Now I know what I’m going to be!!”

And then I melted all over our nachos.

Tonight, I sat with a very grown up looking Cuddle Bug. Every last one of my kids big kids are grateful, conversational joys when they’re alone. We talked about life and love and how she wants to be a doctor when she grows up. I love that, since “doctor” only means helper to her and is in no way associated with income. I told her that I’d always wanted to be an agricultural missionary, and she asked me when I was going to get around to doing that.

On the way home, we stopped by the gas station to pick out an $.89 candy in lieu of dessert (can’t be that!). She grabbed her very first bag of Pop Rocks, and I’m only sad that I missed her expression on camera. She finds joy in the little [popping in your mouth like a science experiment] things! I think she gets that from me!

Home photos will start sneaking in more and more, I promise. The living room is almost ready to share, even though there are many more things I’d like to do to it. But here’s a sneak peak at my biggest problem area: the kitchen. It’s pretty big and has tons of potential. Right now, though, there is: old wallboard and wonky cabinets. There is not: a dishwasher, a disposal, or an oven. But I wouldn’t say I’m exactly roughing it.

…or, that it’s keeping me from cooking!