Cindy's 37th Birthday

My 37th birthday was this past Sunday. It was a blessing to hear from so many of my friends on Facebook who sent their birthday wishes. Isaac and Allison brought my presents to my bedside in the morning while Shane and I were attempting to sleep in. :) Allison got me a princess tiara and Isaac got me some toy capsules that dissolve into spongy insects in warm water (dontcha love it? :) and Shane and kids together got me a lovely snow globe with a verse on it about a mother's love. It was very sweet. We ate brunch and later on had birthday cake and ate an early supper at Taco Bell and then went to church at 4:30pm. After the kids were in bed we watched an old Frank Capra/Jimmy Stewart movie, "You Can't Take it With You." I've always wanted to see it. It was good.

Is it really Tuesday today? This week is already going by so fast! Our school system has no school on Thursday and Friday this week and temps are supposed to be in the mid-to-upper 70's both days. Ahhhh... I can feel the sun's warmth already! I can't wait to soak it in! I was cold today, so this afternoon I decided to warm up my favorite way -- by taking a bath. Allie was playing games on the computer and I told her where I was and that if she needed me to come and knock on my bathroom door. No sooner did I sit in the perfectly warm and relaxing tub than she starting wailing. I'm like, what in the world is going on? I called out to her and she wouldn't answer me. I got out and opened the door a crack and asked her again, and she said that the internet wasn't working. I reminded her that she's supposed to come get me and use her words, not sit there and cry! I got her to calm down, come to my room and watch tv on my bed until I finished washing. So much for soaking!

Judging from my last post, I forgot to update you all on my sinus problem. My ENT says I have Rhinitis, an inflammation of the nasal passages. I'm to rinse my sinuses twice a day and continue taking Nasonex. I still feel like I have a cold all time. Poo. He also said I can't have inner ear surgery until year after the hole in my eardrum heals. No big deal there. I know I'm missing some sounds but I can hear enough to get by, for now.

I just wrote a long letter to a long-lost high school friend, so I'm ready to take a break from the computer and sit in front of the tv with my husband. (If you're reading this, hellloooo, Lori Recker!!!)

Later!

What's New

Some of you faithful readers have been waiting a while for another post. I apologize. Spring has sprung in Southern Wisconsin and we have been spending less time indoors. Here's a rundown of what's new in the Bentz household.

• Isaac's left tooth has finally broken through the gum. It's been awhile since he's had any teeth up there! The right tooth may take a little longer due to nerve damage that happened when he nearly knocked it out two years ago.


• We're going to have an InterVarsity intern live with us for 3 months over the summer. Her name is Sarah. She's from Virginia. We spoke over the phone and we really hit it off. I'm looking forward to meeting her in person. The rent we'll receive from her staying with us will help offset the loss of my babysitting income over the summer. Shane and I are thinking of putting her in one of the kids' rooms and moving the kids into the same room while she's here. We could put her in the roomy bonus room, but it gets very hot in the summer. However, that would probably be the best place for her if we get an air conditioner.


• Shane is building a huge shelf for our storage room in the basement. It's going to be a much nicer place to store all of our Sam's club buys. We always have plenty of paper towels, toilet paper, canned veggies and fruit, cereal, napkins, and whatnot.


• Shane's Mom and Bill came up and stayed with us last week. It was a lovely visit and we hated to see them go. The next morning at breakfast, Allie asked me, "Are Grandma and Papa coming over today?"
• Shane has two days of meetings coming up on Monday and Tuesday and will be working about 12 hours those two days. Please pray for God's will to be done as big decisions are being made that may affect him.
• Have you noticed the poll in the right-hand margin asking you to vote on whether I keep my gray hair? Well, I finally decided to color it dark brown. It was too dark at first but now it's showing some "natural" highlights. The salt and pepper look is not for me. Maybe in a few years when I have more gray, I'll let it go au naturelle. For now, I'm going to have to be chained to the coloring bottle.
• I'm still doing exercise classes at the gym. I'm not losing any weight but at least I'm gaining muscle and building endurance. If only I could break my love affair with sweets, I might get somewhere!
• Shane bought a big HD tv recently. It's for the basement when we get it finished. For now, it's on our dresser. I love sitting on our bed folding laundry with the tv on.
• I have one more Stampin' Up! workshop to do next month, and then I'm retiring. I'll keep selling Stampin' Up! products for anyone who wants to place an order, but no more workshops for me. As long as I still sell $300 a quarter to meet my sales quota, I'll keep my active status. For right now, I'll be able to place orders through the end of the year. After that, I don't yet know.
• I got a laptop for my birthday last week. It's been nice to take it all over the house and even outside while the kids are playing. No more wondering what the kids are up to downstairs while I'm using the computer. Now I can go where they go. It's pretty sweet! Thank you, Bill, Kay, and Shane!
• Allison is doing a great job writing her name and is showing more of an interest in words. She likes to put a bunch of letter magnets together and ask me, "Mom, what does this spell?"
• I signed the kids up for a slew of summer school classes in July. Both kids will take swim class at the Oregon Pool. Allison will also take a pre-Kindergarten class for 4-year-olds. Isaac has an earth science class and a math game class. Isaac will also be in t-ball. He's excited about it. I can't wait to take some home video of one of his games! By the way, summer school here in Oregon is nothing like the remedial bore that I had to endure as a kid. It's very popular here, and classes fill up in minutes. Our school system has a lot to offer and I'm so glad we're in it!
• Shane and I went out to dinner for my birthday. That morning I had a restaurant in mind but I couldn't remember the name of it. So I searched online and made reservations and that night we went there. Only it wasn't the restaurant I thought it was. On the way, we actually passed the restaurant I had in mind but couldn't remember the name of. But we decided to check the other place out. It turned out to be a super fancy place. We just about died when we saw the prices on the menu. The average dinner was $50. That's just for one person. I was like, my birthday isn't worth this much! So we made up an excuse to the hostess and left. We went to the other place and was told that the wait was 45 minutes! Yikes! We called the sitter to let her know we might be late and we even debated going to yet another restaurant, but everything turned out ok because we were seated after only 20 minutes. It was a delicious Italian meal. I never had spinach fettucine noodles before, and now I'm hooked. Yum.
• Our dear friends Nathan and Kelli and their one-year-old son Eli are coming over for brunch tomorrow morning, so I'd better hit the hay or I'm going to be toast in the morning! Ha ha! Later!

Happy Birthday to Meeeeeee!!!

I am 35 years old today. I feel funny about it. You know those product registration surveys you find in packaging? They usually ask you to check a box next to your age range: under 18, 18 to 34, 35 to 49, 49 to whatever else. I have a problem with being in a new bracket. I'm not totally comfortable with being lumped in with the 40-somethings. (My apologies to the 40-somethings on up.) I'm just saying. I'm not ready to be 40 yet. But hey, when it comes down to it, life is a gift to be celebrated and treasured, so I won't complain too much.

Tonight we're going to Pizza Hut for dinner as a family. It's my favorite restaurant. I have some great memories of hanging out at the Canterbury Green, Stellhorn, and Coliseum Pizza Huts in Ft. Wayne when I was in college. Some weeks I was there three times a week. Things have changed -- now I know how to cook. But it's still a treat to go out, that's for sure.