Ready or Not...Here We Go!

Well, it's 5pm on Friday night....what's for dinner at your house? Normally we would be sitting down for dinner at our house; however, tonight Parker and I have adorned ourselves with our number one tool, our aprons! Instead of making dinner, we have opted for chocolate chip cookies. I have been working over time on creating this blog, a true dream come true. So I guess you could call it mommy guilt for all the time spent on the computer that I decided to pull out the cookie dough instead of pots and pans. I have been writing and rewriting, posting and unposting trying to get everything "just right" before I went "live" with my blog; however, I had a major epiphany in the middle of raw eggs and chocolate chips...this blog was created with the idea that All Betz are Off. This is me, real, passionate and not always "just right" or "just perfect". I was waiting for the right post that would  make you laugh and maybe even challenge you or if nothing else, it would intrigue you enough to come back and visit again. I am reminded time and time again (thank you Holy Spirit) that it is the day-to-day moments that seem so common or the embarassing times that you wish you could hide from where the biggest God moments happen. Anyone that knows me, knows that I have a thing for aprons. In fact, I have a pantry full of them and even got excited when I received 2 more for Christmas last year (thank you sister and mom). So why the apron? Maybe it's my last hope of being that "perfect mom" or the mom who cares for her child's every need, never raises her voice and always has cookies for her children when they arrive home from school. Who knows, I like to say it's to protect my clothes from the mess, but who am I kidding? I am a mom of young children, do I have clothes without stains? In fact, tonight the apron is sitting over my workouts clothes that I am still wearing from the gym almost 12 hours ago - yeah, I know, the shower is my next stop after posting this blog (and after testing the cookies of course). So what's on the agenda for the rest of our fun Friday night? We're hoping to move some furniture into our house as we are beginning to look like a furniture store due to Blane's latest hobby of picking up furniture on the side of the road and giving it new life (i.e hoping I can piant, cover or convert the piece to give it a new life in our home). The pieces consist of an armoire, vanity, sink, bed and table. You get the picture, right? So..... the aprons, my kids, the mommy guilt, the gym and yes, even the used furniture are all things you will soon become very familiar with as we journey together in this new venture. But for now, I hear a warm cookie calling my name and some "famous Pa-Pa spaghetti sauce" (as my kids call it) to warm up for dinner part 2. Come on people, you didn't really think I was only going to serve cookies for dinner did you? After all, I have an image to protect! Blessings to you all as we learn to peel back the layers....together!

xoxoxo