Robin Grooms

New Years Wishes

Happy New Year!

This year has been a lesson. Learning or re-learning how to make executive decisions and execute them. Getting all of the thoughts and images out of my head in a constructive God-glorifying way. Getting used to not relying on my own power to figure things out and move forward. I was really hitting my head against a wall until I focused solely on what the Lord wanted me to do. There were many instances of worry followed by this deep regret, because I knew not to, but I let it get to me anyway. You cannot love Jesus and worry simultaneously. It’s one or the other, and oh- is it a battle?! swapping back and forth between the two. The enemy really wants to prolong the inevetible.

This year has been a major reconfiguring. I’m actually getting my own schedule together and following it. Health and physical ability are improving. The children are adjusting, seemingly smoothly. Work has been steady, and the comfortable pace is nice.

Here is to a new calendar year and all of the rebirth of the most amazing blessings in the springtime, God willing. Emotional stability, financial stability, stable relationships, and improved health all year long. My God’s will come down and wash over us all!

Happy New Year Everybody!

-Robin

Psalm 55:22

My first thought this morning wasn’t the usual “Mornin’ Jesus!”. Something was off. Something was wrong. It continued until mid-morning. I was feeling the familiar grip of depression wrap around me. I woke up feeling despondant. It continued until after arriving at work. Part of the way through the monring I found a pause, so I asked Him what was going on. It had been a considerable amount of time since these feelings were creeping around.

Over the last couple of days I’ve been not wanting to take care of myself, my music taste had changed back to my “B.C.” flavor. Over-all things were becoming gloomy again, like high school gloomy. After arriving at work for the day the gloom continued as it was raining outside. The baby was congested and warm; screaming at me for comfort. I got to a break in my morning and got a chance to sit with Jesus for a bit. Forces were starting to work on me. He told me what to pray, so I did. A little while later “Cast your Cares” came to mind and the sun came out.

The day got brighter, I got lighter. The baby got better (she did have some ibuprofen too, but it should be worn off by now.) She’s not screaming, but playing and not coughing. Smiling. The clouds are coming back around, the weather app said they would, but it’s not affecting my mood like this morning.

It’s Intreguing how the one to shift your focus to when the day is rough can seem so far away when just the thought of His name gets his attention.

Yesterday

After leaving the dentist’s office, the kids and I put gas in my car. Then the kids decided they were just absolutely starving, so we picked up lunch in town for them to eat on the way back to school, and we dropped everyone off where they were going. I finally got back to the house close to 1 pm and had enough time to either edit or work on crafts… I opted to edit and ended up putting together 4 posts. That was a miracle, because I had to leave the house shortly after three to pick the boys up from school.

Fun tidbit: my younger boy was removed from the daycare program that two of the other kids attend, so he needs to be picked up right after school lets out. When dad or I pick him up, our oldest usually wants to be picked up at the same time. At that point, we may as well pick up our oldest girl since the daycare is touching the school playground. Like she could possibly see us, and there is no sense in coming back out two hours later to pick her up since we’re right there. Oh the joys of logistics!

After school pickup the kids decided they didn’t want to go to Awana’s. I don’t want to force them to go do church stuff, that takes the fun out of it. So we stayed home and I finally put together the tortelini and cheese sauce I got the ingredients for more than two weeks ago. Don’t worry, all the stuff was shelf stable.

The kids ran around like heathens for a while before finally crashing. Because they can’t fall asleep or go to bed and drift off into a peaceful slumber. They must crash like an old Dell PC. The only grace in this house is the grace of God. Everything else is bickering and toddler angst.

Then everyone was asleep and awoke the next morning gunning to do it all again.

Talk soon!

My Morning Routine

What part of your routine do you always try to skip if you can?

It never fails. I can plan to get up in the morning to do even the simplest of things. Sit down and spend a moment with God. Every time my eyes pop open in time… I close them again. Every. Single. Time. There were a few days over the course of the last month where I guzzled caffeine and stayed up for a full 36 hours.

That is not a good idea, in the middle of the school week, with four kids. Not a good idea at all. While I need more sleep and could use a lot more Jesus, I do everything to avoid obtaining those two things.

For example, last night, knowing full well it was my go-to straight to bed after getting home night. I started setting up the new Shopify store to begin selling my crafts on. Instead of leaving it at that, I decided to incorporate some drop ship and print-on-demand items. Then I showered and went to bed. At 2 am, instead of 11 pm, like I had planned…

Today is supposed to be a chill day. I’ll take the kids to a dentist appointment, then take them all back to school and go home to craft before taking them to Awana day. And it’s turned into a scene: all the kids are at the dentist’s office, fighting over who gets to hold the baby that I didn’t want out of her car seat in the first place.

And I’m probably only going to be home for a couple hours before the kids need picked up from school. I’m tempted to just go home and lay in bed until I absolutely have to leave the house again.

I do need to get some writing done and begin crafting some leatherwork stuff. The online store is up and open with a few drop-ship items. I’ve still got some webpage design things to work out, but it’s live.

We had a really neat view of the northern lights last night. I put my best photo up on the picfair store. As well as some of my other favorite work. Which reminds me, there are more photos to add to the gallery, they’ll be nice to look at. I’ll get to those sometime this week.

I’m typing this up during the actual dentist visit. Mom needs some coffee and to put gas in the car

Crafting

I’ve been wanting to get an online craft store going for years now. I had one sometime ago for bath and body products I made, but life stayed inconsistent, so I was erratic. As things are changing and I’m coming into my divine purpose, doors are opening back up, and these Ideas I have are becoming more plausible. Creating things has always been something for me to look forward to as a way to chillax and do something fun. As a next step in my walk with God I’m going to be getting back into all the craft ideas I’ve had over the years and make them for Him.

That being said, it is coming up on the holidays—Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s —and that means it is time to get nose to the grindstone and figure out what I’m doing. To start, greeting cards. Christmas cards, to be specific.

I’m still in the process of designing those, there are two designs so far. I’ll post pictures on Instagram (Link below). There are also some leatherwork items in the works, keychains, bookmarks, collars (later on).

I’ll be setting up the store page here probably this weekend when I have time to sit down and focus.

Talk soon!

,Robin

Grooming, Momming, Creating

Including Christ

So I went through a brief hiatus, again. Divorce and separation, then re-re-re getting back into the swing of things, again. I’ve been learning to make Jesus my focal point every day—something I’m still getting used to. As an adult with an ever-expanding vocabulary, I can comfortably say I have always been extra sensitive to spiritual vibrations and excessive empathy. That, paired with a lack of direction, was leading me down a deep, dark rabbit hole no soul should go, especially alone. Ever since I found and accepted the Lord as my personal savior, a lot of those visages, visions, dreams, and skin-crawling feelings have stopped. Thank you, Jesus.

He’s becoming my daily focal point. My orbit still fluctuates. He is always where He said He’d be as my anchor.

Once the wool was lifted, a lifetime of emotional neglect and loneliness hit me like a runaway train. Now we’re on the up-and-up. Still have a long way to go, but we’re going. This last year has been full of tests and training, conviction and redirection, and delving into large books. Yes, I am a nerd.

Moving Foreward

Business has been going very well, steady. I’m going to groom for as long as I can. I’ve been trying to get more into photography. The pace of my days has been breakneck, and I have limited stamina (doesn’t everybody?), so it’s been more of a hobby I can only do occasionally. I have broken down and started a photography store with Picfair. There are only a few images so far, I’m working on taking some more that I can sell with a good conscience.

Water

Last week started seemingly great, until I realized there was no water and had to reschedule half of my work day. I haven’t been feeling super great lately. There have been lots of stomach bugs and stormy weather. Dynamics at home have been shifting, and I’ve been getting out of a rut and becoming more myself. My oldest boy is not liking summer camp anymore and wants to stay out with either Dad or me. Which is fine, the activities are geared more towards younger kids than him. The baby, Nadine, is almost sitting up on her own and figuring out how to crawl.

So far, I’ve gotten out of bed and started my day when God told me to, twice. It’s a better track record than last week, at zero. That day was so productive and chill. That morning I initiated a tough conversation with Dad to straighten out a few things on the home front. I’ve been learning, over the last six months, to advocate for myself. Although my heart was pounding the entire time, it was necessary to lift the weight in the house.

All three boys were out on a spontaneous trip to the lake this last weekend. Conveniently, they decided to go on a weekend when I worked, and I needed to have our middle boy return something to church that wasn’t his. There are many more layers to this situation, but I’m just starting to feel ok talking about it, so I’m going to let it out in little bits.

I didn’t do a lot of video recording or talking, or taking pictures. It’s been an ‘off’ couple of weeks for sure.

It’s Mid-July

It’s been so long since I’d had a full weekend off and been able to enjoy it. It was just the kids and me most of the day Saturday. We went to do the shop laundry (that I forgot to record). They got to bicker over who was going to try the little claw machine inside the laundromat and pester me about any extra quarters I had; we then went to lunch. The kids did well, they were super excited that they had Mom all to themselves, so it was a little taxing at times with how many times they said ‘mom’.

Mom was pretty grouchy at the beginning of this week. That pesky cycle! but things got better as the week progressed, and I think the kids re-warmed up to me (again). The girls had new outfits to wear for church. In my usual fashion, I got one picture and not the other.

On Sunday, Miss Judy got to wear a new outfit.

A sweet older client crossed the ‘Rainbow Bridge’

I’m sure there was more I wanted to add to this week, but it’s not coming to me right now.

Till next time!

, Robin

Last Day of School!

Whoo! The beginning of summer is upon us! This year seems like it was more of a whirlwind than the last few. This year, we had fewer tardies and absences, but at the same time, one of our little dudes was removed from his daycare program, so now he’s with whomever is available to keep him for the day. Thankfully, he starts kindergarten in the fall. This summer is proving busier than I can remember in previous years. That’s a good thing, don’t get me wrong, it just feels like my head isn’t always screwed on all the way.

On the actual last day of school, everyone but Tristan was sick. School let out at half day, and Mom’s fun plans went by the wayside. The day turned into doing the bare minimum. I did, however, plan on getting something special for lunch/dinner. Ultimately, we got some blizzards, and Dad picked up pizza for the kids while he and I had soup.

The next day at work, I had both boys and Nadine (like usual). The day was going quite well, and the boys were able to get treats for helping clean up, but then…

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This little dude bent down to get out of the airstream from the big dryer, and his mouth met the top of a kennel door. Thankfully, this was a baby tooth. It was a clean K/O, and Emmitt got some special mouthwash from the dentist to help heal his gum.

The day this gets posted will be the first day of Tristan’s summer camp and a normal day for everyone else. I’ve got a lot of editing to catch up on the vlogs; I’m only five days behind. Other than the tooth incident, this week wasn’t super eventful; I was just recovering from illness. Thank God.

The Day Before Mother’s Day

I did a photoshoot for a client of mine on the 10th of May. As I am typing this it is quite a bit later. I’ve finally got the images cleaned up and shared to the owners. we are both pleased with the results. and the vlog from that day is finally ready as well. I’m taking a short break from the podcast as the Lord is having me focus on my other projects for this season. Work has been very busy and summer break is approaching, so preparing for all of that has been and still is a whirlwind.

After the shoot I had a few errands to run, stopped at the gym, and to print bulletins for church. I grabbed a few things at ulta to get ready for mothers day and Miss Judy liked wearing her new bonnet.