Sunday's Gratitude & Weekly report

So much for my theory that it would be easier to post on Sunday's ... Yesterday just totally got away from me, so here I am, posting my "Sunday gratitude post" on Monday.

Today I am thankful for....

* Bryan is potty trained! (Diapers at night still, but I'll still save a ton on the diaper budget)

* The kids are finally starting to feel better. (Now Tim is sick:( )

* Homemade marble runs. Bryan sat on the floor yesterday for literally 2 hours(in two sittings), continually feeding the marbles into the top and watching them roll down to the bottom.

* Nature. I love looking up on the mountain and watching the deer and elk. (there's an elk herd up there today that I've been watching.)

* SPRING IS IN THE AIR (I love spring, and I can just feel it coming...)

* Nice weather on Saturday that allowed me to get out and pull a TON of weeds. The ground is just perfect for pulling out those giant tap roots, and it feels so great to look out the window and see such a drastic improvement after only an hour or so of pulling.

* The smells of spring - rain, freshly turned dirt, flowers, fresh air, etc... (On Saturday we turned off the furnace and opened up all the windows to air everything out)

* Our new play ground. The kids just love it. They have been out there pretty much non-stop since Wednesday.

* (I have to admit, I am still thankful for soft pillows, naps, and a good nights sleep - but I'm not quite so desperate for them:)

And now, the weekly report on my goal progress

1) better housekeeper.
better than last week. I didn't do any of the daily missions for the week (FLYzone was the master bedroom), but right now, the kitchen is clean, the laundry is under control, I tackled (and eliminated) the mending pile, and the kids rooms got cleaned on Saturday. Over all I feel good about the week and feel like I did some catching up. I'm also feeling pretty optimistic about this upcoming week.

2) reading scriptures.
I read from the Book of Mormon almost every day. I once again got 'ahead' on my reading, but then fell behind again. Family scripture study - we missed a few mornings again this week, but it was better than last week.

3) better care of my physical body.
Once again, I have not done well here. The numbers on the bathroom scale are going up, not down:( I did exercise a little bit one day, but the little bit of exercise simply can't keep up with the large amounts of chocolate that I eat when I feel stressed out. I am blaming the kids being sick on my increased chocolate consumption, but the truth is I just need to exercise more self control.

And now, another week has begun... GO ME!

Our Backyard addition

Way back in the spring of 1998 Tim and I got married and bought/built our house. The backyard is definitely a work in progress. We have done most of the work by hand and only when we had the money to buy the items/supplies needed. Progress has been very slow, since the majority of our disposable income goes to either buying new investment properties or fixing up existing investment properties. We made a BIG leap today, and I just wanted to share.

This first photo, taken in 2001, is of the North side of our house/backyard. The house you see on the left is our neighbor's house. The grass and small retaining wall that curves tot he right is ours. (Most of the manual labor and work we've done is on the south side of the backyard, but the addition that is the subject of today's post is the north side/play area, so you'll just have to wait to see another post that shows the south side progress.)

As you can see from the photos, we have a very steep yard. In 2004 we used our tax refund and some savings to have a landscape company create a large, flat play area with a big rock retaining wall. It cost WAY more than I want to even think about, but they did a great job and it finally gave us enough flat space to do something with. Our neighbors had moved a few years before and had given us their old metal swing set, which we moved up to the newly created play area.

here's a photo of the beginning excavation and another photo of the beginning of the wall; if you look closely, you can see Tim and Aaron (and Jasmine) up at the top of our property.














Now several years, many truck loads of wood chips and sand, and a few Little Type plastic play items later, we have once again spent more than we wanted and purchased a new play set.

Roll forward to Feb 20, 2008:

Here is a photo of the play area Wednesday morning... (the little tyke cabin is tipped upside down to get it out of the installers way)


And here is the play area a couple hours later... (I still need find a way to fit the cabin and some other toys back up there... but I'll figure it out later)


FUN EH? We would never have spent the full price they wanted for this set, but we bought it at the Backyard Adventures clearance sale and got it at 60% of the regular retail price. (It was one of their outdoor display models) I think it is still a ridiculously high price, but doable. Even with the 60% sale, we hemmed and hawed for about 3 weeks before we decided that as much as our kids love to be outside, it would be fun and a decent investment. (If you are in the market for a play set, they still have more sets available...)

Sunday's Gratitude & Weekly report

Today I am thankful for....

* we are not in the hospital (Caleb has RSV but is still ok, we're just watching him closely)

* good food and good friends (we had our friend Nancy (the one who lived with us in Sept.) over for dinner. She was up from Cedar City for the weekend and the kids were so excited to see and visit with her - and get the presents she brought them...)

* antibiotics (I finally gave in on Saturday, paid the 3x higher "after hours" co-pay, and took Caleb and Katrina to the Dr. Along with Caleb's diagnosis of RSV, the dr. found that both kids had ear infections. Katrina's was a "no wonder she's been screaming for 4 hours straight, she definitely needs an antibiotic" infection. Caleb's is pretty mild, one that normally I'd wait to see if it would clear up on its own, but since he's already fighting the RSV, the dr. strongly recommended he be on an antibiotic as well.

This may sound terrible, but I'm having a hard time here. I really am grateful for lots of things, but I'm having a hard time thinking of something to write right now. I think it's sleep deprivation. This may be terrible, but I am just going to write what I feel like writing and if you think I am terrible, so be it...

* a nice soft pillow

* naps

* a good nights sleep

* sleeping in (This morning I didn't wake up until 8:30. I heard Tim and the kids in the kitchen, and rolled over and went back to sleep for another hour.)

And now, the weekly report on my goal progress

GOALS??? Do I have goals??? (see the last four thankful bullets if you want my REAL goals for the past week.)

1) better housekeeper.
um... not so great. The Flylady zone this week was the laundry room and the bathroom. I DID get the main bathroom cleaned thoroughly, but I did it all on Saturday, not in the daily missions sort of way.

2) reading scriptures.
Personally, I read from the Book of Mormon every day but Saturday. I actually got ahead on my reading, but since I skipped Sat., the 'Challenge tracker' has me as 3 pages behind. (it's still better than last week when I was 16 pages behind) Family scripture study - we missed several mornings this week. I have just been too tired to get up and get it done.

3) better care of my physical body.

NOT!!!

Thank goodness every 7 days we get a new week - "with no mistakes in it" (as Anne of Green Gables would say). GO ME!

can I please call in sick???

***Reader Beware***If you don't want to read all about the current aliments in our house right now, including graphic words like throw-up, phlegm, and diarrhea, feel free to skip this post - I'm feeling tired, whiny, and crabby, and I'm sure that will come shining through. SO if you don't want to hear it - come back in a few days and hopefully we will all be well and happy again.



The biggest downside to being a mom (at least from my point of view right at this moment) Is that you can't call in sick.
Katrina is still coughing, but seems to be getting a little better - or at least she now has enough energy to want to disagree continually with Bryan and make him cry. (Usually she is very kind and sweet, so I have to assume she still doesn't feel up to par.)
Bryan doesn't seem to be getting better at all, he's still whiny, fussy, tired, and all those fun sick kid things.
All three older kids have diarrhea. I'm starting to worry a little about that. Aaron has had it for a week now.
Caleb worries me the most because he's so young. He's picked up this cough of Trina's and the poor kid can't eat well, periodically throws up big phlegm balls, and just coughs and coughs and coughs. You can tell that it hurts to cough. I've been toying with the idea of taking him into the Dr, but I'm pretty certain that it's viral and at this point there is nothing they can/would/should do.
Last night I started feeling yucky. I was sleeping (or at least trying to sleep) in the recliner upstairs so that Caleb could be by the humidifier in Katrina's room. About midnight I ended up in the bathroom throwing up. (I'm pretty sure it was just something I ate, but still...) I tried lying on the floor, and then on Katrina's bed, just trying to get comfortable. I was freezing cold (even with the space heater in the room), and Katrina keep kicking off all the blankets because she was hot. She wasn't running a fever, I think I was just chilled. Suffice it to say that I didn't get much sleep last night. I woke up this morning feeling exhausted and with a pounding headache and a kink in my neck. If this mothering thing were a day job, I would definitely have called in sick. As it is, I turned on a movie to act an electronic babysitter and I tried to go back to sleep. I drifted in and out of sleep for an hour. (I would have slept soundly except that Katrina kept coming in wanting to talk to me, or ask me for help or who knows what else.) I finally gave up on the nap idea and got up to find that Bryan and spread DVD's all over the tv room floor. I hope that not too many of them are permanently damaged. That mess has now been cleaned up and I'm ready to go back to bed!

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE - The sun is shining outside, it's Friday so Tim will be home to help tomorrow, and Caleb is lying here on my lap as I type, and he is giving me the biggest, sweetest smiles and cooing at me. All is right with the world in this moment when my baby smiles at me and loves me. In fact, right now I almost feel like deleting this whole post. I could just sit here and be happy all day smiling and talking to this little guy.

Well, happy moment is over, Caleb just loaded his britches and is crying again. Gotta get back to work - thanks for letting me vent!

"fun" at my house

Well, we are having loads of fun at our house right now. Katrina has come down with a horrible cough/cold. She's been running a fever, sneezing, and hacking all the time. Bryan seems to fighting something too - he is whiny and tired all the time. Aaron also seems to have a slight cold, but nothing serious there yet. In addition to the extra stresses that come with sick kids, I got to go back to the dentist yesterday. The root canal on Friday took longer than expected, so they didn't have time to get it to the point of a temporary crown, they just did a temporary "build up." SO, I got to go back and have them drill out the build up and then poke and prod and basically torture me for 2 hours to put on a temporary crown. I get to go back in two weeks for the permanent crown, but they assured me that one will only take 15 minutes. (The told me that yesterday's appointment would only take ONE hour...) I reconfirmed as I was leaving that the next appointment would only be 15 minutes. They said yes, and I said "good, because I will be bringing all 3 of my children." (Is that a threat or what??)
Today I have an appointment with my midwife for some basic women's issues that I won't discuss here, and I absolutely have to get a menu planned and then get to the grocery store. THAT should be loads of fun... grocery shopping with two sick kids and a new baby. Wow - can I contain my JOY??? I'll just have to buy myself some good chocolate as a reward. (I know, I know, that isn't exactly fulfilling the "eat better" part of my fitness goal, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!

Gotta get working - lots to do. Hope y'all have a great day!

Gratitude & Weekly report

For a while I sort of had the personal "no blogging on Sunday" rule, but I am going to try something new. I am going to try to do a post each Sunday. (I'm hoping it will be a little easier to sit down and do it since Tim is home most of the time.) In attempting to keep the Sabbath Day holy, my Sunday post will consist of 2 things, (1) a short list of things I am grateful for from the past week, and (2) a report on my progress with my goals. So, here we go:

I am thankful for....

* new baby smiles

* disposable diapers

* dentists (this is a stretch, but when I consider that the alternative is either a lifetime of pain or NO TEETH, I'll be grateful for the dentist and my recent root canal - OUCH)

* a mom who lives close enough and is willing to watch my kids while I had the aforementioned dental work done

*the large amounts of snow we've received (I'm always praying for more moisture to help with Utah's continuous drought conditions)

* warm sunny days to take the kids sledding

* clean kitchens

* a wonderful husband who puts up with all my idiosyncrasies

* a testimony of the priesthood and the organization of the church

* a wonderful Stake Presidency (that was released today) Our former Stake Pres was an amazing man. He just totally radiated the love of Christ. He spent the last 9 years teaching us and encouraging us to become a "Zion" people. I believe this came naturally for him because he truly has a "Zion" heart.


And now, a weekly report on my goal progress

1) better housekeeper.
I completed all of the FLYLady daily missions for the week. My kitchen stayed pretty clean most of the week. (It's not clean now because I spent most of the day at the hospital visiting a friend, so I haven't cleaned up dinner, but it will be a quick fix in the morning.)

2) reading scriptures.
I have read from the Book of Mormon every day since Wed. The Hinckley Challenge tracker has me as 16 pages behind, but I started 3 days late and today I didn't read very much. Family scripture study - we missed Friday morning and this morning, but I am still feeling like we are doing better than we ever have before so I am pleased.

3) better care of my physical body.
Well....... I exercised one day. (I think it was Wed or Thursday, I forget. I think I posted a small something about it???) I did work on cleaning up downstairs so that I could get the treadmill unburied, and while I was gone today Tim finish uncovering it, so now if I can just make myself DO IT - the treadmill is ready and waiting...


and now - it's a new week. GO ME!

Future blackmail & other photos

Just posting a couple silly photos today - I hope they make you smile. (Especially those of you who are feeling down since Mitt Romney announced that he was suspending his run for the White House. My first reaction to the announcement was to recall the bumper sticker that Ali send out that read "I'd rather ABSTAIN than vote for McCain." I've calmed down a bit and realized that Candace is right - McCain is probably the lesser of the evils that we now have to chose from. What a mess!)
Ok - I can feel my blood pressure rising again - I need to do some deep breathing and calm down again - let's move right on to the lighter side and a few photos:

A smiling, adorable Caleb at 6 weeks

Aaron built this snowman a couple weeks ago. It was a Sat. and the weather was just beautiful! We were all outside with no coats on - just loving the warm sunshine.This is the future blackmail photo. A friend gave me a box of hand me downs and we found some dance recital outfits in the box. Aaron put on this outfit as a joke and I just had to take some pictures. (Tim didn't think they were nearly as funny as I did. I wonder why...:)Aaron and Katrina in the infamous dance outfits

That's all folks - y'all have a great day!

HAPPY (Chinese) NEW YEAR

It is now February, I am past the 6 week postpartum recovery period, and I have to say that I am feeling pretty good. So... It's time to get going on some self-improvement goals. I've sort of been working on some of them already, but not officially. Aaron informed me on Monday after school that he wished he lived in China because it was Chinese New Year on Wednesday (today), and that if he lived there he could have a party and see the big dragons and stuff like that. So tonight we are going to go out for Chinese food to celebrate (We finally found an Oriental restaurant where I liked the food) and I decided that it would be a good day to officially write down some goals.

1) Be a better housekeeper. I really love FLYLADY. I have been a wanna-be flybaby for a long time and I have seen definite improvements in our house as a result, but I am committed this year to doing a little better at really establishing some routines and doing the daily missions. Last week I actually did ALL of the daily missions. Right now, my kitchen is looking clean, and the zone for the week IS the kitchen, so I'll be doing some deeper cleaning in there throughout the week. (For example, today's mission is to wipe out the fridge and throw out any budding science projects - and I'm planning to tackle the mission as soon as I post this and get the kids some lunch.)

2) Improve my personal and family scripture study. I am going to do the "Hinckley challenge" to re-jump start my personal scripture study. (I have been seriously hesitant to accept this challenge, due to an experience I had at a devotional once, which I will try to get around to sharing in a post in the next few days, but I have decided that the important thing is that I will be focusing on reading.)
We have been doing better than ever before on our family scripture reading too. For 3 weeks now we have read from the Book of Mormon every morning before Aaron leaves for school.

3) Take better care of my physical body by eating better and exercising regularly. (feel free to read this as 'lose the baby weight' if you want, but I'm trying to change my mental perspective to be focused on being fit instead of focusing on losing weight.) I pulled out an exercise video and it was sure an adventure! It was a "postpartum workout," so I wasn't worried about it being too strenuous. Trina was trying to do the exercises with me, so she inadvertently kept getting in my way as we were trying to figure out the steps and do the moves. (I am totally uncoordinated when it comes to dance, aerobics, etc... It's like I have 3 left feet - and no that 3 is NOT a typo...)
Then Bryan wanted to get in on the action and started running around in circles around us. Just imagine - I'm trying to do the "forward, 2, 3, kick - back, 2,3, knee - - forward, 2, 3, kick etc..., while trying to not step on or kick Trina who was trying to imitate me, and Bryan who was running in tight circles around me. I finally gave up and called it good enough for the day.

Wish me luck and feel free to follow up on my progress - and Happy New Year!

Blogging Bug meme

I have never done one of these meme things (by choice) but I got tagged by Karlene and since (1) I've been such a lousy blogger for the past while and (2) this looked pretty quick and easy; I decided to do it.

*I'm telling you, my kids have a sixth sense. As soon as I started typing that short intro, Caleb woke up from his nap and started crying, and Bryan woke up from his nap. I swear to you - they are out to stop my blogging! I'll be back...

I'M BACK.... and now the meme

How long have you been blogging?

March 22, 2007 (wow, has it really been almost a whole year?? how time flies!)

What inspired you to start your blog, and who are your mentors?

My dear friends Charlotte and Melissa (former college roommates). I found out they had blogs and for several months I was totally addicted to checking their blogs. I loved feeling like once again I knew what was going on in their lives. It was fun to read about their ups and downs, laughter and heartaches etc... I love it. This may sound terrible, but I also love that as a blog reader you can be as involved (leaving comments) or uninvolved as you choose (or in my case, as involved as time permits. I used to leave comments all the time, but as my blogroll reading list gets longer, I leave fewer and fewer comments - but rest assured, I'm still visiting, reading and loving that I get to share in and be a part of your lives. (if only in a virtual cyberspace way)

Are you trying to make money online, or are you doing it just for fun?

Heavens no! I'm just your boring, run of the mill, just for fun, journal type blogger. I blog so that my friends and family (and anyone else who for whatever reason might care to know what I happened to get done around the house on any particular day). It also helps me feel like I'm keeping a journal of sorts. (one of those commandments that I am pretty bad at keeping) Granted, I don't put in things that are super personal or private, for obvious reasons, but I figure it's better than nothing.

What 3 things do you love about being online?

1) Speed and convenience - so much faster than snail mail and more convenient than playing telephone tag.

2) You can find anything online (good and bad)

3) I love the new bloggy friends I've made and how much more connected I feel with family and old (in length of friendship, not age) friends.

Chat and IM.

Pretty much only with my husband during the day while he's at work. That way I can ask him questions, tell him things, etc... without having to call long distance or interrupt his work quite so much as I would with a phone call.

Tag

No one in particular. Do it if you want:)