The Lotti Lair

An Announcement!

2012-01-12T20:39:00.000-05:00

You may have noticed that I haven't been posting as frequently as I was. I finally made a change I have been wanting to do for a while.

Remember the survey I asked you to take for me a while back? I loved the responses I got from that. Thank you for those who took the time to answer it! It really helped me get from where I was to where I am. I was being indecisive (what's new?!) and the survey results convinced me.

I officially made one of two changes this week.

CHANGE ONE

I have a new blog! At one sneaky moose, I will blog about my home and craft projects. Over here I will blog about my family moments. That way you can read whichever you'd rather about my life. And as a bonus, I'm not going to make it private. I thought about it but decided not to.

Preparing my new blog took a little bit of time. Which platform? Name? Header? Layout? And just keeping my head above water. I figured a lot of it out and still have a lot more to go. Working kinks and just learning the Wordpress platform in general. I'd love it if you joined me over at onesneakymoose.wordpress.com.

If you do not have a Wordpress login, you can leave me a comment (how sneaky) and before publishing your comment, check the box to follow the posts. Or if you use Google Reader (or another similar reader), you probably know how to put in my url to subscribe to my RSS feed.

CHANGE TWO

Nope. Not telling yet. And probably won't for another month at the rate I'm going. But when I do announce it, it will be on my other blog because they go together.

Teaching the Act of Giving

2012-01-10T13:20:00.001-05:00

A man just came to our door expecting to see someone he knew. He introduced himself, explained his situation, and asked for help. We chatted a little bit. I gave him a handful of quarters (maybe only $3 or 4) and had Kaelyn pick out some candy canes for his kids. We also gave him a drink. He wanted to work for $10 or $20. I guess I could have taken that option but I didn't know what.

I don't know if he was honest. I was grateful to have an opportunity to teach Kaelyn that we can give. Especially we can give of things that we want (hence the candy canes) but don't need. I hope it will bless his life.

One thing I learned from my parents is that there are two choices in this situation. Our choice is whether or not to give. God will bless us for giving freely. His choice is whether or not to do what he said he would do with what he asked. What he does is between him and God and not between me and him.

I’m on Pinterest!

2012-01-05T23:54:00.000-05:00

SPAZZTASTIC!!
You may or may not know my love for Pinterest. That love is great. And deep. (But not the greatest and the deepest—just so you’re not confused or anything.) I signed up several months ago (June? July?) and don’t regret it one little bit. I love all the inspiration that I’ve... well, haven’t used yet but I’ve found ideas that I had floating in my head and turned it visual for me. Which is perfect for Jared. Except he probably thinks Pinterest feeds my ADD mentality. It’s like the dog from Up. I’m determined to finis---squirrel!

Uh. Moving on.

For some really strange and unknown reason, I’m delaying going to bed. I read a blog post that told me to check out this other blog. I do what I’m told. (Cue hystarical laughter.) So I went. I read her little blurb on herself. Her goal is to revamp her house with a budget of $500 or less per room. So I’m guessing lots of good ideas for home DIY on her site. Her latest post was about Pinterest. She just joined the bandwagon. She was getting all giddy with seeing how many pictures from her blog had been pinned. (And it’s totally Pin-worthy too!)

So just for kicks and giggles, I went to see if any pictures from my tiny unworthy blog was on Pinterest all the while mentally preparing myself for, well, not disappointment because I wasn’t expecting to actually see anything.

ACK! A PICTURE! LOOKIT!! I’m so giddy. I can’t even imagine seeing hundreds (which is, I’m sure, what hers were) of my own pictures up on Pinterest. AND, the person who pinned it... I don’t even have a clue as to who they are. But she wants to try homemade detergent for cloth diapers apparently. AND SHE PINNED ME. Happy dance!
Giddy, I tell you. Spazztastic.

Day 10 of 30 Days of Me

2012-01-04T21:52:00.000-05:00

I have a goal to finish these up. It was only September when I started.

Day 10: A picture of me taken over 10 years ago and a current one.

Still can’t find my older pictures. I know they are around here somewhere so that is frustrating to me.

Here one of the oldest ones I have (February 2006). And a current-ish one (November 2011). (Yeah, that piece of bang bothers me too.)

Picture Perfect: Waterfall in the Smokey Mountains

2012-01-03T19:54:00.001-05:00

A Recap of Christmas

2012-01-02T21:12:00.001-05:00

I wanted to quickly clarify something in my post yesterday. I purposely left my to-do’s vague for my blog only. Trust me, I have a much longer and detailed list. I just didn’t think they needed to all be put up for public viewing unlike last year.

Our Christmas tree is still up. I should probably take it down soon. But since it is artificial, what’s the rush? (Okay, seriously, Suki. You’d better have that tree down by Chinese New Year.)

The evening before Christmas Eve, we went down to my grandparents house to have Christmas Eve with my family. Despite it being the day before. It’s what worked for people. We opened presents from Nana & Papa as well as did all the Secret Pal presents.

Many moons ago, Secret Pals meant that we picked a name (in SECRET to be kept a SECRET hence the name SECRET pals) 13 days before Christmas. Then every day (for the 12 Days of Christmas) we did something (in SECRET) for our SECRET Pal and, of course, gave a gift to them on Christmas day. Nowadays with us all grown up and –sniff- saving China, we just give gifts. (Can you tell that most of my siblings don’t keep their SECRET pals a SECRET?)(And now the way that secret is spelled is starting to look really weird to me.)

We had Josh. We gave him 3 gifts: underwear (no joke—it was his own underwear too), stuff with notes on them (pre-cooked bacon, a pack of gum, small donuts, stuff like that), and a weekend of fun with us (the notes were clues but we had to tell him what they meant).

Kimmi had us. She took a picture from when we got married and put the family proclamation over it. And framed it. I love it! It’s really cool and will certainly be added to our collection of pictures and picture frames that need to be hung up.

Most of the siblings pitched in for a gift card for Mom and Dad to go to a Cameron Mitchell restaurant. (At least they did verbally. Pay up, yo! No rush...)

Kaelyn’s noisy toys increased. But at least they are useful. One of her gifts from Nana & Papa was an ABC learning laptop. She ADORES it. She tells me all the time that “it’s loading”. She can already sing her ABCs and she knows that they have a shape related to them. She doesn’t necessarily know which sound goes with which letter shape.

Saturday was pretty low key.

Sunday was busy for a Sunday and for Christmas. We went to my parents ward and participated in a bunch of musical numbers there. Then we drove to my ward where we participated in a bunch of musical numbers there. Then we went home and had a filling lunch of sandwiches with my family before opening stockings with them. Then they left and we opened the rest of our presents. Then I slept. So did Kaelyn. We were pretty cute. We woke up and ate filet mignon for our Christmas dinner.

Yup. Steak.

Jared did an awesome job with my presents!! In my stocking, I got two bars of my favorite chocolate and some other stuff and a gift certificate for a massage!!! Like a real one. Actually two real ones. !!!!! And as a present, he gave me a really cozy comfy blanket. Kaelyn REALLY likes my blanket. I like it more.

My gifts to Jared aren’t even worth mentioning after what he got me. But I’ll say a few of them anyway. He got a good kitchen knife (he has used it a few times and really likes it) and the first season of Psych (which we haven’t watched yet).

Enough talking. Pictures! (And only a small fraction of the number of pictures I took.) (And I don’t have the hang of taking pictures at night, indoors, without flash, on manual. Yet. I will get there.)

Kaelyn found Santa Claus in her Polar Express book from Grandma and Grandpa.

Mariella (Valerie’s third) awake and happy.

Kevin, Gracie, Jamie, and Lilli.

Jamie and Kevin gave Mom and Dad a trailer hitch (Kevin made it!).

I don’t look all too thrilled in this picture. I must be reading it. A double-sided puzzle. Luckily it’s only 500 pieces or I might never touch it.

Jared with his Grinch PJs. Kaelyn helped pick them out. She loves them.

Having a quiet moment and watching Frosty the Snowman.

Showing off some Christmas PJs.

Lindey’s very red mouth due to a candy cane.

We gave the cats a play toy. They love it. Kara (white cat) brought it upstairs that first night hoping for some play time.

On Jared’s side of the family, his sister Tonnie had us. One of the gifts we got was this doll house with a daddy, a mommy, and a baby. She immediately started playing with it. She loves it. Thanks, Tonnie (and family)!

See? Steak. We marinated mine in Italian dressing and left Jared’s unmarinated. I liked mine better.

The 2012 To-Do List

2012-01-01T15:03:00.001-05:00

There are so many things I would love to put on this list. Feasible? Maybe. Likely? No. I like to set myself up for success. That motivates me to continue progressing.

My planner has a quote from Thoreau on the cover (I LOVE my planner). Ten 23 Designs sells it as a decal in several different colors. And I fell in love with this quote all over again. We will be getting this. It is perfect and I even have a spot for it. Anyway, this quote guides me.

1. Live my life. God keeps sending me reminders that life is happening now. It’s great to plan for the future and it is certainly important to do that. However, I can make that future a reality and why not go at it now instead of later?

2. Improve myself. Talk about vague! There are so many areas that need improving. I want to be realistic though and not get too specific (i.e. I want to have a sparkling clean house every night before I go to bed) or else I might never get to bed. If I can improve just a little bit, be more consistent in the ways I need to be, be more thoughtful and mindful, I will consider myself a success (with more room to grow—hehe).

3. Improve relationships. This one feels huge and daunting to me. I am thinking anywhere from God to Jared to whomever. As much as I’d like to be one of those people who seem to be unaffected by how others act/think/whatever, I’m not. I guess this goes hand-in-hand with improving myself.

4. Say no. Say what? This will be so beneficial once I get the hang of it. I’m sure of it...

5. Be healthy. Maybe the only reason this made it on my list is because I’m battling a cold. I love being healthy. I love going to the gym. I love hearing Kaelyn ask for fruits and vegetables. I just need to be better at it. I have an idea of where I want to be and I want to be there.

6. Be prepared.I was going to stop at five but I feel very strongly about this one. If something were to happen to us in any sort of way, it would be really bad. We are not at all prepared. Zip. Zero. Zilch. That’s gotta change.

Nothing Like It

2011-12-26T23:23:00.001-05:00

There is nothing like settling down at the end of the day in front of a fire with some tea.

Carol of the Bells

2011-12-25T23:04:00.001-05:00

Hark! how the bells, sweet silver bells, all seem to say, "Throw cares away."
Christmas is here bringing good cheer to young and old, meek and the bold.
Ding, dong, ding, dong--That is their song with joyful ring, all caroling.
One seems to hear words of good cheer from ev'rywhere filling the air.
Oh how they pound, raising the sound, o'er hill and dale, telling their tale,
Gaily they ring while people sing songs of good cheer Christmas is here
Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas
Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas
On, on they send, on without end, their joyful tone to ev'ry home
Ding, dong, ding, dong.

Merry Christmas!! We have enjoyed this Christmas season with bringing joy to Kaelyn’s face with trees, gifts, family, and Grinch. Jared and I had many great Christmas-y discussions. I mostly enjoyed Kaelyn recognizing Jesus wherever she is and in whatever form he is in. That continues to be an experience that builds my testimony.

Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T22:47:00.000-05:00

We had a Christmas Eve celebration with my family on the day before Christmas Eve because that worked out best for everyone. The evening was later than usual so we didn’t get everything done that we usually like to. However, it was great just spending time with each other.

And opening presents.

I was “official photographer”. I wish I had remembered to try diffusing the flash. Instead, I shot without flash, indoors, in bad lighting. In Manual mode. I’m proud of myself but I’m afraid many of my pictures aren’t very good. I haven’t really looked yet.

Pictures to come. Sometime. When I have time...

DIY Pumpkin Pie Spice

2011-12-23T21:03:00.000-05:00

Did you know that you can make your own pumpkin pie spice and not spend extra money at the grocery store for something you probably already have on hand? I’ve seen a few different versions but as long as you use cinnamon as the main spice, you are probably okay. I’ll let you know my version which I thought was pretty tasty. Also, I only made enough for the recipe I was making but this would make a great gift if you made it in a larger quantity and packaged it in cute jars. Or keep it for yourself.

INGREDIENTS NEEDED:

2 Tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger (we rarely use powdered ginger anymore—luckily I had just enough for my spice blend)

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cloves (usually people put in less cloves than other ingredients but I like the taste and in this case I may or may not have accidentally grabbed the wrong measuring spoon)

DIRECTIONS:

Mix together.

And that is how you make pumpkin pie spice. Super easy. It took me longer to find the right spice jars and take the pictures than it did to actually make.

Christmas Questions

2011-12-22T22:48:00.001-05:00

I thought about showing off my Christmas decorations and my thoughts about them this year. Then it got to be 10:30pm and I’m just sitting down for a breath. I’ve done enough stuff today that I feel like I can end my day. And I don’t want to take pictures of decorations. Maybe I’ll do them tomorrow. Maybe.

Instead, a friend posted this a while back. It makes for a nice easy post. (Have you noticed that I haven’t done the 30 Days of Me for a while? I got to the one where it said “a picture of you 10 years ago”. Still finding where those pictures are.)

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate. I thought of trying egg nog in a recipe this year but I’m not a fan of drinking it. And neither did I try a recipe with egg nog in it. Maybe next year.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa fills stockings. Presents under the tree are from people. And they are wrapped. Or in brown boxes or other mailing packages because we’re not certain if they are wrapped or not and we don’t want to ruin the surprise for ourselves.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White all the way! I used to really like colored lights. My mom did lots of color growing up and I loved it. Now though I really like the simplicity of white lights.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? Nope. Although I want to in future years.

5. When do you put your decorations up? After Thanksgiving sometime. Growing up it was as soon after December 8th as possible. Everything came down by January 8th. Birthdays, you know. For me, even though Kaelyn’s birthday is Dec 12th, I think we can still make her birthday special and separate from Christmas even while decorations are up.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? The ones with food on them. Or drinks in them. Hehehe. I love wassail. And bbq little smokies.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Putting together Christmas puzzles, having a bajillion people over to sing the Messiah while eat food (and do puzzles)(and run around cuz we’re kids after all)(and yes, people ate AND sang the Messiah), and singing Fa Ho Foray around the Christmas tree before my dad cut it down. I can name three favorite holiday memories, right?

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? Good question.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes. Christmas pjs! That was tradition growing up and we continue that now.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? With decorations. I’m really not sure what kind of a question is this. Very vague. I posted pictures of our tree. There is a ribbon garland. Then ornaments. None of them are expensive. Most of them I got at the dollar store or Christmas clearance. A few were gifts. Our tree topper is my Christmas moose. Maybe one year we will put something else up there but probably not. I love him up there! I add some ornaments to the tree each year. This year I cheated. I added ornaments that I used last year but they were in a vase.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? LOVE!! Even if it means that I have to drive all the time.

12. Can you ice skate? Not well. I don’t think I’ve been ice skating since my very first date when I was 16. The back of my ankles were rubbed raw from the skates afterwards. (Maybe I have been once or twice since then.)

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? No. I don’t remember hating gifts though. If I looked back at pictures, I could probably remember the gifts. But as my trainer hears every week “what DID I do over the weekend?” when it is only Tuesday. I used to have such a good memory too.

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Feeling like it is Christmas. There are a million things that make that happen. My mom was wonderful at it. It will take me many years to reach that level.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Another good question that I don’t have an answer for.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Making Christmas cookies. Every year we all got to pick a cookie recipe that we could make. That is 9 different kinds of cookies. We would put together packages and then carol to the people my parents home and visit taught as well as those who were in the Stake Presidency.

17. What tops your tree? Oh, I already gave this one away. A moose tops my tree! Jared likes it too so we probably won’t change it.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? I like both. Equally. Is that bad?

19. Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum? I like the look of candy canes. And I don’t hate the taste, I just can’t handle too much sweetness and I’d rather have cookies than candy.

20. Favorite Christmas show? Miracle on 34th Street, Muppet’s Christmas Carol, White Christmas, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. (Ha, I don’t care that it only asked for one. I can answer how I want to!)

21. Saddest Christmas Song? Christmas Shoes kinda makes me sad.

22. What is your favorite Christmas song? Growing up it was O Little Town of Bethlehem. Then it changed to O Come O Come Immanuel when I learned a fun version by Mannheim Steamroller (and Josh made me play it over and over again—good thing I liked it).

A Happy Fitness Moment

2011-12-21T14:25:00.000-05:00

During my personal training session today, my trainer had me do shoulder lifts. That is not the correct name and a horrible description of them because you don’t actually lift your shoulders at all. But you are working your shoulders...

WHAT YOU DO: Take a resistance band, stand with both feet on the middle of it, and hold a handle in each hand. Usually he gives me the green band. Today he gave me the red band which is harder than the green band. Then with a slight bend in the elbow, you raise your arms not quite straight out to the side. Kind of in front but mostly to the side. Yeah, horrible description. You raise your arms only as far as you can WITHOUT your shoulders lifting. Repeat. I did sets of 12 except on the fourth time through the circuit (circuits are a set of exercises you do a set of each before repeating from the beginning) when he had me do 10.

The exercise right after this one with the red band was almost exactly the same but with three differences. 1) He gave me the green band. 2) I couldn’t stop and had to move quicker. 3) I had to do 20. All four times through the circuit.

Usually I’m just facing wherever but today I happened to be facing a mirror. Instead of thinking my usual “gee, Suki, you can only lift that far—you’re pathetic”, I immediately thought “HEY LOOK—DEFINITION!!!!”

Good Customer Service

2011-12-20T21:41:00.001-05:00

Since I wrote about bad customer service last month, I thought I could write about a good customer service experience today.

One of our cats has fleas. Molly, my mom’s kitten, brought them to us (yes, way back in October). I first noticed them mid-November. Actually, I noticed flea dirt but didn’t have time to look closely. A few weeks later (beginning of December), I remembered I needed to look but then didn’t see fleas. But definitely saw flea dirt. Then December was so busy and I didn’t do anything about my poor kitty.

Today Jared said that he thought maybe Kara had a food allergy because she has also been throwing up frequently. (We are certain it is her rather than Jaeden.) And then it happened. I found a flea on me. Twice. Probably the same flea since they were within 5 minutes of each other.

I did just a little bit of reading to make sure my knowledge of how to handle fleas was, in fact, accurate. It was. But I also learned of another pet store in the area that I hadn’t heard about but sounded like a place I’d like (for pets). I headed to the nearest store for a flea comb. They didn’t have it. So I went to this other store. Since this is a good customer service story, I will reveal the name of the store. Good publicity is always welcome, right?

Pet People had awesome service. I didn’t want to spend time looking for a flea comb so I just asked someone. He showed me and then we spent probably 15 minutes talking about fleas and food allergies. He answered my questions and was really knowledgeable about it all. A lot of the information I knew already but he had some good suggestions for me to try.

I will be switching over all my business relating to cats over to them. Hopefully they carry the litter my cats like. If not, we’ll be trying another brand. :)

A Numbered List

2011-12-19T22:50:00.001-05:00

1) Tomorrow is THE LAST choir performance of the Christmas season. Don’t get me wrong. I love singing Christmas music and I love bringing smiles to those who are in nursing homes and may not get to see a lot of people. However, we had nine performances this season and everyone (at least the young moms who carpooled together and hence talked a lot) wanted to be done at seven.

2) I started running again! (How many times have I taken breaks from running whether because I had to or because I was lazy?) I decided the best course of action was to start at the very beginning of the C25K program. It is really hard to feel like I went backwards but hopefully it will only go upwards from here. Today I ran W1D2: 8 1-minute runs with 1 1/2 minute walks in between.

3) Kaelyn chose to watch Grinch over Elmo. She also started walking around with her hands behind her back. I was perplexed where she got that from until my dad suggested the Grinch (at that time, she had only watched it once or twice).

4) Straight No Chaser’s version of the Grinch song has a really, really, really, really low bass singing melody. It makes me positively giddy!

5) I AM TIRED.

6) I have kept up with the dishes. Mostly. And I have a ton of clean laundry to put away.

7) We think one of our cats is having a food allergy.

8) We are shopping for a couch and already have a favorite picked out although we will still take one more day to bum test them out. (And seriously, I felt like I was in a recliner half the time because a lot of those couches are super deep. My tush only went halfway back on the cushion!)

9) We’ll be moving Kaelyn to a toddler bed ASAP. But only if ASAP means sometime in January and maybe even February because that’s just the way we roll.

10) My cousin, Emma, who has been in the hospital for over a month, is getting stronger every day! She has a long recovery ahead of her and progress is measured in terms of months.

1 Nephi 15:23-24

2011-12-18T23:06:00.001-05:00

And they said unto me: What meaneth the rod of iron which our father saw, that led to the tree?

And I said into them that it was the word of God; and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction.

It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like...

2011-12-17T06:17:00.000-05:00

SNOW!!

Most of the day included whispy flurry snow that didn’t stick. But it was snow! My life is complete. Christmas may now happen.

Then we got to our church building for a Christmas dinner. The snow stuck over here! Yay!

Kaelyn’s 2 Yr Dr Appt

2011-12-16T21:51:00.000-05:00

Weight: 25lb 7oz (25%)

Height: 32 1/4in (20%)

TB test results: don’t have ‘em yet, not worried

Finger prick results: hemoglobin and iron levels good

Three shots: Uhhhhh, yeah, don’t remember which ones, but she did really well

She wanted the finger bandaid off but I asked her to wait a little longer. She looked sad but then went back to playing.

We Found the Culprit

2011-12-15T21:15:00.001-05:00

One of the reasons I gave up on my garden this year was because plants were starting to disappear. Not completely but they’d be chomped down. Clean off. My little watermelon included that I was so looking forward to! And not only my garden but so many of my little green plants out front were chomped down too.

We were so confused! Who was doing this? Definitely not rabbits. We took care of that problem long ago. Maybe the ninja squirrels? Although a watermelon seems pretty large for a squirrel... and what would a squirrel want with my green plants? THAT could have been the bunny though... they were working together? My mom suggested a deer but we’ve never seen any in our neighborhood.

That has been remedied.

Jared: Suki! You gotta look out the window. There’s a deer in our yard!

And not just ONE but TWO stinkin deer. Mystery solved. My garden is doomed.

Wahoo!!

2011-12-14T21:18:00.000-05:00

Totally exciting news! We have been looking forward to this day. (Actually, it was four days ago.)

Our car is paid off! We own it! It is completely ours now! (Our black car, not the van.)

HOORAY!!!!

And this is our second debt paid off for the year. Check mark completed.

O Christmas Tree

2011-12-13T22:11:00.001-05:00

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree. How lovely are thy branches! How not so lovely are the pictures. But it was a fun experimentation for me. Bonus points for me! I took pictures in MANUAL mode on my point and shoot camera! I still don’t understand what in the world I did but that’s okay. Right?

These aren’t even all the pictures I took. I deleted at least twice this amount.

Camera settings. Um. 1/30 (shutter speed?). f2.8 (aperture?). iso 1600. I think?

I was fairly pleased with what I came up with. We already know I am not a photographer. And then I took one last picture. And played with a few settings on the computer.

I adore how this picture is warmer than the rest of them! So cozy. And of course, my precious little daughter. Now the rest of them seem lacking.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Kaelyn

2011-12-12T21:42:00.001-05:00

My sweet girl. :)

Her doctor’s appointment isn’t until Wednesday. Can’t wait to see how much she has grown! In numbers...

We had lunch at McDonald’s today because she has been asking for fries. She let me put her hair in pigtails. She slept during a quick trip to the grocery store which took longer than necessary because I was carrying her. She had so much fun with her cousins and aunts and uncles and Grandma and great grandparents who came to her birthday “party” and then to my choir concert. We had chili for dinner and chocolate cake for dessert. Uh, no, I didn’t get a picture of the cake. It just wasn’t picture worthy. But it sure was tasty.

Kaelyn has 11 teeth and another one sitting right underneath the gum. She has tons of facial features and talks with her hands. She prays on her own and usually has all the important elements: Heavenly Father, bless the food to make us strong, bless {insert several names which usually vary and can be anyone from Church or family or anyone else she may know}, Jesus Christ, Amen. She loves puzzles. She can sing her ABC’s. She can count to 10. Sometimes she can go to 20. She loves to read. She loves to run in circles. She loves her daddy. She points out buses and trucks and cars. She loves to sign—she works really hard at getting the more complicated ones like airplane. She is very polite for a child. When someone sneezes, she says “bless you, {insert name of person who sneezed}”. When she bumps into someone (or they bump into her), she says “sorry” and moves out of the way. She frequently says thank you and you’re welome. She says please voluntarily but when we prompt her to say please, she signs it. She loves taking showers and baths. She asks to go to the gym. She loves Sesame Street—especially Elmo. She is super good about not getting into the Christmas tree or the presents. She still doesn’t sleep through the night but 95% of the time is in her own bed. She loves wearing necklaces. Her most said phrase is “be right back, stay here.”

And now for the picture portion.

Omni 1:26

2011-12-11T22:25:00.001-05:00

And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved.

Christmas Movies

2011-12-10T23:28:00.001-05:00

I have a few movies I love to watch every Christmas season.

The Muppets Christmas Carol---My youngest brother, Josh, would watch this movie frequently growing up. Often it was really late at night. Each of my siblings and I can quote and sing this movie like the back of my hand.

White Christmas---More singing and dancing. And snow, snow, snow, snow, snow!

How The Grinch Stole Christmas---When we would pick our Christmas tree, we stood in a circle and held hands while singing "fa who foray, da who doray, welcome Christmas, come this way" or whatever variation of lyrics as came to us. We were popular among the shoppers. Or maybe just weird.

Miracle on 34th Street---I like them both but the girl in the 1994 version is really cute. I have always enjoyed this movie. We just watched it tonight. Loved it as usual.

Short and Inconsequential

2011-12-09T21:12:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, today, and part of tomorrow has been spent on the farm. My sister asked for organizational help and I can provide that. It is proving to be quite the experience. And I’ll for sure need to come back to finish up.

Hope your December is going well!

Random Questions with Answers

2011-12-08T22:34:00.001-05:00

Answers from Josh, Kimmi, Lindey, and Suki

Q: Which shoe do you put on first? Whichever shoe I pick up first. Yeah. Whichever shoe I pick up first but probably predominantly left. Umm...

Q: If you had to choose between not washing your bed sheets or not washing your bath towel ever again, which would you choose? Bed sheets. Bed sheets. Wait what? Bed sheets. Bed sheets.

Q: How do you eat your cookies? With my hands and my mouth. With milk. Soft and gooey. I bite into them. I just eat them. With my mouth.

Q: Do you scrunch or fold your toilet paper? Fold. Actually I wrap. I wrap too. I do both of those things. And sometimes I wrap. Wrap. Kaelyn scrunches.

Q: Have you ever stuck a foreign object up your nose? A pencil. A penny. I don’t know—just stuff. Tissue.

If she's gonna be whiny...

2011-12-07T23:04:00.001-05:00

Lately when something is done that annoys Kaelyn, she just says "please!!" and holds out her hand for stop.

At least she is polite about it?

Christmas Music

2011-12-06T21:40:00.001-05:00

The first Christmas song that Kaelyn learned was You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch.

My community choir is singing that song this year. But we are also singing 6 other songs and I probably sang them all equally. Yet it wasn’t Rudolph she cared about. It was Grinch. She asks for Grinch. A lot. It’s actually pretty funny that it’s her favorite song.

She also doesn’t care about watching How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Unless it is that song.

Jared and I started singing tons of other Christmas songs to try to encourage her to know more. She picked a second favorite: Jingle Bells.

Otherwise, she could care less.

Yeah...

2011-12-05T22:25:00.001-05:00

I had a picture and a post all ready in my head to blog tonight. And then my computer doesn’t want to connect to my external hard drive where my pictures are.

Lame.

So instead I will... hmmm, I got nothing tonight.

Scripture Study

2011-12-04T20:01:00.001-05:00

In testimony meeting today, somebody said (like many people say) “I would like to bear my testimony.” And I thought to myself “I would not like to bear my testimony, but the spirit would like me to.” Now I feel very bad that I could not find the courage to get up—not just once, but twice. I have been thinking a lot about how you can miss some of the most important revelation if you do not respond to and write down the first smaller impressions. How, then, could I not take the opportunity to respond to the prompting to bear my testimony and miss anything that might come from that? This is so far from comfortable for me so even if I am hiding behind my computer screen instead of standing in front of my ward, at least I am still responding to the prompting. And I can be a little bit more verbose.

I have never been good at studying my scriptures. Except for when I was at BYU-Idaho and I was so surrounded by wonderful people and teachers and activities that kept me centered on the gospel. I have always felt like I could never attain true studying of the scriptures. Well, if I at least read them, that was good enough, right? Better than not at all. But I would always feel a twinge of guilt when I heard “study” or “learn” or “feast” or anything like unto it.

Sometimes in my studies, I would come across a phrase that would repeat itself to me throughout the day. Was that studying? Sometimes I would focus on applying just one thing to me. Was that studying? Sometimes I would mark my scriptures. Sometimes I would keep a scripture journal. I always felt like I was lacking. I found myself praying—almost to the point where it felt like begging. “Please, please, please, plleeeeeeeease help me learn something today.” This would lead to a cycle of something breaking my reading streak and then me taking a while to get back to reading daily. I did not like this and something had to fill the missing piece.

A few weeks ago, I came across a resource that just amazed me. She was who I wanted to be like in terms of studying the scriptures. And she showed me the way. One thing she wrote was “You probably think that you can’t do this—but you’re wrong. You can. It takes time and it takes practice. You can do it.” Everything that I felt was a struggle for me was answered in her.

Since that time, I have been putting her and her tips to work in my personal scripture study. Could this really be the missing piece for me? Would this teach me how to fish so I could feed myself for eternity?

I was up reading one morning when my mom called. I realized what time it was and that I had been studying for 45 minutes. That was such an amazing feeling. That was when I knew that I could do it for myself. My testimony of scripture study really grew that day and continues to grow as I recognize the changes in my daily life just from going from reading to studying the scriptures. I thought I would rely on studying examples of how to study the scriptures for a long time, but I’m not.

I always knew that reading the scriptures helps us strengthen our relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Now I know that studying the scriptures deepens our knowledge and understanding of how to live our life and how to reach our goal of living with God again. It gives me a daily peace that if I am doing the things that take care of my family’s spiritual needs, then it is more okay that I didn’t get to all of our physical wants. (Is a clean house a want or a need?)

If any of you want, I would love to hear how you structure your scripture study. What do you find works best for you? What are the struggles you face with young children? What are the struggles you face just ... because?

Christmas Shopping

2011-12-03T22:41:00.001-05:00

Who is smart and does their Christmas shopping year round? Not me, that's for sure. I had started a few months ago.... Not sure why I didn't continue. We got some shopping done today. I think Kaelyn is set for both her birthday and Christmas!

Mariella’s Tag Blanket

2011-12-02T23:14:00.001-05:00

Valerie, my oldest sister, asked me to make her youngest daughter, Mariella, a tag blanket. Mariella loves to stick stuff—especially fabric—in her mouth. I was happy to oblige. This was my first tag blanket. Easy peasy!

It is less than a square foot. And as you can tell, it’s not exactly even the whole way around. But Mariella sure loves it!

December!

2011-12-01T22:44:00.001-05:00

Now that it is December, I can blog about Christmas stuff! It just didn't seem right to post about it in November. But we'll start those another day.

What does December bring for you this year?

My community choir had its first performance of the season today. Could have been better. We've done worse. So a success? Note to self: don't forget the black hose again. Nylon socks, actually.

Other events in December: Kaeyn's birthday, Christmas, Christmas Eve, Messiah sing along, uhhh... Okay, so not much.

Oh! I get to put together a prize pack for one of my sister-in-law's contests. I'm super excited.

Maybe I'll get pregnant.....

Picture Perfect: Two Christmases Ago

2011-11-30T22:40:00.001-05:00

Chocolate Pumpkin Torte

2011-11-29T19:43:00.001-05:00

Yum. Double yum. I actually could only manage a small piece, but the missionaries each had a second serving. Kaelyn of course devoured it.

I found this recipe via Pinterest. The recipe and better pictures can be found here. I should have let the ganache get all the way smooth and then cool down further but... we were impatient. It still tasted yummy.

Write Away

2011-11-28T19:31:00.001-05:00

Do people associate good editing and critiquing with good writing?

What I mean is, do people expect someone who has can edit and critique better than the average person to be good at writing?

I have mentioned before that my sister-in-law is a published author. Her three published titles have all made the New York Times Bestseller’s list. I run her contests for pay and I monitor her Facebook page for free. I have been a part of Colleen’s journey from the very beginning including being a part of her early readers group which involves editing and critiquing. I am interested to know what editors of publishing houses are thinking when they are editing. Sometimes the ideas I hear from Colleen that they present to her is very ridiculous. Sometimes they are good ideas.

There are a lot of people who post about how Colleen inspired them to start writing especially when they hear her story and about how she was not a writer. Somebody recently posted that their first chapter and asked for pointers. I asked for what kind of pointers she wanted and went from there. Somebody else saw my comment and asked if I would do the same for her.

I don’t know if either of these two know of my connection or not. If they do, I wonder if they think “she helps Colleen, she must be awesome”. If they don’t, well, I don’t know what they’re thinking. Either way, they asked for very detailed critiques like what Colleen gets from me. I hope they remember that they asked for it.

I do not consider myself a writer. At all. Perhaps it is because I know very good writers and don’t consider myself on par with them. I certainly don’t consider myself a novelist. I cannot think through story lines and create the challenges and happiness and resolutions that a plot needs.

I can, however, tell you if that probably isn’t a good idea. Or if your comma goes there or not. Or if your idea is good but your writing just is terrible. I have discovered that while I do not know everything about punctuation, I guess I know more than others. (Having a degree and working in office management might have something to do with that.)

Where am I going with this...

I guess the bottom line is that I’m grateful that I know people who know where commas go. And who can write well. And type well.

I know some talented people! My sister-in-law isn’t the only person out there. My mom recently wrote a story of a boy who is visiting his grandfather who has Alzheimers. “No matter how slowly my feet go, the sun climbs high into the sky.” A friend (um, acquaintance? We have conversed very seldom) self-published her book earlier this year and I just finished reading it. Well done, Juliann. My sister writes reviews that never fail to make me smile.

Of Jamie’s review on Jane Eyre:

There is also the dis-jointed structure of the book, which can't seem to make up it's mind about what it is exactly and loses track of it's horror elements here and it's romantic ones there. The first third of the book can be skipped without loss, and the final resolution is delayed while the plot skips off into the heather for a while.

These are just a few of those talented people. If I didn’t name you... well, too bad for you. ;-)

(Wow, in going back and reading this... I swear, I didn’t mean to sound conceited.)

Alma 37:36-37

2011-11-27T21:59:00.001-05:00

Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be direted unto the Lord; yea, let the affections o thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.

Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day.

Another Favorite Book Genre

2011-11-26T22:26:00.001-05:00

I neglected to mention one of my favorite book genres when I listed several of my favorite books.

Cookbooks.

When I was pregnant, Jared would say that it was obvious that I was pregnant when I went to bed with a cookbook (in my defense, it was approaching Christmas and I had gotten this little cookie book). He has frequently said that he’s never met anyone before who read cookbooks like novels. Now he’s met two: me and my sister, Jamie.

Nana gave me a Taste of Home magazine today. It is their 2011 Best Holiday Recipes so it is thicker than their regular magazines. And like any good cookbook, there are plenty of pictures.

I have already started reading it and one of the first recipes is for homemade cranberry juice. I immediately thought of Jamie. She’ll be getting one of these too (and you too, Valerie) and I think Jamie will quite like to try this recipe.

The first recipe I opened up to was pear mushroom strudels. Looks so good with phyllo dough, cheese, almonds... (and mushrooms and pears).

I really need to not have so many cookbooks. I don’t use them all. But I sure love looking at them! Pinterest doesn’t help at all either. My food board has 411 pins right now. At least I can say that I HAVE tried at least 2 of those pins. That’s a big 0.005%!! At least until I add some more pins...

2011 Turkey Trot

2011-11-25T22:57:00.001-05:00

My long-time readers might remember that my family ran in a Turkey Trot last year while on Thanksgiving vacation to Branson, Missouri. It was our first ever and was 5k. You can read about it here ~~if you don’t have anything better to do~~ if you want.

I’m pretty certain I have mentioned that a few short months ago I got the brilliant idea to make it a family tradition and run a 5K again. Mom said yes. I looked and found the Columbus (Ohio) Turkey Trot. Mom was the one who caught that it was not a 5K. Good thing we knew that before the race.

I saw this status on Facebook. Mom: We need to decide soon. It’s only two months from now. Kimmi: Wait, two months? Mom: Today’s the 24th and Thanksgiving is the 24th. Kimmi: Don’t we have two weeks to think about preparing?

So Mom and I trained for a 5 miler. Dad and Kimmi thought about it. Josh never did. Jared and Lindey agreed to the walk & talk 2 miler. I hurt my leg and had to take it easy for a few weeks so my longest run prior to the Turkey Trot was only 2.88 miles and that was only the Saturday before.

Thanksgiving came and we arrived at the Turkey Trot. Next year: get there just a little bit earlier. Registration was a pill. They had four different lines but were expecting more than 5000 participants. Numbers 1-1000 went to same day registrants. 1001-2999 had two lines. 3000+ had one line. It was one very long line. People were in the registration line still when the race was supposed to start. Including me (and my family). The race started. And we were still in line. And THEN my number didn’t exist or was given to someone else. So they had to get me another number. And they ran out of shirts but gave out vouchers so we can still get them.

Someone said “hurry up, you probably won’t be timed anymore but soon they’ll start the 2 mile walk”. We started running. We let the walkers ... walk.

Mom was ahead of us. Dad was behind us. Josh, Kimmi, and I stayed together the majority of the time. We ran. We walked. We sprinted. We didn’t die. We might have almost died. But we didn’t. We talked. We had fun. We talked with other people. Dad passed us. Dad passed Mom. Dad went out of sight. We caught up to Mom. Passed Mom. Mom passed us. Repeat. And then Mom was just ahead of us.

When we were between miles 1 and 2, we saw people already on their last mile. Disgusting people.

When we reached mile 4, Josh ran ahead. Josh passed Mom. Josh went out of sight.

Kimmi and I finished. That’s about all we can say about that. Mom finished far enough ahead of us that she was ready to take a picture of us finishing. Yeah. It helps that we weren’t thinking of this in terms of “run the whole thing” but rather “don’t fail”.

The only report I got from Jared and Lindey was “It was fun.” And “Kaelyn was distraught once we got in the van.”

I just now decided to look up if we got timed after all. Check it out. The “place” is according to time, not when you actually crossed the finish line.

Dad finished 3680th – total time 59:05 – pace 11:49

Joshua finished 3870th – total time 1:03:16 – pace 12:40

I finished 3983th – total time 1:07:47 – pace 13:34

Kimmi finished 3984th – total time 1:07:50 – pace 13:34

Mom finished 3997th – total time 1:08:27 – pace 13:42

Jared finished 680th – total time 41:11 – walking

Lindey finished 681th – total time 41:12 – walking

We hope to do more races throughout the year instead of just on Thanksgiving. We’ll definitely be “racing” next Thanksgiving though!

And I still hope to beat my dad. I think it is totally do able.

Thanksgiving Day

2011-11-24T23:21:00.001-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone has had a wonderful day filled with great memories to look back upon. My day included a Turkey Trot, hosting a brunch, and then traveling to my grandparents house. Oh! And working on a puzzle.

Ten things I am thankful for (not necessarily my top ten):

1. Family. Jared and Kaelyn make my world!

2. Books. I’m happy that I live near a good library system.

3. Scriptures. They bring me such comfort and strength when I need it most.

4. Music. It is a integral part of my life.

5. Creativity. I love being able to do... stuff!

6. Technology. I’m sure I could live without out it, but why?

7. Wellness. Going to the gym, eating healthy, and having fun!

8. Sleep. Especially when it’s a stretch of 6+ hours.

9. Freedom. It is so easy to take for granted and think that we don’t have any.

10. Vacations. Even if I’m still a mom on vacation, at least it’s a change of scenery.

Memorizing Music

2011-11-23T22:08:00.001-05:00

Last year I was invited to join a community choir called “The Entertainers”. The promise of Christmas music made sure I was there.

The Entertainers is a group that has been around for 50ish years and has gone through various name changes. Currently we are all women but they have had males in the group occasionally. They have two “seasons”. Christmas and Spring. We take the summer off.

Over a period of three weeks, we perform 8 or 9 times. Mostly in nursing homes during the day but we always do a family concert on one evening. (So, if you have nothing better to do on Dec 12 at 7pm, let me know. You should also probably be in Ohio. Sorry, out-of-staters.)

We memorize the music. Usually we have 8 or 9 songs. This time we only have 7 but one of them is something like 25 pages long.

Although I’ve been listening to Christmas music on and off since Halloween (I mean, more steadily since I tend to listen to Christmas music year round if the mood strikes), Kaelyn has picked her first favorite Christmas song. This is now what I hear when we get in the car and the practice CD comes on (and I just got this CD on Monday, mind you)...

“Mommy, I want Grinch.”

Bad Customer Service

2011-11-22T22:15:00.001-05:00

We all have those experiences when you swear that customer service really should be renamed customer avoidance. It’s especially annoying when service is usually pretty good. Or at least as far as you can tell.

I went to a clothing store today which I shall not name because I see no point and I don’t really want to slander them. I found one item I wanted. I found another item I wanted but not in the right size. I asked a sales associate if he could check if they had the right size in the back. He said “yes”, took the item, went to the register computer, and then proceeded to ring up a customer’s purchase who was standing in line. I proceeded to stand there and watch him help four more people. Not wanting to deal with Kaelyn who was getting antsy, I grabbed my choice #2 ad got in line. Thankfully I didn’t get him but I was hoping that I would get one of those random “hey, here’s a survey link” printouts.

Nope. I didn’t.

But you can bet that the manager of the store will receive a phone call or email from me.

Anyone else have customer avoidance stories to tell?

Grocery Shopping with Daddy

2011-11-21T20:43:00.001-05:00

Jared took Kaelyn to the grocery store today. I gave him an extremely short list and said “fill in where you’d like” knowing full well that I could expect that anything goes. He did a good job.

Jared related this story to me upon their return.

I handed Kaelyn the grocery list and asked if she would hold it for me. She opened it {he motions here that she put her finger to her cheek} and said “Chocolate milk. 5 chocolate milk!” A lady nearby said “Oh, that’s so cute!”

At least he only bought a small carton instead of a full gallon.

Psalm 103:1-5

2011-11-20T22:22:00.001-05:00

Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:

Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;

Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;

Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Putting Puzzles Together

2011-11-19T22:27:00.001-05:00

Something you may not know about me is that I love puzzles. In my family, anything less than 1000 is... well, boring and easy.

My mom invited me down to help with a puzzle. She is participating in a service project that involves a shelter and toys and games. My family has a ton of puzzles but we don't want to give them any puzzles with missing pieces.

As we are working on a puzzle, Kaelyn eventually came over and wanted to help. "Puzzle! Want a puzzle!"

And she placed pieces and pushed them against the edge so they "fit".

She got my genes. :-)

Family at the house!

2011-11-18T22:27:00.001-05:00

My dad flew in from his week at work today so my family drove up and we all had dinner together. Crock pot beef stew. Yummy. Then my parents left while my siblings stayed here. We played games. And talked. And laughed.

We are hilarious.

I won’t ruin it by trying to recount how. Just know that we couldn’t breathe.

Does anyone else sometimes have to cough when they are laughing so hard they can’t breathe? And when they do cough, they have mucous bombs going off in their throat?

My hair is all crimped today. It’s an extreme rarity for me. As in... this is probably the first time I’ve done it. Jared came home and said it was pretty. That means a yay for me! Kaelyn also told me my hair was pretty and that she loved it. It’s so cute to hear her say things like that!

Little Miss Kitten is visiting tonight as well. My cats still can’t stand her, she’s still super cute, she’s roaming my computer desk....... she is better at jumping into laps, and she has a name! Mom just named her today. Molly. My siblings say “We suggested so many names! Some of them were actually good too.”

Remember. We are hilarious.

Day 9 of 30 Days of Me

2011-11-17T20:48:00.001-05:00

Day 9: Something that makes your life easier

There are so many things that make my life easier. My power drill, my planner, my phone, my husband’s two jobs, people who take time to share their amazing talents...

I’m really happy for the power drill because I just put together nine storage cubes, three of which had three drawers each. It would have taken me probably an hour to put just one of those cubes together if I were using a manual screwdriver. But with my power drill, they were done in 15 minutes! (The scraper also made my life easier during this process, but my hand is sore now.)

It's mid-November, everyone!

2011-11-16T21:41:00.001-05:00

Can you believe that Thanksgiving is next week? My choir only has two practices left (and almost no one has started memorizing)? The Christmas season is almost upon us? Kaelyn turns two next month? And then it's a whole new year?

What does everyone think about Christmas cards/newsletters/pictures nowadays?

The Happy Things of Recent Note

2011-11-15T22:30:00.001-05:00

I found some lovely storage for my studio today! I started putting it together while dinner was cooking. Can’t wait to get more of it done tomorrow. This is much needed storage as my crafting/sewing area is a total disaster. And pretty ugly looking. I can’t say it will be all pretty with this storage up but it will be less ugly.

There are some personal training sessions that I am really thankful that I only meet with him for a half hour once a week. Today was one of those days. 3 sets of 5 exercises (some of which varied). I struggled through it all. The first exercises was walking lunges while holding a weighted ball in front of you (arms outstretched). On the down lunge, I had to turn towards the “open” side. So when I step forward on the right leg, I move the ball and twist my torso to the right. The ball was only a six pound ball... I never claimed to not be a weakling! On the last set, I had to hold the ball over my head—arms straight was the goal. That so didn’t happen. I didn’t have to twist though which meant the lunges went faster. I finished... but the last three steps were a killer. Oh, and sometime during the half hour, he says to me “You’re not as talkative as you usually are”. And I’m preparing for another exercising trying to catch my breath that was being so very elusive today. He was quite pleased. A couple weeks back, he accidentally set the weight to be heavier than he intended. I thought it felt heavy but hey, he’s the trainer and maybe I was just feeling tired. When he realized what he’d done, he said “Well, that’s a good discovery”. Since then he’s increased the difficulty of the sessions. Near the end of today, he said “If it’s any consolation, this is significantly more difficult than a couple weeks ago. You’re doing really well. Much better than many other people would have done.” It wasn’t much of a consolation in the moment, but it does make me very happy. By pure luck I had decided to double the amount of protein shake to take to the gym today. I’ll still be super sore tomorrow but I’m really growing to love these sessions.

For a few days we thought Kaelyn was asking for an animal show when we would sit down to watch some television in the evening. Then I connected “eemols” show with her “eemols” book. Elmo. Not animals. I promptly set Sesame Street to record once a day, every day. While we tried hard not to push her towards Elmo or anything else for that matter, one of her youtube videos has ducks and Elmo. And she has always loved her lift-the-flaps Elmo book. Now she can watch Sesame Street after her nap while I’m making dinner. It is SO NICE. Except I miss what Sesame Street was when I was a kid. It is definitely not the same.

Last night we let Kaelyn decide what we’d have for dinner. Her choices were pizza, bbq, or sandwiches. She loves pizza but she was really cute when she said barbeque so we got that. Jared went to get it (City Barbeque—he loves it) and Kaelyn went with him. By her choice! Usually she wants to stay with me (or go with me) but we love these moments when her love for Daddy really shines through. (And I get a bit of a break!)

Picture Perfect

2011-11-14T22:08:00.001-05:00

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

2011-11-13T19:44:00.001-05:00

Yes. It is Skyrim.

The last Elder Scrolls game (Oblivion) was one of the games that Jared had me try that I really liked. Right. Read “practially the only game that Jared had me try that I really liked”. World of Warcraft is the other one.

What really got me into Oblivion was that you could do SO MUCH. It wasn’t all questing. I liked that you could pretty much do whatever you wanted. I was totally one of those people who picked up EVERYTHING to sell. I whimpered if I had to drop something because I was over my carry limit. I did all the sides quest lines (Thieves, the Brotherhood) before really doing the main line. And then I didn’t even finish the game. I was pretty close when Jared finished and had me watch the ending scene. For some reason... I just didn’t want to finish after that.

When Jared first told me about Skyrim earlier in the year, I said “we’re getting that”. Wow, it’s expensive. I could do a lot with 60 buckaroos.

I won’t go into the story line because you really don’t care. In fact, you probably don’t care about this entire post (so why are you still reading?) but I’m writing it anyway.

Jared has played it just a little bit and our playing styles are definitely different. Jared picks the occasional flower he sees. If I see it, I pick it. I pick them all. And you can even catch fireflies and moths and butterflies! (Yes, that deserves an exclamation mark. Geek much?) Jared is cleaner when he fights. I’m like “hey wait, where’d you go?” and “who’s hitting me now?”

Hey look. It’s my character! I’m a wood elf and my name is Aryn. A bow is my choice of weapon and that should be no surprise to those who know how I play.

I can tell you right now that my house will be so much cleaner on a daily basis because of this game. It will be far too easy for me to just play the game and wait, where’s Kaelyn? Okay, really, that is so not truth. I am not an ignorant gamer parent. But my plan is that the game is my reward. I have a list of several things I want to be a daily habit. After I do those several things, I can play the game.

I will be playing this game for a loooooong time.

Game

2011-11-12T23:17:00.001-05:00

Jared bought me a game today. The end.

ChiRunning

2011-11-11T20:45:00.001-05:00

As I sit here tonight thinking of what to write, I just draw a blank. It seems like these moments are happening more frequently than they used to. Kaelyn didn’t want to take a nap and threw a wrench in my usual routine.

On the up and up though, I started running again today. The only exercise I did for a week was foot circles, foot flexes, other stretches... and meeting with my personal trainer. Now my leg pain is completely gone and I purchased new running shoes. I also read ChiRunning by Danny Dreyer. I am going to give it a try. Well, I already started to give it a try today. And I have to say... if you try ChiRunning, make sure you do your prep work before you try to run. I worked on stuff at home before going in and I think that helped.

The basis of ChiRunning is that running doesn’t have to hurt. Humans are built to walk and to run and it shouldn’t hurt us. Also, you run with the same cadence no matter what speed you go. Speed comes as you lean forward and take longer strides.

So today I focused on two things: maintaining good posture with my feet landing in the right place in relation to my hips and shoulders and running at the same cadence. Danny says every cadence should be in the 85-90 range (meaning your right or left leg should land on the ground 85-90 times a minute). It’s easier for me to run with one beat per leg so that ups it to 170-180 range (plus, then I can listen to upbeat music). That is the goal. I chose to start at 160. Each week I’ll increase the speed by one click so that I’m not straining my body.

After a 5 minute warm up, I ran until my body said “you probably should stop now” and then had a 3 minute cool down. The running period ended up being 10 minutes. I was shocked that it was that long because it didn’t really seem like it was. The other reason I was shocked was because 10 minutes just a few weeks ago was really tough because of my leg pain. Amazing what you can do without pain.

I still found myself doing some of the at-home exercises throughout the rest of the day. I’m really getting the feel for what it should feel like whenever my feet touch the ground. I also practice picking up my heels. And relaxing my foot while going in a circle (like pedaling a bike except with no bike and just on one leg and not going anywhere). Working on these things while not also running will help it come more naturally when I do run.

On a completely unrelated note, I’ve done a very tiny bit of painting. It’s not done yet but here is what my sister’s table currently looks like. I was going to start working on the top but my printer’s color ink cartridge decided to stop having one color. Please ignore the horrible quality of the picture.

2011 To Do List RECAP

2011-11-10T20:34:00.001-05:00

It is November 10th and I was thinking about the items that I wanted to get done this year. I have more done than I have said that I’ve done so I wanted to quickly list what I have done and what I haven’t. My comments in italics.

HAVE DONE

1. Blog more. <—I have most definitely done this.
3. Start a garden. <—Yup.
4. Figure out a schedule that works for us and we will maintain with minimal convincing and hair pulling.<—I’m not actually sure what I meant by this but I really like our current schedule so I guess I’ve completed this
5. Get Kaelyn to sleep in her own bed again. <—She is a pro at sleeping in her own bed! And not only that but she is putting herself to sleep now! This is such a big relief. Only very occasionally is she in our bed at all and its usually the times when she gets really scared or doesn’t like something that I have no control over.
6. Get Kaelyn to sleep the whole night without waking up. Update. <—This happens very rarely... but it has happened and I’m just glad that she doesn’t wake up nearly as often or require my attention as much. We’re still moving towards this goal though. She doesn’t get any drink when going to sleep for a nap. The next move for me is to eliminate at night and when I can do that, I’m sure that she will stay asleep.
9. Make huck toweling towels (aka, cloth paper towels). <—Done.
10. Make and hang curtains for Jared's office. <—They helped over the summer too. Jared took them down for the winter (lame) but hey, I made them.
17. Prune our cherry tree. <—Granted I didn’t actually do it but someone did and that’s good enough for me.
21. Fully refund our emergency fund. <—Done.
22. Finish Mom's regency coat. <—And so lovely too!
23. Learn how to make cha siu bow dough. <—And they were so delicious too. Next I need to get a better steamer and they will turn out awesome, I’m sure.
25. Continue running. <—I did continue running. And now my goal is to continue running. My leg is better though so that should be soon.
26. Get rid of the big pile of sticks in my backyard. <—Another “I didn’t do it but someone did”.
30. Build a night stand for our bedroom. <—Okay, I confess. While the goal was to build the nightstand, I bought one instead. It was cheaper than building and although it’s not perfect (aka, still not painted), it is functional.
32. Organize my fabric. <—It’s not ideal storage or organization but it is still done.
33. Make cloth napkins. <—Um. I didn’t realize this was on here twice but we use the huck toweling (#9) as cloth napkins. When we use napkins.
41. Get my tail bone checked out. <—There are times when I miss my chiropractor...
42. Be brave enough to make a fish dish. <—Not only once but TWICE. And I ate it both times.

18 out of 42. Um. 43% done. And 85% of the year is over.

HAVE NOT DONE

2. Start a compost pile. <—This one will still get done this year. We made a garbage can change that forces us to get this done.
7. Get pregnant. <—The year’s not over yet...
8. Make cloth sandwich/snack bags. <—I probably won’t do this one. Maybe in another few years.
11. Make and hang curtains for guest bedroom. <—I have everything I need. I just haven’t done it.
12. Build my desk. <—I got a desk for free but I haven’t painted it yet.
13. Build bed frame for my bed. <—This one won’t get done. Tear.
14. Build bed frame for the guest bed. <—This one won’t get done either but I’m not as sad about it.
15. Reattach the leg to the piano. <—I need to buy a clamp...
16. Finish Kaelyn's felt animal set. <—I‘ve been working on the nativity instead... why didn’t I put that on my yearly list?
18. Obtain shelving for food storage. <—We are severely lacking in this department overall.
19. Move our washer and dryer to nicer location. <—Laundry will be nicer when this gets done.
20. Pay off two debts. <—We’re so close!
24. Organize my recipes better. <—Um. I’m closer.
27. Find a handle for our sliding glass door. <—Notta one.
28. Build a coffee table. <—Not yet.
29. Build a night stand for Kaelyn's room. <—I have a nightstand. It matches the one in the master room. However it is being utilized downstairs. And is unpainted.
31. Build a night stand for guest room. <—I used to have a nightstand for this. I used it for a little table for Kaelyn though.
34. Do a complete rehaul of our 72 hour kit. <—This one should be easy! But we haven’t done it.
35. Frame and hang the big mirror for the living room. <—It’s in the master bedroom right now. I need a full length mirror I can hang on the wall. Then I can hang this mirror in the living room.
36. Hang the big clock in the living room. <—I haven’t done it yet because I haven’t decided whether or not to paint it. Why that stops me from hanging it, I don’t know.
37. Build a mantle for the fireplace. <—I haven’t decided what type of mantle yet.
38. Build a bookcase for my music. <—Nope.
39. Learn about basements and how to care for it. <—I have learned a little bit about basements. Just a little bit though.
40. Acquire more comfortable seating. <—This should read “different” instead of “more”. And no, it’s not done either way.

Considering all the other things I have done that are not on this list, I still feel like I’ve done a good fair bit. And that I know better what to put on my list for next year.

Our New Callings

2011-11-09T22:01:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago, Jared and I received new callings in our ward. Previously I was 1st Counselor in Young Womens and Jared was 2nd Counselor in Elders Quorum.

On the off chance that there is someone reading this that has no idea what I’m talking about, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints serve in different capacities. The Bishop (the local leader of your congregation) extends callings to different people and you may find yourself a Primary (sunday school for children) teacher one day and Sacrament organist the next. Sometimes you’re in a calling for a long time and sometimes not so long.

Jared hasn’t officially been released from Elders Quorum yet but they said they would. Maybe they were just kidding.

Our new callings are 11 year old scout leaders. Kaelyn gets to come with us because I am so not paying for a weekly babysitter when Jared and I are not going on a date.

We attended our first scout meeting tonight. It was the last one to be combined with the Gahanna 11 yo scouts so we got to be eased into it a little bit. That was really helpful because they pretty much said “will you serve as...” and when we said “yes”, they said “Good! Take this training and fill out this application.” One person didn’t know what to tell us and the other would have given us far too much help if we had asked.

I purchased the handbooks we needed a few days ago and read through a lot of them. I read more today and am feeling like I have a grasp on what needs to happen. I expressed my concern about how I thought this calling might go with me doing the bulk of the work. Jared suggested we plan on Sundays because that is generally a good day (ie he rarely has to work on that day). Yay. :)

We only have one scout! He’s an awesome kid. Can’t wait to get to know him better. He turns 12 in April and the next boy to turn 11 isn’t until next October. Maybe some people will move in the ward!!!

I’ll miss my young women for sure. Scouting is an area of the Church that I have not yet been privileged to serve in. Bring it on! (Oh, and if you have ANY advice, please leave it!!!)

Day 8 of 30 Days of Me

2011-11-08T19:48:00.001-05:00

Day 8 – Something you hate

Raw onions! I hate them. I hate the smell of them. I hate the taste of them. I cannot eat them at all.

Dill pickles! I hate them. I hate the taste of them. I hate the taste they leave even when you pick them off. I cannot eat them at all.

If I had to choose between raw onions and dill pickles... I’d starve. I’m pretty sure of it. Or I’d dehydrate because I’d throw up everything plus some. I may dislike fish, but at least I will eat that (and have—TWICE this year).

Pinterest 11.06.2011

2011-11-07T15:47:00.001-05:00

We could all use a laugh and a smile every once in a while. I have a board on Pinterest for when such a moment is needed. Here are some recent images that make me smile.

Who is not going to do this when it snows?! It is sure to bring some happy smiles to many people.

This is so my cats!!

I’ve seen some pretty sweet network names. This one is up there.

Who doesn’t love Patrick Stewart?

This is my sister. It would entertain her endlessly.

If you click the pictures, you will be taken to the source.

Ugh

2011-11-06T22:32:00.000-05:00

My computer is giving me the fits and isn't wanting to work with pictures AT ALL. Instead of getting super annoyed, I'm going to bed.

On a happy note: Jared did some stuff in the kitchen and then looked towards me and then looked beyond me. "Those blinds really do look good." Happy face!

I hung some blinds!

2011-11-05T22:26:00.001-04:00

I’m closer to less naked windows in the house! I told you about my quandry here and then showed you my “plan” for hanging the blinds high here.

Today I can tell you that two of the five blinds are hung! Jared was able to hold the blinds up high for me to mark where the brackets should be hung. I definitely eyeballed it when it came to centering it and I did pretty good. I pseudo measured how far from the ceiling they were so all the blinds could be hung at about the same height.

Complaint: The directions are crap. Complete crap. I put it all together according to the instructions and that part was bad enough but then there were eight pieces + six large screws + 4 small screws left over. Having non level ceilings and studs in different places everywhere didn’t make it easier. But seriously... write better instructions, mkay?

I figured out where six pieces went. I expected to have extra large screws because you use different amounts of screws depending on what type of mount you are doing. The little screws belong to the remaining two pieces and I sort of know where they go and their function but we decided to not do anything with them.

Jared says the blinds look a little crooked from the ceiling but level from the floor. Then again, my top stripe in my family room also looks crooked from the ceiling but I promise you, it is not. Unless my leveler is lying and I don’t think it is.

These blinds are HEAVY. I mean. I can lift them just fine. In fact, I did ALL of the installation of these blinds except for when Jared held them up for me to mark. But when you go to open or close them, they are quite heavy. But they are faux wood blinds and are 72” long. We will probably shorten them but for now, we’ll leave them as is. By we, I mean me.

Look at those windows. Brown on the inside, white on the outside... Drives me nuts! And from the outside, it’s all white. Anyway, you can see that we hung the blinds higher than the windows. And you can also see that I haven’t cleaned up ~~all~~ any of the drywall dust. (Isn’t the wall color so pretty?!)

This picture didn’t want to turn out so nice. It really does shut out a lot of light! And since we only have a few indoor lights (one lamp for the family room and the one overhead light in the diningcraftsmorgasboard room) it’s really important that we have enough light in the evening. Which we didn’t feel like we were getting. Until tonight! Even with just two blinds installed and shut, we felt like the light was so much brighter indoors.

Hopefully it won’t be too much longer before we hang the remaining three blinds. Maybe I can convince Jared to help me do one per night. (He’s just holding the darned thing. His part is like five minutes.) I love the change that it brings! It helps make the rooms feel more done despite the craptastic mess everywhere.

Kaelyn Sings

2011-11-04T23:25:00.001-04:00

When we picked up our daughter from Amy's, who was watching her, her dad asked "does Kaelyn know I Am A Child Of God?"

Big cheers to Kaelyn!

Green Smoothies: Recipes

2011-11-03T14:05:00.000-04:00

Perhaps I should title this “guidelines” instead. I don’t profess to know everything about green smoothies but the little bit that I know, I’ll pass along to you.

1. Go to the store. The Farmers Market or something like that would be even better but sometimes the store is just more convenient. And I say that it’s better to have any fruits and veggies than none so let’s go with it.

2. Buy some fruit and greens that you like. Do not buy starchy vegetables. Starch + fruit = unpleasant feelings. Examples of greens are spinach, arugula, romaine lettuce, carrot tops, celery. Fruit examples are bananas, pears, apples, pineapple, honey dew melon. If you choose things that you already like, chances are that you’ll like it when you blend them together.

3. If you’re still not sure about it or if you haven’t had very much fruits and greens in your regular diet, start off slowly. Your body needs time to adjust. Try maybe 3 parts fruit to 1 part greens. My very first smoothie was 3 bananas, 1/2 head of romaine lettuce (red leaf), and 2 cups of water. I think I did that two days in a row. It makes 4 cups (1 quart) and took me about an hour to drink it. While I was washing dishes, making K’s breakfast, etc. Then I started branching out. And did you know that the water you add to your smoothies can count towards your daily water?

4. Get a little bit more adventurous. I had some leftover celery (by some, I mean nearly the whole bag because I buy it for a meal or two and then have all the rest of it that sometimes goes bad because I don’t like it plain). Day 5 (I think) smoothie had carrots in it. Bad idea. I do not like carrots in my smoothie despite liking them plain. I drank as much as I could of it but ultimately did not finish it. Day 8 smoothie was 3 stalks of celery, 4 kiwis, 1 banana, and 2 cups of water. I learned that 3 stalks of celery was a little too much for me but still drinkable. The next day I tried celery with other things (probably bananas and lettuce)(or kale) but this time I only used 2 stalks. Perfect.

I just got a water bottle thing that was $2-3 and held 1 quart. Now I make my smoothie, pour it all in there and just drink when I’m ready. I might get another one to store for later in the day. My midafternoon snack seems to be begging for a change. Just make it easy for you drink.

Set yourself up for success and you’re more likely to see success.

Another benefit shout out: I can’t contribute this just to green smoothies because working with my trainer and exercising certainly had its part as well. A little over a week ago, Jared mentioned to me that my stretch marks were going away!! I hadn’t noticed but we’re always more critical of our own bodies. I was really glad he told me and that there was any change to notice!!! Now when I go to the gym, I take a look at myself in the full length mirrors and think “I don’t look so bad after all”.

Green Smoothies: Benefits

2011-11-02T15:39:00.001-04:00

I’ve been reading Green for Life by Victoria Boutenko and next on my list is Green Smoothie Revolution by the same person (but more recent and way more recipes). Robyn Openshaw is next on my list.

A little side note: reading reviews sometimes really make me laugh. Apparently, one cannot crave greens without being a weirdo. Granted she specifically said “wild weeds” in her book but there are a lot of wild weeds that are good for you. And free. Hey, look at that. Free food. A lot of people eat lambsquarter. Free wild weed. And really good for you. Another common complaint was that she was really enthusiastic about it. Well... yes. Hence the book. If you’re looking for a scientific detailed nutrition book, don’t read Victoria Boutenko. But if you just want a quick read about green smoothies, go for it.

Moving on.

For those people who care about the US government’s food plate, green smoothies definitely help you get your recommended daily amount of fruits and veggies. And if you don’t care, green smoothies still help you get your veggies and fruits.

It’s a great way to start your day. It helps wake me up.

It gives me energy. Kaelyn still wakes up at night and even if I’m in bed for a really good amount of time, waking up is still draining. Green smoothies helps bridge that energy gap I was lacking.

Breakfast is yours all yours. At least it is for me. No one is begging to eat my food (although occasionally a family member has asked for a taste).

It helps your bowel movements be healthy.

It can decrease unhealthy cravings. Since I thought I was wanting a certain food (and we had it) only to realize that that is not what my body was asking for at all. Once I ate some honey dew, the heaviness and sick feeling that was settling in my stomach went away.

If you’re horrible at remembering side dishes or veggies at dinner, that will probably change. More and more lately, I have found myself thinking of fresh foods and wanting to include more of them in my family’s diet.

You snack less.

They’re super easy to make. If you have the right foods in your kitchen and a blender that doesn’t suck.

There are two benefits that I was not at all expecting. I used to drink a workout drink before a cardio workout. It is called Access by Melaleuca and it is designed to help you fuel your workout with your own body fat. It also helps keep your energy level up by blocks adenosine and it takes longer for you to feel fatigued. Once I realized that my energy had increased, I did a little self test and didn’t drink any Access for a few weeks of workout. And then I tried drinking it again to see the difference. I didn’t notice a difference in fatigue or energy levels. I did notice that my stomach didn’t love the Access. I’ll still use it if I ever workout in the afternoon but on a regular basis, I don’t need it.

And the last benefit to talk about is that for a few months now, there has been this rash thing on my leg. Just one leg and just in one spot. It would itch. I would scratch. It would bleed. It would start to heal. And then itch again. Even if I didn’t scratch, it wasn’t going away. I was about to see a doctor about it when I realized that it was going away and hadn’t bothered me since starting the green smoothies. Now you can still see where it was but it’s more like a scar than actually being there.

If you have tried green smoothies and have seen other benefits, let me know!

Green Smoothie: First Tastes

2011-11-01T16:19:00.001-04:00

My first smoothie was basic. 1/2 head of romaine lettuce, 3 bananas, 2 cups water. Blend. Drink.

First thought: Ooooh, my blender works sooo fast and is sooo pretty!

Second thought: Oh. Em. Gee. This is a lot of smoothie.

Third thought: It’s kinda warm... and I feel like I have to chew still.

I’m used to making smoothies that fit in one cup. Or two cups so you can share. Or one really big cup. Green smoothies are meant to be 4 cups. This I did not know. Now I do.

I’m not sure why I expected it to be cold... I didn’t put any ice or anything in it. Probably because my regular smoothies contains frozen fruit and yogurt.

Kaelyn tried some. This was the only time she wanted to try it. Now she’s never awake when I make them but I don’t think she was too fond of feeling like she needed to chew her liquid lettuce. Oh wait, that was me.

Green Smoothies: Why

2011-10-31T14:39:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, I replaced my blender. My old blender was given to me by my sister, Jamie. It was 400 watts and drove me nuts whenever I used it for smoothies. Which was just about the only time I ever used it. That is a rate of 98% annoyance. I’m allowing for the slight off chance that I actually used the blender for something else.

I bought a pretty little ninja. Out of the options in my price range with the minimum wattage I ~~needed~~ wanted, this one looked and felt the best. Vitamix was a little bit out of my price range. The ninja boasts of six blades and 1000 watts. And it works like a dream. Assuming that you have nice dreams that go smoothly.

My old blender went back to Jamie whose blender had just died.

Pretty, right? All parts (except the base) is dishwasher safe but I prefer to hand wash it still.The handle is hollow and water and other food bits can get into it from the bottom so I’d rather just keep it out of the dishwasher.

I got this blender because I was going to start having smoothies for breakfast. Every day. Green smoothies, actually. I didn’t want to fight every day with a blender for a task that should take 30 seconds but was instead taking 5 minutes.

There are a few reasons I decided to start drinking green smoothies. 1) I needed to increase my veggies & fruit intake. I was close but close isn’t there. 2) Because of my increase in exercise, I was always hungry and struggling to feel satiated. My trainer thought it might help me. 3) The increase in exercise but not an increase of sleep (as in sleeping through the night instead of being woken several times) was an energy drain. My trainer thought it might help me. 4) A friend had started a few months ago and couldn’t stop raving about it. 5) It was an excuse for a new blender.

I’ve heard many benefits of moving towards a raw foods diet. I’m not sure that we’ll ever be there but it certainly never hurts to take a step in that direction. I’m a fan of foods as close to their original state as possible. That doesn’t still mean that I don’t like eating anything else. Because you’ll still see me with Little Caesars pizza and Olive Garden breadsticks and thoroughly enjoying them to. However, what I eat on a more regular basis is what I’ve been focusing on. Breakfasts and lunches are the two meals that I will make something different for me than for anyone else. Mostly because Kaelyn rarely eats breakfast when I do anyway and Jared takes care of himself. Dinners are a family affair and we’ll all eat the same thing. Having a smoothie for a first meal made the most sense. It’s harder for me to forget about it and if it’s supposed to help with energy than that’s when I need to drink it.

It’s been two weeks since I started and I’ve developed an opinion about them which I will graciously share with you over the next few days. Tune in tomorrow to find out what my very first green smoothie experience was like!

A PICS Tea Party

2011-10-30T19:43:00.000-04:00

We love it when we are all in the right place for a PICS party. The right place is pretty general. Anywhere in Ohio is acceptable. Unfortunately, for a while I lived in Oregon and now Sara is off gallivanting the world. But we put forth our effort to get together when we can. Although we no longer write stories, we always have food. This time around was a tea party. (Hope you like pictures!)

Egg salad sandwiches: Jamie couldn’t figure out how to make them pretty on the plate. She kept trying but couldn’t figure it out. I helped her.

Ginger Spice Cake: Yummmmmmy!

Tea: Ginger + lemon + mint + water. A touch of honey took it from good to great.

Rice Pudding: Jamie made this particular one from a book that taught you the Spanish words for all the ingredients.

Fruit: This did not get an individual picture because it was still being cut. Think watermelon (that Andi grew!), asian pears, and mangos!

After we ate, we played several rounds of Pictionary. With cards. My favorite way of playing Pictionary. No drawing involved! Anyway. I explain how to play Pictionary and the other team, Andi and Jamie, decide to organize their cards. Wait, what??? Andi and Jamie are ORGANIZING?? ANDI and JAMIE? Andi AND Jamie? I kid you not. Andi, my free-spirit-come-what-may-and-let-me-have-at-it best friend and Jamie, my when-do-I-have-class-again-today sister. I have proof. I took a picture.

On the other hand, you have me and Sara. We plan and wear watches. We had the blue cards below.

Halfway through Jamie and I switched teams. I reorganized the red cards because their placement of some cards did not make any sense. I tell you... they brought out the obsessive compulsive in me. It’s their fault.

Then we went outside to check on the kids (and the men). Lilli, Grace, and Kaelyn were so cute driving around on the truck. All in similar colors with their hoods up! Kaelyn is recounting the fun that she had with her cousins yesterday! Kaelyn didn’t actually drive it (her legs weren’t long enough yet), but someone else did. You’ll see below.

Kaelyn wanted me to sit in the back with her so I did that too. On a complete si05de note: whenever I see myself in pictures, I feel weird because I’m used to seeing my bangs on the other side. I only see myself in mirrors and that’s where my bangs are... the other side. Pictures mess me up.

I had two choices for the last picture. Jamie’s eyes were closed for both. What the picture doesn’t show is that two of us were in barefeet and the grass was wet and cold.

I love these girls! We always have so much fun together. While we never know when the next time we will all be together, we always look forward to having a good time.

Short and to the point

2011-10-29T23:44:00.001-04:00

I haven't cut the deadline to posting so close before. Great day today! Great company! Great food! Details tomorrow.

Day 7 of 30 Days of Me

2011-10-28T20:00:00.001-04:00

Day 7 – A photo that makes you happy. Birth story found here.

Almost Hanging the Blinds

2011-10-27T19:35:00.000-04:00

Remember my window issue? The one where I was having dilemmas on how high to hang my blinds? You can thank that post for this post.

My blinds arrived yesterday! Hooray! I was working on another project when they arrived so I didn’t get to do any more than open a set and read the instructions.

They come with screws but not anchors.

Anyway… here’s the low down.

I like graphing paper. I haven’t used it a whole lot since college but knew where to find it when I wanted it. This is a good thing.

I measured one of the walls that had a window that is going to get some love. I only needed to visualize one to decide how the rest would look. Usually I can kind of see what it will look like in my head, but I just wasn’t seeing this one. So that, above, is what my wall and window look like. Sans color.

Then I created some other pieces and colored them so you could tell the difference between the different pieces of graph paper. This picture shows what the window would look like with the blinds hung right above the window. Except the blinds would be a little shorter than it shows… but I needed it this long to show the next picture. And I didn’t want to cut out another rectangle because that is hard work.

Here we have the blinds in their upright position but hung much closer to the ceiling. That is why I needed the rectangle as long as it is because when I raise the blinds, I will raise it to right where the window starts (just the glass, not any other part of the window). Ahh! Look at that. So much more window shows now. I’m already liking this. But I had to take it a step further.

I made curtains! Floor to ceiling curtains. Oh my word, I was liking the high blinds before, but now I love it!

My last rectangle was blinds closed. I can modify the blinds so they don’t go down that low and I probably will but I really just love this look. Curtains aren’t on the agenda for any time soon and this particular wall will probably have shorter curtains because of my plans for that wall. But it’s my long-term plan! I love it!

I also now have an itch to create a floor plan. On the computer. Not a paper and pencil.

A Kitten For Mother

2011-10-26T22:31:00.001-04:00

This little kitten is eight weeks old. She is so adorable! A family we knew were trying to find homes for five little kittens. When I heard the girls were calico, I thought my mom would love to have one since her cat is not doing well. We are keeping her for a few days until my mom gets back and can meet her new little kitten.

Because our cats sort of don’t get along with other cats, Little Miss gets to sleep with Uncle Josh. Also, Kaelyn loves playing with the kitten but she decided needs more attention when she feels Little Miss is getting too much of it. Kaelyn especially gets concerned when I leave the room while holding Little Miss and needs me to hold her as soon as possible (i.e. as soon as Kaelyn can run to me). I don’t think Kaelyn will be super sad to see her leave. She probably won’t even notice. If a dog were here though... Kaelyn loves those a little bit more. And they can handle her sometimes-not-gentle hands a little bit better than this little gal.

Kaelyn is much better at posing than this little miss is. But she’s still pretty cute! And she has taken a liking to sitting with Josh (and climbing up his jeans). So it’s a good thing she gets to sleep with him tonight. He can’t lie. He likes the attention.

I hope you like her, Mom!

Tuesday Rambles

2011-10-25T22:05:00.001-04:00

I have been so busy with so many different things that I really do think that this week will be blogging rambles. Don’t expect anywhere close to thought-out posts this week! It just isn’t going to happen.

Today I did some reading on photography. I have played around with the settings on my camera in the past but I epically fail at getting it right. There’s no better time to get it right and I’m at a point where I really need to start getting some decent pictures. I also want a mini tripod for my camera. It’s only like… $15. I think that will really help my future photos.

I am having a really big itch to paint something. Good thing I have things to paint. Bad thing is that there hasn’t been an opportunity to. And this weekend won’t present one either.

But on the upside, this weekend is bringing a PICS reunion! S has been out of country and so we are taking advantage of her brief time at home with a tea party. And some reading of ridiculous stories found late at night. And we are thinking of crafting this time around. Maybe we will round robin write again.

I made donuts today. It’s Kaelyn’s fault. And maybe perhaps Josh’s. Mostly Kaelyn’s though. She randomly said today “I want a doughnut!” Josh must’ve been saying it a lot but he really hadn’t. She kept saying it though, randomly and sporadically until one time she brought her “dinodaur” book, opened it to the appropriate page, pointed, and said “I want a doughnut!” Ahh... it’s the dinodaurs fault.

Now can you see why I should either not blog or always have a blog plan?

Monday Rambles

2011-10-24T21:49:00.001-04:00

This week will be a little different than normal. I guess the goodness and spirit that I felt from Stake Conference prompted me to volunteer watching my youngest brother for the week! It’ll be good, I’m sure. Today wasn’t too bad although we he probably could have gotten more done than we he did.

I can tell you that he now has a ton of flash cards for French. I can also tell you that French is one language that I will never be able to speak. At least without making weird faces (unintentionally—I swear it!) and making people around me bust out laughing (also completely unintentional).

We still haven’t started potty training Kaelyn. But she is volunteering more and more to go on the potty. Sometimes I catch her in the act and ask if she needs to go and she says no. But when I say “let’s go potty”, she immediately says yes and runs over to the bathroom. I still don’t think we’re ready to tackle full potty training but it’s fun to see her progress to our non-training.

I was going to write more (and on a completely different topic) but I want to use the rest of my evening for some reading that I can put into practice tomorrow for some much needed health benefits!

Sunday Rambles

2011-10-23T21:11:00.000-04:00

Thank you to everyone who has taken the survey! If you haven’t, you can find it here. I love that I didn’t ask for names so it’s completely anonymous yet for the majority of the responses, I can tell who said what. Love it!

My thoughts are definitely all over the place tonight. Kaelyn slept fairly restless last night. It wasn’t until 6:30am that I realized that I never turned the heat on last night. Coldness doesn’t bother her during the day. Just at night. Also, we were hosting family yesterday and today. I love having my family over! I love that I have a house able to accommodate the masses. I love the companionship, closeness, and the good times that we always have. Kaelyn has so much fun with her cousins and loved hanging out with them all. She even enjoyed her aunts and uncles. (Aunt Lindey was most happy that Kaelyn asked to be with her specifically a few times.)

Hosting does take a toll though. My house isn’t completely chaotic as everyone helped tidy up throughout the weekend. Kaelyn didn’t take a nap today (can we say... social butterfly?) but went down to bed super quick an hour earlier than usual (when the masses left). And I’m just tired! I’d be tired even without everyone here just because of how frequently Kaelyn woke me up last night, but the extra excitement of everyone here adds. Wouldn’t trade it for anything though!

It was a great weekend. Stake Conference was this weekend and my notes have lots of red writing. That means I have a lot to work on. I suppose it’d be a boring life if there weren’t anything to work on!

Oh!!! And another thing that made this weekend great was that on my outside Saturday run, I ran 2.5 miles at a 10:41 min/mi pace! I have never run that far that quick. Now I have another four weeks to double my mileage.

Fact: Our speed (download speed? internet speed?) is way faster when there aren’t six computers on it.

Jared just reminded me that everyone loved the soup I made. We barely had any leftovers!

I just want to leave you with this picture of I Am A Child of God. This song has been sung frequently in our home because Kaelyn knows it. In Stake Conference, we were told that if we got up in the morning and sung all the verses to this song while looking in the mirror, we would know the truth contained in the words and it would show through our actions. And I love how it looks.

Please note: this is an image from Etsy (I found through Pinterest). Please do not print it out on your own. Someone took their time to make it and is selling it and it would not be right for us to use it freely. If you are interested in purchasing it, you can do so here. The price is $8 with different color combo.

Kaelyn + Halloween = ?

2011-10-22T23:19:00.000-04:00

A really adorable witch!

My inspiration came from Pinterest. (Picture linked here.) This was the one thing Jared really said “You should do that!”

Isn’t she so cute?!

I made her entire costume. Pants, shirt, hat (oh. em. gee.), tutu. (I was pleased when the hat received its final “fitting” and Jared said “See? Aren’t you happy to make her a Halloween costume?” Only if its absolutely adorable (which, of course, it is because she is adorable).)

Kaelyn went to the zoo for Boo at the Zoo with her Aunt Kimmi, Aunt Valerie, Uncle Reed + her five girl cousins.

The Window Quandry

2011-10-21T21:35:00.001-04:00

Ever have a problem and you don’t know how to solve it and then you finally have a solution and then you see a sale. Which means you buy something expensive. And then you see something that totally makes you want to question your solution?

That’s me right now.

We have poor naked windows in my house (except for two/three windows). I finally decided that blinds would be good to put in on the downstairs windows. They have to be outside mount and I refused to even consider vinyl annoying things. Can we say expensive? Then Home Depot had a sale. I purchased five blinds for two different rooms. These rooms are somewhat connected and will be decorated/painted/whatever to have a cohesive feeling. (Family room and craft/dining room for anyone who cares.) I thought that maybe one day I can put up curtains because that would have a lovely look.

Then I read a blog by Sarah at Thrifty Décor Chick. She made her windows more fab than they were before by hanging her blinds from an inside mount to an outside mount and then hanging her curtains higher so they’re almost at the ceiling. And the ceiling molding just makes it that much more swoon worthy.

Now... her windows are larger and extend lower than mine do. I’m afraid that hanging the blinds higher will look really funky because there is still 2 feet and some odd inches from window to floor. Judging from her couch, I’m guessing her windows extend down about a foot below mine. Hanging curtains higher to the ceiling usually help make the window look taller. Sometimes it can make the window look smaller though and that’s what I’m afraid of. With outside mounted blinds, you either have to hang them tall with the tall (or no) curtains or hang them short with short or no curtains. You don’t hang the blinds short with tall curtains. That’s just awful.

I don’t even have the blinds yet. Maybe I’ll hold them up and decide they look really weird not being close to the ceiling or the other way around. But whatever I do to one window, I do to all five. Maybe that’s why I’m freaking out too much about it. I’m not just committing once but FIVE TIMES. And I’m not putting more holes in my wall than I have to so the decision has to be made once and only once!

Sigh... would they ship my blinds already???

Feeling Good About Organization

2011-10-20T20:50:00.001-04:00

Some days organizing feels like more work than benefits. Right now feels that way. I know otherwise but it doesn’t change how I feel.

I thought that maybe I’m not the only one who sometimes feels this way so why not blog about it? Many of you probably have insights that I don’t mention here.

Organizing and getting one’s life in order can be so exhausting. And then to have to maintain whatever it is you do! There are some key benefits that I can see to getting and remaining organized in the many different facets of our lives.

Health – When we maintain a clean home (note the different between clean and sterilized, please), we can have better health. Did you know that indoor air is more polluted than outside? And there are cars outside!

Finances – When we can’t find items, we tend to purchase more of that item. Also, when we’re organized, maybe we find that we don’t need extra items. Being organized in our finances can give us a sense of control because we know where our money is going and what we can and can’t do.

Less Stress – And more time! Think of how often we look for something because we didn’t put it away or because not everything has a place. I feel like I spend a lot of time trying to decide on a place an item can call home—and then I don’t remember because it really wasn’t a good spot!

One really key thing for me to always remember is that what works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for me. If I try something and it doesn’t work and I’ve really tried to make it work (rather than expecting it to work without me doing anything), I don’t have to feel like a failure. If I gave it an honest try, tweak it or try something new. Just don’t give up!

Another trick is to dedicate time to it. Maybe all you have is five minutes. Maybe you can spend an hour on it. Instead of wasting that time deciding where to start, just start somewhere. It’s better to do something than nothing. Afterwards, make a list of what you were able to accomplish. Give yourself a little reward. Dance a celebratory dance. Give yourself permission to feel great about whatever you were able to accomplish and don’t give yourself permission to think of what you didn’t get done. I love writing down in my planner how much time I spent and what I did. When I feel discouraged, I can look at it and see what I can do with any amount of time that I have.

I’m the type of person who loves lists. I like writing things down. I like checking things off. I can go too far sometimes. I can get so uptight about things that I fall off the wagon so hard that I’m sure I gave myself a broken leg. Then it is tough to get back in the swing of things.I constantly have to remind myself that I have my own permission to back off!

Here are some of the many areas of my life that I am in the throes of putting in order: spiritually, fitness, family time, blogging, household maintenance and cleaning, fertility, grocery shopping, my house at large, finances, my future unveiled plans, my church calling, crafting, painting, sewing! I’m sure I’m missing some.

I am finally reaching a point where I think things are working FOR me instead of AGAINST me. I will probably share my methods at some future point. Hope it’s not too boring for you! I take requests. :)

Day 6 of 30 Days of Me

2011-10-19T20:25:00.001-04:00

Day 6 – Most Treasured Item

This is another favorite! Just with different words.

Can I say Kaelyn even though she’s not an item? She is seriously cute… She’s chinking cups with me right now and then drinking from it. Or pretending to. I’m not sure where she saw that.

I guess I can’t say Jared either then.

I have this yellow blanket I stole from. . . the linen closet when I was younger. Kaelyn shares it with me now. The edges are completely not together anymore but it’s the perfect size.

My phone just can’t stand to leave me almost ever so. . . does that make it a treasured item?

My scriptures. . . my sewing machine. . . my piano. . . my planner. . .

BTW--Good guesses on the Halloween costume but there’s no correct guess yet.

Halloween Costume preview

2011-10-18T18:35:00.001-04:00

Jared told me I needed to make Kaelyn a costume this year. I had been looking at some ideas for future years but, you know, one of them could work for this year, sure. I told Jared some ideas but when I showed him some pictures, there was one that was a definite yes. After a visit to JoAnn’s, I’m ready to create!

Anyone want to guess what she’ll be?

Corduroy Pants

2011-10-17T21:40:00.000-04:00

Kaelyn has been needing pants for a while. We have a lot of legging type pants which only look good on her with longer shirts. I like the option of short shirts as well so I needed pants that fit her that were more wide legged.

I have a lot of cotton material that will be wonderful for shirts. Or skirts. Not so much pants. As I was perusing the merchandise, I came across a pair of castaway pants from Jared. Corduroy. Perfect.

The pattern I sort of started with was drafted for a much skinnier kid than mine. Yes, she has a cloth diaper tush to cover but even without it, that pattern wouldn’t fit her. So I decided to up the some cuteness factor and make some side panels. I used the original hem. The waistband sports a flat front and an elastic back.

Kaelyn was really excited to show Jared. “Daddy! Pants!” Jared says, “Very cute! They look like my pants.” I said, “They should.” But I am quite pleased that he likes them. I kinda thought that he’d think the little bit of gathering on the sides was weird.

Survey Time!

2011-10-16T22:27:00.000-04:00

I just want to ask a huge favor for anyone who reads this. I’ve created a really short survey of five questions that I’d really appreciate it if you could answer them. I’ve been thinking of my future and where I’d like to head and the different paths I could take. And wondering which ones are probably bad ideas. If you, my dear reader Fritz, would be willing to take just a few minutes of your time to answer these questions for me, I’d surely appreciate it!

I set this up via Google Forms. Nobody will see your answers besides me. Please be honest but tactful! Love to all!

Three Tiers for the Kitchen

2011-10-15T21:29:00.001-04:00

This project took 10 minutes. Maybe only five. I didn’t actually time it.

More empty space in the kitchen. I’ve been thinking of what to do for a really long time. Since the tile goes all the way up the wall, I didn’t want to deal with installing shelves. I settled on this. As soon as I decided, I had to do it right away.

Yeah, totally didn’t work out for me. I bought the baskets (Bed, Bath, & Beyond), came home, discovered it doesn’t come with hardware. The next day or two took me to the grocery store for regular shopping. Stopped by the hardware section and got a ceiling hook, got home, discovered it was missing a piece. No problem… I guess. The hardware store will have one. I never made it to a hardware store. I finally picked up a hook somewhere else for pretty cheap a few days ago.

Super easy project though. If you have everything. Drill into the ceiling (drilling up is not my favorite). Install anchor (if necessary) and hook. Hang baskets. Fill. Admire!

In my baskets I have cloths meant for dusting and washing windows. Next down is wash cloths for dishes, counters, etc. The bottom basket holds hand towels. All my non-white ones are in the wash.

My absolutely favorite part of this project was that I didn’t tell Jared. AND HE NOTICED!!! AND LIKED IT!!! And then asked why I didn’t put one on the other side of the window.

Pumpkin Cookies

2011-10-14T21:40:00.001-04:00

Food group was yesterday. The theme was Halloween: Your Interpretation. There was a record number of people in attendance: two (four if you count the kids).

I decided that afternoon what to make. Good thing I had frozen pumpkin puree that I made last year or else I’m not sure what I would have done!

I found this recipe on Pinterest. You can find the recipe here.

These cookies are so delicious. I forgot to add the chocolate chips on the first two cookie sheets but you know what… they still taste good! They are very soft. Kaelyn called them muffins at first. I didn’t make the icing but it’s pretty much cream cheese frosting. And I had some leftover cream cheese frosting from these cupcakes so I pulled that out. It’s almost a little too sweet with the frosting. Yummy cookies! Go make them!

Halloween Bats

2011-10-13T21:12:00.000-04:00

Look out! There’s bats!

I didn’t put up as many as last year.

But I love them just the same.

I had a helper.

She did a pretty good job.

Don’t you think?

Fall Leaves

2011-10-12T21:18:00.000-04:00

Kaelyn and I went for a walk yesterday. We picked up some beautiful fall leaves. My youngest sister also brought me some earlier in the week.

I spent some time during Kaelyn’s nap today prepping these leaves for decorating.

Materials Needed:

beautiful fall leaves
mod podge (I used matte finish but whatever you want)
brush (I used a small brush intended for watercolors or something like that)

Using your brush, paint mod podge on one side of your leave. Above is one partially painted. It will look like Elmers glue when you paint it on. You’ll know what the mod podge is dry because it doesn’t look like that anymore.

Here is a leaf partially dry. It doesn’t take too long. You don’t need a thick layer of mod podge on your leaves. When one side is dry, mod podge the back.

You know how leaves get crunchy as they dry out? Once you mod podge them, you can fold them like that! I don’t plan on doing that, but just so you know…

I wasn’t expecting this benefit of mod podging them, but it helped make the colors more vibrant like when they were on the trees. Aren’t they beautiful!

Family Room Stripes

2011-10-11T22:34:00.001-04:00

I painted the family room in August. I had purchased two tints of paint at the same time which I touched on in this post. I haven’t taken pictures because besides the paint, I’m still not happy with this room. Small steps… I know.

Another small step was taken yesterday and today when I taped the walls and then painted. It looks great! Just wait till I show you the pictures.

How to Paint Stripes

Materials needed:

leveler
marking device (I started with pencil but moved to chalk because it’s easier to erase if necessary)
painters tape (masking tape does not equal painters tape – take the time to find your painters tape or go and buy some)
paint
paint brush

First. Decide how many stripes you want and how wide (long?) they should be. I made mine 9” except for the very top and bottom stripes. I don’t have a picture of why but I didn’t do stripes on the whole wall. There is an opening to the craft/dining room and then a small portion of wall that wasn’t painted with the stripes. I started the lines at the top of opening so the lines didn’t look weird. It makes sense… I promise.

Second. You mark where your lines go. I did this by marking where I wanted the first line for about a foot. Then I used the level to mark it the rest of the way across the wall. I did it this way because our ceiling is not straight. If I had measured down from the ceiling the whole way across, I would have ended up with crooked lines.

Third. Place your painters tape along the lines. Make sure you do them on the right side of the lines. The first line will be on top of your marks. The second line of tape will be on the bottom of your marks. Repeat. When you’re done taping, your stripes will look uneven but we’re only painting every other stripes so it’s okay. Also tape where your stripes begin and end.

Fourth. This step is optional but I took my wall color (the lovely light gray) and painted where the tape met the wall on the inside of the stripes I would be painting. If any paint seeps under the tape, it will be the original wall color and not your stripe color.

Fifth. If you did step four, wait for it to dry completely. Then paint with your stripes color.

Sixth. Repeat step five unless you don’t see a need for a second coat of paint.

Seventh. Remove the tape before the paint dries. The paint is less likely to pull off or flake that way.

Eighth. Step back and admire. Don’t ask your husband how it looks because he’ll only say that he doesn’t dislike it and you will be sad that he didn’t just say that he liked it.

Above: Wall with just tape (no, I didn’t tape the thermostat, just painted around it)

Above: First coat of paint done and still drying.

Shadow with typical Asian greeting. This wall is HARD to photograph well!

Second coat done and tape is off. It looks so good!

A second picture because I just couldn’t resist.

After stenciling my living room wall, I wasn’t sure if I could like something as simple as stripes. But when I had the idea over the summer, I was pretty much sold on it. I totally love it now that the stripes are painted! Stripes are definitely easier to paint but it is just as big of an impact as the stencil.

The Stripes Are Up

2011-10-10T22:35:00.001-04:00

Item #4: Tape stripes in family room. Done! I will be painting it tomorrow during Kaelyn’s nap.

It is really hard to take pictures of light tape in a light colored room. But the pictures were worse when the sun was shining.

I can’t wait to show you the final look tomorrow! I am pretty certain that I am going to love it.

The Week Ahead

2011-10-09T21:18:00.001-04:00

I have a pretty aggressive to do list for this week. Aggressive for me, anyway, since I usually only have one or two things that I REALLY want to get done on top of my normal every day stuff.

1. Collect leaves. There are some trees that are starting to turn some beautiful colors around here. Our trees aren’t one of them yet but I want to decorate with them a little bit.

2. Put up my bats. I love my bats! I don’t know if I want to put them in the same place as last year or somewhere different. I definitely want to get them up though.

3. Sand the end table for my sister. I think she will really like it when I paint it and everything but for this week, I want to at least get it sanded down. (Probably a really light sand only.)

4. Tape stripes in my family room. Eventually, I’ll paint and it will probably happen this week because if I don’t, my darling dear daughter will take the tape off the walls.

5. Write a thank you note. One the second Sunday of each month, we allow one of the young women to teach the lesson at church. My one single Mia Maid volunteered and she did a great job.

6. Mail Jonathan’s letter. My brother has been on his mission for 18 months. This is the third letter I have written him.

The Tale of the Regency Dress

2011-10-08T16:56:00.000-04:00

August 2010: My mom asks if I would make her a regency-style dress for this thing she performs at with her recorder group. Event is in early October. I said yes.

September 2010: We get all the materials needed. I have two weeks to make this dress and coat.

First week of work: I get the bodice and sleeves done. This includes lining. I worked on it almost exclusively after Kaelyn went to bed.

October 2010 – a day or two before General Conference week: Mom tries on the bodice of the dress. It doesn’t fit despite my numerous measurements. Mom says it’s okay. She’ll just wear the coat over it with the dress unlaced. No one will know.

The Next Day: I wake up, dried off the tears, and went back to work. Luckily, I had extra material.

General Conference Weekend: We go to Nana & Papa’s place for the whole weekend instead of just Sunday. I hole myself up in the sewing room and leave Kaelyn to… everyone else. Luckily, there was a TV so I could still listen to conference. Kimmi and sometimes Lindey helped (there were several parts that required hand stitching). I resew the bodice the first day and Mom tries it on. I didn’t tell her that I started from scratch because she didn’t want to make me do extra work. I just couldn’t live with not doing something right. Day two was mostly sewing the skirt and attaching it to the bodice. And then adding trim.

The Final Week: I finish the dress. My dad stays the night once so we could take him to the airport and I have him attach the eyelets. I start the coat. I almost finish the coat. I really do almost finish the coat. But despite how long I worked on that thing, I couldn’t only make it to almost. Mom took the dress and was able to wear it anyway.

Fast Forward to June 2011: I tell Mom I need her dress so I can make sure to put the hem of the coat in the right place.

July 2011: I remind Mom that I need her dress so I can hem the coat.

August 2011: I may or may not have reminded Mom and also told a sibling or two that I needed her dress in order to hem the coat.

September 2011: Success! I got the dress although I didn’t realize they left it in a plastic bag so I couldn’t find it for almost a week.

The Week Before General Conference: I hem the coat and get all the hook and eyes sewn on. Mom tries it on and everything still fits well.

The Week After General Conference: I sew all the trim on. I wash the dress. I take pictures. Mom picks it up on Thursday.

I am so pleased with how it turned out! And now is the part where you get to look at too many pictures because it was quite a success and I am happy with my work.

The dress + dress with coat. Mom picked out her fabric on her own. I gave opinions on the pattern and trim. And probably the fabric too…

The sleeve – I was so proud of myself for the thought I had of where to place the sleeve. You may not really be able to see it, but the bottom half has the bigger detail but further up the sleeve it is the smaller dots.

The hem – double layered prettiness.

The back – love the look of the crisscross then the bow. There are hook and eyes below that as well.

The back of the ruffle – I was supposed to use a stiffer material so it would stand upright. I’m so glad I just used the bottom of the dress material because I love how it ties in with the dress + it looks better on my mom with it down.

The front of the ruffle – It just looks good.

The sleeve – It slopes down and has a hook & eye enclosure. It almost feels like its missing something but there’s a charm in its simplicity.

The hem – Look! A mini train!

Here is a close up on the trim. We used the same trim in different colors and every single piece of it had to be hand sewn.

And last of all, here’s my mom in it! Isn’t it quite lovely on her? I’m glad she took a picture (although I may have made a mini demand to get one). The fabric and colors is so my mom. And it fits her! I love it and was so glad to be able to make something just for her that no one else has. And hey, something else gets crossed off on my list for the year. Bonus!

Day 5 of 30 Days of Me

2011-10-07T20:23:00.001-04:00

Day 5 - Favorite Quote

This looks like it’s the last of the favorites! I’ll keep this one shorter than I have in the past.

One of my favorite quotes right now is on the cover of my planner. I shall blog about my planner one day. It says:

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. –Henry David Thoreau

Other favorite quotes…

We become what we want to be by consistently being what we want to become. –Richard G. Scott

Live your life on purpose.

Make today ridiculously amazing.

If you wait too long for the perfect moment, the perfect moment will pass you by.

Homemade Cloth Diaper Detergent

2011-10-06T20:07:00.000-04:00

The Why

I used the last of my cloth diaper detergent this week. Instead of purchasing more, I decided to make more. I did some research on the web and it was really quite basic research. I very quickly became aware that everyone had different opinions. I figured that if I continued to research, I would just find more of the same differing opinions.

Most recipes contained three ingredients: Fels Naptha (laundry bar soap), washing soda, and borax. Some people found the borax too abrasive for their kids bum. Also, the Fels Naptha can cause build up on your diapers which means you need to strip them more frequently. No, thank you. Too much work!

I decided to use baking soda, washing soda, and OxiClean. I had all the ingredients (except it took me a while to locate the baking soda). And they are all good. OxiClean Free has no dyes, perfumes, or phosphates. Washing soda is deemed nontoxic and baking soda… well, we cook with it, don’t we? It was easy peasy. I even took pictures.

The Tutorial

1. Gather your ingredients. Washing soda and OxiClean can be found in the laundry section of your grocery store. Baking soda is in the baking aisle.

2. Pour all your ingredients in a container. I used one cup of each.

3. Mix together. I left this scoop in there. I got it from Rockin Green. It has a tablespoon on one side and a teaspoon on the other.

4. Put lid on and label. For ease of remember, I also wrote how to make it. Super easy.

The Cost comparison

Rockin Green: $15.95 for 45 oz. I used 1 1/2 Tbsp per load so that is about 60 loads. $0.27 per load.

Homemade Detergent

Baking soda: $4.18 for 64 oz. I used 8 oz so that is $0.52.

Washing soda: $2.50 for 55 oz. I used 8 oz so that is $0.36.

OxiClean Free: $6.50 for 65 oz. I used 8 oz so that is $0.80.

Total cost: $1.68 for 24 oz. If I continue to use 1 1/2 Tbsp per load that is 32 loads. $0.05 per load.

Whoa. Okay. I wasn’t expecting that big of a savings. $0.22 per load savings!!

Right now I wash diapers three times a week. In one month I’m saving $2.64 (3*4 washes). That’s a savings of $34.32 per year (3*52 washes)!!!

The Conclusion

I can’t really say that I’d do it for the environmentally friendly aspect of it all. Rockin Green was really quite good. No phosphates, no dyes, you didn’t have to have fragrances but if you did, it all washes out so it’s really just for you to stick your nose in your laundry detergent and smell something pretty. Homemade detergent is great.

One cost I didn’t factor in is that I can buy all the ingredients for the homemade detergent at my regular grocery store. It doesn’t take an extra trip. Rockin Green I had to drive somewhere special or order it online and pay shipping. That just makes Rockin Green more expensive and therefore the savings is higher to switch to homemade detergent.

One test left to go. Do the diapers like it? I won’t know for at least a few weeks or even a month from now to get a really good idea. But I’ll be sure to let you know.

Pocket Frog Cupcakes

2011-10-05T21:33:00.000-04:00

We continued our birthday celebrations that we started a year ago. You know, actually celebrating everyone’s birthdays. We kinda failed on Josh’s and totally bombed on my parents (which my mom usually doesn’t mind). We plan on changing that this go around.

The story of Valerie’s dessert started way back in March/April. I was trying to think of what to do for Jamie’s dessert. My mom found these fun cupcakes that were froggy heads. You know, marshmallow for the eyes, green frosting, stuff like that. Cute but didn’t seem right for Jamie. We decided they’d be PERFECT for Valerie. This was right when Valerie first got addicted to Pocket Frogs. She would play on my phone any time it, she, and I were together. It’s Jamie’s fault.

Anyway.

I did the cupcakes my way. I followed an idea I think I got from Our Best Bites. I went for easy and used a box cake mix (white) and then put mini Reese’s peanut butter cups in the middle of the batter. I made cream cheese frosting (maybe one day I’ll make another kind but I really love cream cheese frosting). Some got colored. They were soooo good. So good!

For the eyes, I used mini chocolate chips with the pointy side down. The first one I put pointy side up and it didn’t look right.

I would make cupcakes with peanut butter cups in the middle any day. They were so good. And there ended up being a couple extra so I ate a few on the way home!

No, they don’t look like frogs, but if you know the Pocket Frogs, you’ll get the patterns.

These were fun to frost – I made Jared watch Kaelyn.

I didn’t want to stretch my artistry too much so I didn’t do the more difficult patterns.

Sorry the pictures aren’t that great. It was dark outside and I didn’t have great lighting.

Valerie loved them once she realized what they were. I’m super insulted… she got stuck on the one that looks like an eye and started thinking illuminati. As if. Whateves. Most everyone else loved them instantly.

Does Daddy sleep?

2011-10-04T20:21:00.001-04:00

Kaelyn (looking out the window): It's car. Where's Daddy?
Me: He's upstairs.
Kaelyn: Oh. He sleeping on the bed?
Me: No.
Kaelyn: He sleeping on MY bed?
Me: No, he's on the computer.
Kaelyn: (insert unintelligible sentences) sleeping on the couch?

Apparently all Daddy does is sleep.

(He wasn't in bed until after we came upstairs.)

Future Projects

2011-10-03T23:14:00.000-04:00

Check it out! I have some MORE projects in my pipe line. Hahaha. Because I didn’t have enough. I thrive on having more than enough to do!

I am loving the detail and handles on this first project. Picked it up from my grandparents yesterday! It will be a few weeks before I get to this makeover.

This little table isn’t for me but my oldest sister. I’ll get to that next week hopefully!

And this is my current project that HAS to be done by Friday. Yes, that is a needle for hand sewing. Time consuming but worth it. Good luck to me!

General Conference again

2011-10-02T20:15:00.001-04:00

I don't remember my alarm going off this morning. Oh well. I still made cinnamon rolls this morning. We left for my grandparents place when they were ready for their second rise. Baked fresh with glaze if they wanted, the cinnamon rolls were gobbled up quick. The best site for the cook!

General Conference wasn't as chaotic as I thought it would be with all my family there. Awesome speakers, awesome company, awesome food!!

My grandma had an unused desk that she gave to us so we took it apart so it was in two pieces and put it in our van. Yay! A bigger and better desk. Thank you, Nana.

Kaelyn had a blast with her cousins. She got to take a nap on Grandpa. Now she is telling Nana that she saw a cat and they say meow. And that got her started on a whole slew of sentences.

Today in My Life

2011-10-01T19:42:00.000-04:00

I don’t often talk about my whole day, just bits and pieces of it here. Face it, you don’t care or need to know the details of my whole day—any of my days. But since I’m not gracing your screen with pictures of today’s pancake art (because there are none to share) I will oblige… myself.

Kaelyn slept until 8:45am! Good thing too because she woke up far too many times throughout the night. First she lost her pacifier. Then she lost it again. Then she needed milk. Then she had two pacifiers and that was a problem. Then she lost her pacifier again so I tried to clip it on her. Bad idea because then I was up because she absolutely did not want anything attached to her pacifier.

By the time we were all awake and what not, I headed off to the gym sans Kaelyn. It was not as early as I had hoped so I only had time for my workout and no steam “bath” afterwards. When I made my plan, I typed it up and then wrote each week on my calendar. Then I wrote the running portion plan on index cards. One card for each week so there are three columns. There was room for me to make any notes I wanted. Now I can take the card into the gym with me and not have to remember what I need to do that day. Today’s said “run for 2 1/2 – 3 or walk 3 + run 2 for 35 mins”. I definitely did a combination of both. I walked 3 minutes then ran to 1 mile. Walked 2 minutes then ran to 1.5 miles. Then the remaining time which was something like 10 or 15 minutes, I walked 3 minutes, ran 2 minutes. Then the 5 minute cooldown. My total distance was 3.01 miles in 40 minutes. I did my stretches and bolted for home so I could be in time for General Conference.

General Conference is one of my favorite weekends of the year. What could be better than being gathered together with thousands of other church members to listen and learn what the Lord chose for us to hear? The Relief Society broadcast last Saturday was amazing as well. I’ve been preparing for this weekend for a while now. Since it only happens twice a year, I wanted to be able to make the most of it.

My last notebook was getting filled up so I decided to get another one. Nothing fancy, nothing big. I searched the pen section of the store for extra fine pens with different color inks. Blue for event name and date as well as the name of the speaker. Green for scripture references, links, questions. Red for action items. Black for everything else.

I have to admit that I had to fight to stay awake that last hour. Because I had pushed my heart rate this morning, I knew I would want to crash this afternoon.

I cut Jared’s hair in between sessions. Every time I cut it we say “we need to do this more frequently” and then we don’t.

Jared had me taste the yummy pulled pork he was cooking. It was good but I added more bbq sauce and it was awesome. He left us some while he headed off to Priesthood session and the potluck they were having. Kaelyn and I promptly had some on a whole wheat hamburger bun. Let me tell you, these are delicious. They have all great ingredients, no high fructose corn syrup or anything like that. Kaelyn also had some whole wheat bagel which I hadn’t tried yet until tonight and yes, they are delicious too.

The cute Kaelyn story of the day: when I Am a Child of God was sung, Kaelyn sang almost every word. So precious. I pray that one day she understands what she is singing and knows in her heart that it is true.

Day 4 of 30 Days of Me

2011-09-30T21:35:00.001-04:00

Day 4--Favorite Book

Sunshine by Robin McKinley
Deerskin by Robin McKinley
Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley
Spindles End by Robin McKinley
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Poison Study series by Maria V. Snyder
Spy Glass series b Maria V. Snyder
The Book of Mormon by God
The Harper Hall series by Anne McCaffrey
Chalice by Robin McKinley
Enchantment by Orson Scott Card
Go, Dog, Go by Dr. Seuss
Our Best Bites (a cookbook)
Abhorsen series by Garth Nix
Alanna series by Tamora Pierce
A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond
Nutcracker by ETA Hoffman
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis
Make Way for Ducklings by Robert
McCloskey
The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey

This list is getting ridiculously long. Books are by far my favorite of all favorites, don't you think?

If you love books or if you'd like to read more, you should sign onto Goodreads. I love reading reviews that my friends have written and getting ideas on what to read next (and that list is way long).

Poetry, anyone?

2011-09-29T21:46:00.001-04:00

Happy are all my days

Though the skies are all grey

When I get in the car

And start to see stars

A smile jumps to my face

While my heart starts to race

You're my favorite performer

My very own seat warmer

On the way home, I asked Jared what I should blog about tonight. "Butt warmers." I cannot deny that I was waxing eloquently about them while waiting to pick up Kaelyn.

Day 3 of 30 Days of Me

2011-09-28T21:52:00.002-04:00

Day 3: Favorite Television Show

I honestly never used to care about what was on TV. This is probably due to the fact that we didn't have TV growing up. We watched movies. TV was for vacation. Maybe. You know, Sesame Street and Reading Rainbow (in our teens even). In college, I couldn't believe how many fellow students watched their shows or had several seasons of whatever.

It wasn't until I was married that I started to watch any sort of TV. We watched American Idol with my sister-in-law. And we occasionally watched Dancing With The Stars. Still not that much. Oh yeah, Lost was in there somewhere but I stopped watching it when it wasn't going anywhere and it was the same stupid stuff over and over again.

Then earlier this year, Kaelyn was having a really cranky period and wanted to be held all the time. So I watched Hulu. And I watched tons of episodes of random shows. And I really started liking some shows. Now we have cable and a DVR. Some shows I watch on my own. Some with Jared.

Psych--too hilarious. We can't wait for the next season to start.
Castle--I got Jared hooked on this one.
Rizzoli & Isles--I started watching this show because of Isles. I wanted to know if I'd like her here because I didn't like her on NCIS. (Interestingly, her character, Kate, is who my mom says I am most like on NCIS.)
NCIS--I started watching because of my mom.
NCIS: Los Angeles--I wouldn't say we watch it religiously but we do record it and watch it. So more of a favorite than some shows and less of a favorite than others.
What Not To Wear--Jared sometimes watches this with me. This is the only fashion show I watch because it is actually something I can apply.
Bones--When I first watched this show, I didn't like it. Then I saw an episode that I liked. And now I like it.
Dancing With The Stars--Most of the time I have no idea who the celebrities are. But we still enjoy the show.
Warehouse 13--My father-in-law said once that he liked to watch this show. Having never seen it, I looked it up. Watched whatever episodes were on Hulu. And then kept watching it.
Heroes--We were really really sad when it was canceled.
The Pretender--Jared and I watched all the seasons and movies way back when. I wish they had done the final movie and finished the story line.

As always, I'm probably missing a few that I just can't bring to mind right now. They must not be high on my list of favorites if I can't think of them though!

Under Shelf Organizer

2011-09-27T21:34:00.001-04:00

Those who are {still} friends with me on Facebook know that my mini project for the kitchen was thwarted yesterday. I was even commended for using the word thwarted.

My project remains thwarted today.

So I completed another project instead.

And I am happy.

This is what one cupboard started like. It's an odd angle because I'm showing the mugs into the back corner of this odd-shaped cabinet.

This is another cupboard. Earlier in the year I had rearranged cupboards and gotten the corner shelf for the dishes. What that meant is that I had to remove the second shelf. I hated all that extra and wasted space above the cups but what are you gonna do, you know?

Enter the undershelf organizer basket. I got it from Meijers and it cost under $10. I'm being lazy and not checking the actual price. I totally was hoping that it would fit. Edit: It cost $6.19.

It does and it's awesome! I moved Kaelyn's dishes (and cups and bottles) into the basket and moved some of those mugs with the cups. Back where they belong. Sigh of relief, everyone. Sigh!

The odd shaped cupboard. Empty space! And yes... a lone mug.

And a few more mugs. We have 11 mugs. I am tempted to get rid of some of them except we actually use all of them when we have family over in the winter and we have hot chocolate or tea.

Simplifying Works

2011-09-26T21:52:00.001-04:00

I just finished a friend purge on Facebook. What I thought would only be 2 or 3 people ended up being nearly 40 people that I unfriended.

I have learned over the years that it is best to surround yourself with people who have qualities that you want to emulate, have similar standards, and will support you when you need it. Today I realized that there were a few people whose statuses were almost always negative. Why would I want to choose to be surrounded by that? I don't want my time to be wasted by reading yet another status about how their life sucks or they don't want to be awake ever or rants with swear words on other people being idiots. So I got rid of them. I also got rid of some never-on people.

It got me thinking about how just that little act (which actually took a lot longer than it should have because my laptop sometimes likes to go in super slow motion like an action movie with epic fighting except not as cool) is simplifying my life. An even better way to simplify would be to delete Facebook but you know that's not in any way realistic.

Sometimes you evaluate your life and add a few goals that may be kinda big but you feel good about going down that path at the stage in your life. That was me a few months ago. In order to work on those goals, I have to get my life in order and simplify where I can. I am learning that sometimes it takes extra work to get things to be simplified. Seems a little backwards but don't we all know the saying that it always gets worse before it gets better.

The book that I am currently reading (one of the books...) is titled "Organic Housekeeping" and it's by Ellen Sandbeck. In the introduction, Ellen talks about how she really is an organic farmer and it's kind of a fluke that she's writing a book about housekeeping. She introduces the concept of your home being an ecosystem and that you can have a home that is low-maintenance and as self-sufficient as possible.

There are some problems I am having with housework that I was thinking up some solutions to solve these problems. This book helped with that. It also made me think deeper on issues that I had only scratched the surface of. It made me evaluate where I am vs where I want to be.

Now, I don't want you to think that the easy way to simplify housecleaning is to not do it. That would be a big mistake for several reasons. You're more likely to get sick. If you're not organized, you waste time, energy, and money looking for or replacing items you can't find. When you eventually do clean, it is a day or week or month long affair because it's been so long since anything has been done.

Housekeeping isn't the only thing that could be simplified. How many books or toys do your children have? How many clothes are hung in the closet, folded in the drawers, and still there are piles around the room? Do we have a lot of seasonal decorations? Are there things we haven't touched in the last year that is just taking up space?

It's not even all about how much stuff we may have. Do you have a place for wash cloths? How are your cleaning supplies organized? Are they easy to get to and grab what you need for whatever job you're doing? Do you have visitors and you're a shoes-off household and you need some place to keep their shoes and coats and purses?

Simplifying your life is making things work for you. Since we all live in different places with different people, not all solutions are a one-size fits all. If you try something and it doesn't seem to be working out, don't give up! If it is making your life more complicated and harder, I have absolute confidence that there is a solution somewhere that would ease that difficulty and it would be easy to maintain.

And what do we do after we simplify? Enjoy life! Live your dreams. Play with our children. Try new things. Go on a date.

I'm really not sure what I intended on writing when I started this but it sure wasn't what it ended up being. Someone must need it.

Pinterest #5

2011-09-25T21:00:00.002-04:00

Good guesses on which movie I own! Valerie (who probably knows everything we have) got it right with Muppet's Christmas Carol.

One thing I haven't talked a lot about lately is my workout routine. I might not've said anything since last Thanksgiving when I ran a 5K with some family members. My mom has kept up on running on and off since then. I have kept up more off than on. :-\ But I did turn my workout more to strength training so that was part of it.

Recently I joined a gym and have really been loving it. I got a few free personal training sessions which I really loved. Mostly I have taken group fitness classes. Now it's time for me to develop a better workout plan instead of just doing something each day. One thing that I'm going to include is running again. My family is considering running a 5 miler on Thanksgiving this year. It's a little daunting to be facing that in two months but I think it's very doable. So look for more information on how that's going!

Where is this going on a Pinterest day? I have a board that I keep pictures that inspire and encourage me in the world of fitness. This is important for anyone but the reason it is really important to me is because I can't track progress by a number on a scale. It's easy to think I'm not getting anywhere but if I look at other markers, I feel motivated to keep it up.

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I don't know if I'll ever do what it takes to lower my body fat percentage enough to show abs like that, but wouldn't it be cool?

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I definitely notice this quote as being true. I never feel physically blah on a day that I go. Even when I'm sore, I feel empowered and capable of doing great things.

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Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself. Another quote I like is "you are what you eat". You are what you do. And if you're fine with what you do, that's great. But if you want to be somewhere and you aren't doing anything to get there, then you will never get there.

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I have been in a few core classes now where we've done elevated pushups. Not nearly this elevated but they are hard! I'd like to be able to do them better.

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And lastly, I love going to yoga once a week. We don't do anything like this in the class I attend but one day maybe I will increase my level of skill to be able to do something close to this.