My class

I forgot to post about the woodworking class I'm taking. So, I'm taking a woodworking class! How exciting, huh? We meet once a week for 2 1/2 hours. It's pretty basic, and I was surprised that I know most of what is being taught. I guess trial and error makes a good teacher. We get to learn about all sorts of tools and what can be done with them. And we get to make something. I am making a bedside table. I get a little impatient at class because we have to be helped while making cuts and using the tools. I would rather just go for it and make my table. But I guess I am learning the "proper" way to do things. The only problem with the "proper" way is that you need all of the proper tools. I don't have, nor can I afford, the proper tools. So I will continue making furniture the way I can with my limited tool collection. And as long as it is functional and looks alright, that's fine with me! I will post pictures of my finished project when it is complete.

Organization

I love to organize! I like my closets to be nice and neat. It's not enough for things to be in their proper place; I like them in containers in their proper place. Even if a closet is all organized, if the stuff is just sitting on the shelves and not in containers of some sort, it just isn't the ideal for me. I know, I'm crazy! I have been organizing this week. I finished cleaning out the closet under the stairs and it looks great. I also reorganized our DVD's and got out our surround sound system that has been sitting in a box for a year and a half. I reorganized the children's closets. I started filing all of the papers that have been collecting in drawers and cupboards for a year. (Haven't had a filing cabinet and just barely got one.) I thought I was organized, but I did all this and now I feel organized. Of course, there are still a few more closets and cupboards to go before everything has a proper place (in a proper container of course!)

Trip down memory lane

Today I have been busy cleaning out the closet under the stairs. What a mess! This is the place that I throw everything that doesn't have a place to go. And really, I just throw it in and shut the door! As I was wading through the chaos of everything micellaneous I opened a plastic bin and found my old yearbooks. I decided to take a break and look through them. Whew! Can I just say that I am so glad that high school is not the determining factor of what we become in this life?! As I glanced through the pages I had mixed feelings. Yes, I had great friends and had lots of fun with them. I was good at school and always got good grades. I wasn't picked on or tortured. I wasn't popular. I was just there. And I realized, that for the most part, my highschool years were just awkward. Blah! So looking through the pictures just made me realize how awkward I was, how awkward I acted, and how awkward I felt.

I was shy and quiet and could never really think of anything to say. I had crushes on boys but I never dared talked to them. I wish now that I had. I mean really, I had nothing to lose. I wish that I had relaxed more and not worried so much about "fitting in", whatever that means. I wish that I hadn't been so intimidated by everything. I wish that I would have been a lot more bold and daring and tried new things. I wish that I had been more assertive. I wish that I had not acted like I thought people expected me to act. I think people saw me as introverted and forgettable, but maybe they didn't. Who knows? I feel so very different from the person I was in highschool. Thank goodness! I have come a long way and have changed so much. I think people would be surprised. I haven't seen anyone (except for a handful of people) from highschool since we graduated. I actually look forward to my highschool reunion (if we ever have one) because I feel like I have become the person I always wanted to be. I feel that person I was in highschool (the awkward, shy, unsure, passive person) is no more. I am me now. I am confident and comfortable in who I am. I feel like I can do all those things I wanted to do that I never did do because I just wasn't confident enough. (Okay, awkward sentence. I am still a little awkward!)

I don't know where this whole thing is going. I guess I just wanted to say that I am glad that I am who I am today. I'm glad that I was able to change the things I didn't like and overcome my fears and insecurities. I wish that I had been able to do it all in highschool, but at least I was able to do it eventually. And really, life doesn't end after highschool!

Laundry

I wrote this about a year ago but I have yet to conquer my laundry weakness so here it is again!

If there's one thing in life I absolutely hate (well there are a few others, but we'll just talk about one today), it is laundry. For some reason I have a severe handicap when it comes to laundry. I have been married for five years and most of that time I have done my laundry somewhere besides our house. Which means I had to take all of the laundry somewhere else and do it all at once. And actually, now that I think about it, that was good for me because it meant I did the laundry and got it done since the clothes couldn't just hang out in the washer or dryer until I decided to deal with them.

I now have my own washer and dryer in my house and still, I can't seem to finish the cycle of washing clothes. I will throw a load in and forget about it and by the time I do remember it, the clothes have soured and I have to wash them again. Or I will get to the drying part and then forget about them, which sometimes results in the clothes having to be dampened and dried again in order to prevent wrinkles. The worst, however, is the final two steps of laundering. I hate folding and I hate putting the clothes away! Usually, I will put the clean clothes in the laundry basket and then just fish out of there whatever clothes I need when I need them. And overall, I just tend to forget about washing clothes all together until I have my very own Mt. Washmore. It's an awful weakness of mine. The solution is simple. Do a small load every day; not all at once! I need to keep reminding myself of this: Whites one day, darks another, the kids clothes yet another day. We'll see if I can overcome this pathetic weakness.

Our weekend

This past saturday was my hubbies company picnic. It's held every year at this mini ranch/farm place. We had so much fun! There were all sorts of fun things to do and see. The kids loved it and mom and dad had a lot of fun too! We got to see lots of cute animals like pigs and pygmy goats (I LOVE pygmy goats!) and ponies and cows and chickens. The kids got to ride on the ponies and wanted to go again and again. There were hayrides and a little train ride which was an absolute thrill for M (he LOVES trains and has been asking to ride on one for a while now). There was food, food, and more food. We really enjoyed ourselves!

M really liked this snow cone!

Little cowgirl!

Ridin' the Choo Choo train!

Feeding the soooooooooooooo cute pygmy goats! I love them!

Ridin' the ponies!

E took this picture! She's got natural talent!

And the beautiful longhorns!

DVR

I love my DVR! Can I say that loud enough? We just got one this week and I can't say enough about it. Okay, yes, it is enabling me to watch more TV, but not an insane amount. There are a few shows that I really like to watch (Lost, House, The Office, Grey's Anatomy). Oh, and some of the new shows this fall that I like are Friday Night Lights and Heroes (although it is a little graphic). But they all come on during the children's bedtime routines. So it's either hurry and put the kids down in a super rushed way, or let them stay up and hope that they don't cause too much commotion during my show. Neither one of those options was working out. I called our cable company in hopes of getting a good deal on a DVR. I was able to get the service free for three months and then it's only like $10 a month after that. I figured it was soooooo worth it. It is definitely a little luxury that I will pay for.

I have recorded shows every day now. It's so much fun to record them and watch them later because then I can fast forward through all of the commercials. I can pause my show when I need to do something else. I can watch my show more than once, because it's right there in my beautiful little DVR box. Ahhhhh. . .it's so nice. I think everyone should get a DVR. They are way too much fun!

E's Prayer

You gotta love it when little kids pray. They are so honest! Their faith is so simple I think adults could learn a lot from the faith of a child. E was praying the other day and this is what she said, "Heavenly Father, thank you for Jesus and please have Jesus come see us soon and let Him be proud of us." It was so sweet and so touching!

Some pictures from our vacation

Too Cool Tuesday!

Okay, I know, the title is a little cheesy. But it's just fun to have some theme days with cheesy names. I think this title is pretty broad, so it will probably cover just about anything that I think is cool. And here is today's super cool thing:

Yes, a dresser is super cool! Especially when you hear the history behind why I think a dresser is super cool. I have been married for five years now. I know, it's not that long, but of those five years of marriage, we have never had a dresser. I have stacked my clothes under beds, on closet shelves, in suitcases; but never in a dresser. We bought a beautiful bed that I just love, but nothing else. And so I have been on the lookout, always, for a dresser to match our bed.

Believe me, there have been plenty of dressers that I liked, but none to fit the budget. Until I found the beauty pictured above. I found this dresser on craigslist.com (an online classified listing) and was able to purchase it for $175! Wow! How great is that?! It is solid mahagony wood and it is gorgeous. And it matches my bed perfectly! I am so excited about it. I actually like to be in my bedroom now. Before, we only had the bed. And for a while we had a bunch of plastic bins stacked together to form a desk for our computer. Well, no more my friends. My bedroom is a peaceful oasis now. I love it! Too cool!

Monday Motivation

Okay, I've decided to have theme days for my blog. So today is my motivation day, or the day to decide what all I want to accomplish this week. Here we go (so far at least):

* prepare E for preschool by creating an "About Me" poster (yikes, she starts tomorrow!)
* dentist appointments for me and hubby
* reorganize all of my "office" stuff and put it all away nicely in my new computer armoire
* clean out and reorganize closets (they are currently the hiding places for everything miscellaneous)
* hmmm. . . .well, those are pretty big so we'll see what happens

Anyway, now I'm off to do all that stuff, or at least start it. I will post some pictures later of our vacation.

Where were you?

Five years ago today, my husband was taking me to school when I first heard about a plane crashing into one of the World Trade Center towers. My husband and I thought it was a tragic accident at first. He dropped me off and I went to class. After my class I headed to the computer lab to do some homework, not knowing what was happening to the rest of the country. I got a call from my husband and he briefly told me that more planes had crashed and that they were not accidents. I decided to leave school and go home. When I got home I turned on the TV and watched the news reports, in shock at what I was seeing. It was horrible and seemed so unreal.

I remember feeling so helpless and small. My husband and I were just about to start a family and I remember wondering how I could bring a child into this world when things seemed so uncertain and unsafe. That day made me realize how precious my family and friends are and how important it is to be grateful for all that I have been given. I try not to take for granted this life I have been given and the many blessings that are mine.

Let us never forget that day. Let us never forget all who died and all who bravely risked their lives to save others.

Happy Birthday Miss S

Oh goodness, my baby is turning one today! I know it's cliche, but my how time flies. I can't believe it was a year ago today that she was born. She is just so precious!

I was induced last year on this day. After a small scare (I had a seizure while they were hooking me up to the IV) the rest of the labor was actually quite nice. I handled the contractions pretty well, I think. I was dialated to a 3 when I got to the hospital and after two hours of labor I was a 6. I got on the waiting list for my epidural and was told that it might be a while before they got to me. I was a little worried that they wouldn't get to me in time! Luckily, shortly after that I was able to get my epidural and dialated from a 6 to a 10 in a half hour. Then I pushed, I think it was twice, and there she was! It was beautiful! I only had the epidural for an hour, so I'm thinking that I could have probably handled the rest of the labor without one. I don't know though, we'll have to see about it next time! Anyway, S was 7 pounds 3 ounces and 19 inches long. My smallest baby. I was able to keep her with me for two hours before they took her to the nursery. She caught on to nursing right away. All in all, it was a good day.

I'm Back!

Okay, so I had access to the internet while on my vacation, but I just didn't feel like blogging.

It's been quite a while. I was gone for, let's see, 23 days. Wow! Quite the vacation. But I had a lot of fun visiting friends and family and the place that I call "home". I don't know what it is about that place, but it's just special. Funny how a place can just feel like home. I didn't grow up in the valley that I now love. I visited it once while checking out colleges and something just felt right and I knew that I was suppose to be there. And now, since I live thousandss of miles away, whenever I get the chance to visit that valley, a wonderful peaceful feeling comes over me and I'm home.

Of course, I love my home here. In fact, the moment I walked through the door into my house after the vacation I turned around and told my husband that I just loved our house. I do love my house! I just wish it was in my beloved valley in another state! Ahhh. . .well, someday we will go back to our home. I'll just have to build this exact house there!

I haven't done much since we got home. I've just been readjusting to being here and trying to get back on schedule with everything. Tomorrow I plan to do some deep cleaning and then hopefully some organizing of my new office space.

Anyway, sorry so boring. Actually, I doubt anyone even reads this anymore, not that anyone ever did read it. I promise to write more now that my life has returned to normal.

My computer has a new home!

So it's a few days later than I thought, but I am finally posting my finished computer armoire. Of course, the whole project took longer than I thought. But then, I've never done this before so it's pretty much a given that it will take longer. I have decided that there will be no more furniture building during the summer. It's too flipping hot to work out in the garage! Luckily, we have mild winters here so that is when my furniture making will happen. My next project is an entry table. But that will be happening in October or November. Anyway, gotta run and get ready for our upcoming trip. Very exciting!

Snuggle Buggle: Little S

Okay, so no posts for two weeks and now two in a row! I just thought I would share a little bit about my baby girl S. She is the cutest thing! I realize that all mothers think their babies are the cutest and most wonderful, but really, my S is the sweetest. From day one she has been the happiest little thing. Right after I had her and I held her in my arms for the first time I knew that she would be a little sweetheart. She looked at me for the first time and I knew that she knew me even though she was looking at me for the first time with her big beautiful eyes.

She pretty much slept through the night from day one. She hardly ever cried. She would fuss a little, but never really cry. She still hardly cries. She is just a joy to be around. I can't believe that she will be turning one next month. The time has flown and I've have enjoyed every bit of it! S is my snuggly. She loves to snuggle up against my shoulder or arm. It just melts my heart when she snuggles with me. She usually has a smile on her face. I love to hear her laugh. I really am not exaggerating when I say what an easy and joyful child she is. She is just a happy girl! I am so grateful for this little blessing in my life. She makes me happy and can always help me see the good. I love her so much!

Sigh. . .

I was doing so good at posting! Well, it's been what, two weeks now. Good grief. I feel like I have been going nonstop for the past two weeks. There's always some project to work on, something to clean, something to cook, always something. Anyway, I have finished my computer armoire. Yes, you heard right. It only took me way, way, longer than I expected, but it is now finished. I threw my back out trying to lift it today. Not fun! So I spent the rest of the day laying flat on my back trying not to move. Grrrrr! I hope to get the armoire in the house from the garage at some point tonight. Hopefully my husband can figure it out because I will be no help. I will take pictures when it is all in place and post them so you can see what has been consuming way too much of my time! Alrighty then. I'm off to do more somethings!

Good night!

Much to do, not enough time

I wanted to write more today, but there is no time. I have done pretty well with my list of projects for the week. I am just now finishing up the anniversary dvd. My armoire is close to being done. I really, really want it done by tomorrow. If I have a few good, uninterrupted hours to work on it, it will be done! Wahoo! I have so many things I want to write about right now, but I just can't! I need to get back to work.

More coming in the near future! Have a fabulous weekend!

A few of my favorite things. . .

Okay, here's just one of my favorite things. I decided it would be fun to write about things that I just love; simple little things and I will post about my favorite things once a week. For now I'll do it Wednesdays.

Anyway, today's favorite thing is homemade strawberry jam. YUM!!! I just made some the other day and it is on my favorite things list because of two very important reasons.

One: it is sooooo easy to make (the freezer kind anyway).
Two: it is sooooo yummy!

I only had enough strawberries to make two little containers full. So I went to the store and got more strawberries to make more jam. Then I got home and realized I was out of sugar. Who runs out of sugar? Really? I don't know how I ran out and didn't realize it. Anyway, so I need to get more sugar to make more yummy strawberry jam. My husband won't stop eating it!

Projects for the week

Okay, I have a lovely list of things I would like to accomplish this week. And hopefully I can check them off my list because I actually accomplish them!

Here they are:

- Finish building computer armoire

- continue my weeding saga

- make more strawberry jam

- make our annual picture movie for my anniversary this Friday

Ahhhhh. . .it seems like a lot and it is. However, I could make things a lot easier on myself if I would just manage my time better. I'm really good at planning when to do something and how to go about doing it. But it never works out that way. I have no balance! I start getting into something and then I just go and go and go! Which is beneficial in some regards because I feel good about doing something and sticking to it. But then I realize all of the other things I needed to do that just didn't get done because I was focused, too focused on something else. For instance, I had a plan about how to tackle my weeding. Well, I started weeding and then I just kept going and going because it felt good to tackle the mess and I wanted to see the finished result. I did finish one big area of our yard, but I didn't get to much else that day because I was so tired from all the weeding. Oh well, slowly but surely, I'll figure out how to manage my time better.

Anyway, there is my planned week of projects. And yet here I sit, enjoying my computer. Enough, I must get off and get something done so that I can cross something off my list. There's nothing like crossing something off your list. I use to have lists just so I could cross things off. And if I hadn't crossed very many things off, I would add things to the list that I had already done just so they would be on my list and I could cross them off! Whew! I will be back tomorrow to report my progress.

Am I a Christian?

It almost seems like an absurd question! My answer to that question would be a resounding YES!!! I have never thought of myself as anything else. Today I was reading out in the blogosphere when I ran across some comments about Christians. There was a woman who was hesitant to read a book by a certain author because she thought the author might be a mormon and she certainly didn't want to take advice from a nonchristian. I was slightly puzzled by this because by all acounts and purposes I believe mormons to be Christians. And so I started doing some more research and reading more opinions on the topic. (Believe me, it took up a good part of my day!)

My intent is not to open up a religious debate, I simply want to express my beliefs about being a Christian. I was born and raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have a firm testimony in this gospel and a belief in my Savior Jesus Christ. So for someone to say that they consider those of my faith not Christian, causes a bit of confusion on my behalf. But I suppose it all boils down to what a person believes a Christian to be. To me, a Christian is someone who believes in Jesus Christ; believes that He is our Savior and has atoned for our sins so that we might live with Him again. A Christian is someone who strives to follow the perfect example of Christ; they strive to love as He did, to serve others as He did, to see others as He does. That is what I have always believed Christians to be. I realize that there are different perceptions of what a Christian is, but I believe the basic truth is that a Christian is someone who believes in Christ and strives to follow His example.

After reading quite a lengthy discussion on this subject on another blog, I have learned a little bit about what those of other faiths think about members belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I admit that I have lived a somewhat sheltered life and mostly among those of my faith. But I have had experience living where I have been the minority in my faith. I didn't realize that there are people in other religions so concerned with our ("our" being members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) salvation. It was so interesting to gain a different perspective. I value the friendships and associations I have with people not of my faith. And I have learned so much from other Christian people. I think it sad that there are some who don't want to associate with people of my faith. There are good people everywhere and I believe we can learn a lot from people regardless of their religious beliefs.