Service

It seems like for quite a while, our family has been praying to find others around us that could use our service.  It got to the point where I felt like it was just something we repeated and didn't really ever think about it anymore.  Once in a while, I'd offer to take someone's cart for them at the grocery store, or hold a baby for a mom in church  But for the most part, I'm a stay at home mom and I rarely came in contact with anyone, let alone find people who need service.  I know I've heard in church that we're supposed to serve others, and I know how I feel when I do service.  But most days, I feel like my contribution to society is keeping my kids from killing each other, keep laundry done, make sure everyone is fed, fit some homework in, and maybe get the house clean along the way.  I justified that I was serving my family and when they were older, I'd find others to serve. 

Last Sunday was Ward Conference.  In Relief Society, one of the counselors in the Stake Presidency spoke about three things.  He spoke about the importance of being nice to others, especially in what we say; forgiveness, of ourselves, our families, and others; and of service and doing good for others.  It was a great talk and I feel like I brought stuff away from all parts of it, but the one that's sticking with me today is service.  I came home and decided that my kids were all in school and I should be able to think of some way to help someone out every day. 

Early in the week, I decided that I could be a better visiting teacher and made sugar cookies to take to the ladies I visit with.  That day, my kids also took some cookies over to our neighbors; one of which we've had a falling out with and she refuses to talk to me (hence, I sent my kids :)).  Neither neighbor opened the door, so my kids left the cookies on the doorstep.  I was thinking it wasn't a great start, but I was thinking of others and my kids had a great time taking cookies around.  That night I was able to visit two of my ladies that I have a hard time catching up with because they are usually available in the evening and by evening, I'm focused on my family. 

Tuesday, I got to visit with another lady that I have a hard time catching.  I've made appointments with her, but she's not there when I go.  I finally just dropped in and caught her home.  We had a great talk and I think the cookies helped soften her up (why wouldn't they, right?). 

Wednesday, I went into town to run some errands and decided to go to the temple as long as I was there.  During the session, there was a lady that was struggling with a few things.  Usually, I'm the type that will worry I'm going to offend her if I offer to help, so I sit there.  That day, I gathered up my courage and decided to just help.  She didn't seem offended at all and gave me a big smile and a thank you.  Lesson learned.  That night, I also got a thank you card that my neighbor (the one who won't talk to me) had stuck in my mailbox.  Progress?  I hope so.

Thursday, I went and helped in Zoey's class and ate lunch with her.  This day, I realized that even things that I've been doing for so long were affecting me more.  I loved being in Zoey's class and eating lunch with her.  I loved her big, fat squeeze and smile as she ran off to join her class.

I have to admit, yesterday was the best day of the week . . . and the worst.  I finally got to visit with the last lady and give her her cookies.  She had been in a car accident about a month ago and it was good to see her feeling a little better.  At home, I had a ton of things to do.  I had spent the morning going grocery shopping and getting stuff to work on the salon.  Nathan and I were going to a concert that night, so we had called a babysitter.  I always feel like my house needs to be clean when we have a babysitter, so I spent the afternoon cleaning.  I wasn't quite done when the kids got home from school, so I finished up downstairs and came upstairs only to see that they had tracked mud all through my dining room, kitchen, and bathroom.  I have a hard time with that anyway, but  yesterday I just wanted it to be clean when the babysitter came.  I gave them a broom and a mop and made them clean it up.  Then, went back downstairs and they had messed up the playroom and family room.  By the time Nathan came home, I was done and ready to not be home.  But, I also wasn't too excited to go to the concert.  Nathan had gotten free tickets from his work to a messo soprano concert.  Sometimes that would be okay, but not last night.  As we were eating dinner, a friend texted me and asked if we happened to be coming into town tonight.  Really, we hardly ever go into town, but we were, so I texted her back.  She said that they had gone into town to do a major grocery shopping trip and she'd left her wallet at home.  She told me where it was and we said we'd be there in a little while.  We picked up the babysitter, found the wallet, and headed into town.  On the way in, Nathan and I talked about the concert.  He wasn't all that excited to go either, so we decided to play hooky.  We dropped off the wallet and went to Sam's Club to sign me up for a card (Nathan got an account pretty cheap through his new job, but I hadn't gone in yet).  Then we decided to window shop in Sam's to see what was there.  We were over in the deli section, when a guy came by rolling a cart asking who wanted a free chicken.  They were fully cooked rotisserie chickens.  We decided to take one.  I decided to buy some towels for my salon and Nathan wanted some good cheese for our Sunday night.  We checked out and on the way out, there was the guy again asking if we wanted another chicken.  We said we were fine, and he asked if any of our neighbors wanted any.  We took another one.  When we put them out in the car, I noticed potatoes in the back of our car.  Nathan had been doing a project for work with potatoes and they had a LOT left over.  They sent him home with 2 50 lb. boxes.  I don't think we'd ever be able to use 100 lbs. of potatoes before they went bad.  We decided there was someone out there who would love a chicken and a box of potatoes.  I texted a friend to see if she was home and she was in town and was excited to have a chicken and box of potatoes.  We met her family at WalMart and handed off the food.  I loved our impromptu service date last night.  It was one of the funnest nights we've had in a long time.

So, here are some things I've learned over the last week.  I'm writing these down because I know that I don't always remember things.  As much as something might affect me at the time, I know that in a few weeks/months/years I will probably need to be reminded of it again.  I'm hoping that at some point, I can go back and read this and re-learn my lesson.  I learned that doing service doesn't have to take over your life, but it does give a lot more meaning to your life.  It is good to step out of my little family life and see others around me, even if I have to force myself to step out my front door to see others around me.  I learned that the more service I do, the better I feel about even the smallest acts of service.  I also learned that it is important to ask for, accept, and be grateful for service.  Nathan and I both noticed last night that the friends we helped out were willing to ask for help when they needed it. (It was not a big deal for us to go pick up the wallet, but it would have been a big, fat deal for them to have to come back and get it.  It also gave us the opportunity to do service that we didn't know was needed, or wouldn't have thought of.)  We also noticed that both friends didn't try to tell us that they didn't need help, they were outwardly very grateful and showed us how excited they were.  I realized that that is how we are supposed to be.  Both of those friends have helped me out in the past and have no question in my mind if they would help me in a second if I needed it.  But they were also willing to let me help them and let me know it.  I realized that if we try to downplay our need for help, and then give a half-hearted thank you because we're embarassed, or wish we didn't need the help, or try to refuse help when someone has been thinking of us; the other person often doesn't feel very appreciated.  But if, like my friends, we're very grateful and let others serve us, it makes them feel awesome about doing service.  We are commanded to serve others, which means that we are also commanded to let others serve us because if no one let anyone serve them, there wouldn't be any service to give.  I loved giving service this week, but I also realized that I have a hard time accepting service.  I would love to continue to think of others and give service, but I'm also hoping that I can think of the other lessons I've learned this week when I am in need of service.

Salon and Playroom Update

I realized the other day that I haven't updates about our remodel for a while.  Mostly this is for my mom.  These are pictures of my salon and playroom.  The playroom is pretty much done, but we're still working on the salon.  We still need to do one more door on the towel cabinet (the one where you can see all of my color), put a new faceframe on the sink cabinet, doors on the sink cabinet, countertop, and backsplash.  The countertop that's there is just temporary.  The new one will be laminate.  Also, the whole backsplash will look like it does behind my sink and will cover my awesome sewer pipe.  I love that I can finally see it coming together!  I've had it in my head for so long.

Sorry about my messy salon.  We've been working down there and I don't clean it all up every time we get done because we'll just mess it up the next night (hopefully).  I do clean it up before I do hair.

Tonight I realized something.  I haven't had anyone ask to speak to my mom when I answer the phone since I got sick.  I guess that's one of the bonuses of being sick.  I finally sound like an adult.  I'll take what I can get

Wassail

Tonight, I'm grateful for Stephen's wassail and my awesome insulated mug that Nathan got at his food convention.  It's the only thing that soothes my throat.  Plus, it also has 110% of vitamin C, so I can get my vitamin C without swallowing a horse pill that doesn't feel great in my throat.

I'm also grateful that the three appointments that I had to cancel today were understanding.  I hate cancelling appointments.  Hopefully I can fit them in in the next week.

I'm also grateful that Nathan and the kids cleaned up the kitchen.  It's hard to get feeling better, then have to recover your house.

Thanks, Mom!

Today I was super flu-ish.  I felt like I was hurting all over, it killed my head when the kids even walked through the living room, and I couldn't get warm.  It didn't help that my kids' school started 2 hours late because of freezing rain.  Normally, I love my kids being home, but today I was just praying that I would make it until they went to school.  Jo had a project due and she wanted to get new contacts because she ripped one on Friday, so I drove her to school and stopped at the eye doctor on the way.  When I got home, I really couldn't get warm.  I piled on the blankets and turned my heat up.  Nothing worked.  Then, I remembered these, put them on and was able to get comfortable enough to fall asleep.  Thanks, Mom!!

Fire!

While the kids were playing outside with Nathan, I decided I wanted to cook.  It started out craving Seven Layer Bean Dip while thinking about the Super Bowl, even though we had other plans during the game.  So, I made that.  Then, I made chili for our little FHE today (for the first time with dried beans).  Then, I wanted to redeem myself after my last pie (it was too soupy and the apples weren't quite done) so I decided to make another pie, which made it so I had leftover crust to make tarts.  I got a tart pan a few years ago and decided to use it.  But then that made me want to have something to fill them with.  I had talked to Owen about chocolate pudding, but realized we didn't have any, so I found a recipe for chocolate pudding from scratch.

The first two things turned out okay, other than my pan of bean dip was overflowing, and I ended up with too much chili.  I made the pie.  I heard that you could make your lattice ahead of time and keep it in the fridge.  That worked great until I tried to get it back on the pie.  After finally just flipping it on there, then fixing the mistakes; I put it in the oven and didn't put a pan under it, so it overflowed and smoked up the kitchen.  Then, I had to turn the oven back up to do the tarts.  When I opened the oven, it was on fire!  Nathan put it out, cooled it off and scraped it out so I could cook my tarts.  Yep, he's awesome.  That was while I was dealing with the pudding.  The recipe said it was supposed to take about 10 minutes.  Forty minutes later, I declared it done.  It was a crazy cooking day and we didn't get done until 11:30, but we have lots of good food now.  My kitchen was a mess and it's a good thing that today was fast Sunday because we didn't have any clean dishes, but an hour and a half after church, my kitchen was put back in order and we still had lots of yummy food.

The Culprit:

Playing in the Snow

Yesterday was such a fun day.  It was warm enough to play outside, but there was still snow on the ground, so Nathan hitched up Mel and pulled the kids and their friends around on the inner tube.  It was perfect and everyone had fun.

Lattice pie

I just downloaded an app for my tablet for blogger.  I'm not really sure how to use it, but I promised my mom a picture of my pie from today.  So this is my attempt at a lattice top caramel apple pie.  Hopefully it tastes better than it looks.

Christ Centered Christmas Weeks 1 & 2

Nathan and I were asked to help out with the Ward Christmas Party this year.   We are in charge of the program.  We were talking as a committee how we would like to work hard to bring Christ into the program.  One day, my mom brought up a book that had been recommended to her.  It was A Christ Centered Christmas by Emily Freeman.  I had heard Emily talk at Time Out for Women and was impressed enough with her to try out the book and see if it gave any ideas I could use for the party.  I looked it up and found out I could get it on my kindle.  It was a quick read and I finished it in two days.  It did have some good ideas for the program, but even more than that, it had some good ideas that I decided I wanted to use in my own home this year.  It also got me excited for Christmas super early this year.  I put up my decorations at the beginning of November.  Usually I try to put them up the week of Thanksgiving, so the last thing we put up is our tree the weekend after Thanksgiving.  This year, I'm loving having them up longer.  I've decided that it's not skipping over Thanksgiving, it's getting in the mood for the holidays early.  I've felt excited for Thanksgiving and Christmas all month.

Anyway, back to the book.  It has a chapter on seven different nativity characters and what we can learn from them today.  It also has a tradition that you can incorporate into your Christmas traditions that will help you remember what that character teaches us.  When I read the book, I looked at the calendar and realized that we had seven Mondays until Christmas.  I decided that we will take one of the characters each week and learn about them in FHE, then we will do the tradition some time that week. 

The first character I chose was Joseph.  I chose him because reading through his chapter reminded me so much of one of my favorite Christmas stories, The Last Straw.  I've always wanted to do the tradition in that book, but it seemed like a lot of work.  And a big mess.  But I loved what the kids in that story learned from the tradition.  So, two Mondays ago, we learned about Joseph.  From Joseph we learn about service and one of the traditions they recommend is to have a jingle bell that gets passed from pillow to pillow in the house.  If you find a jingle bell on your pillow, you get to do service for someone else, then leave the bell on their pillow.  I didn't have huge hopes for this starting out.  I always feel like stories are that, stories.  Nothing ever works out like it's supposed to.  Nathan was late getting home that night, so we started without him.  We talked about Joseph, what we can learn from him, and the tradition.  I didn't have a jingle bell, but I printed one out on the computer and told the kids I'd color it and leave it on a pillow.  Nathan got home when we were having treats.  The kids were so excited to tell him about the tradition and that he got to do service if he found a jingle bell on his pillow.  We sent the kids to bed and I colored the jingle bell.  Nathan suggested I laminate it, so we decided to wait another day.  Zoey came flying into my bedroom the next morning looking all around.  Apparently she had been in everyone's room looking for the jingle bell.  I told her to keep watching for it.  It was actually a few days later that it finally got started, but the kids have been doing great with it.  We've decided to continue with the tradition clear until Christmas.  And the attitude in our home has totally changed.  It is just like the story.  I'm not going to say that no one ever fights, but there is plenty of service going on.  Even when people don't have the jingle bell.  I'm LOVING it!!

There are poems at the end of each chapter that summarize what that character teaches.  I also printed off the poems to hang up to remind us what we're supposed to be learning that week.  I hung Joseph's up for his week, but when I went to change it, the kids begged me to keep up all of the poems, so Joseph moved up and we put a new one in the page protector.  Our wall is going to be covered with nativity poems by Christmas.

This one is for Joseph.

And here is my jingle bell.

 

Last Monday, we learned about the lamb.  It also incorporates Simeon and Anna.  I was so excited to see them in this program!!  I love their stories and they are not usually brought into the nativity stories.  From them, we learned about recognizing the Lord in our lives and being immediately grateful.  For this tradition, I put a picture of a lamb on a box and put some papers and pencils inside.  When we recognize something the Lord has blessed us with, we can right it down and put it in the box.  Our box becomes a gratitude box.  I chose this one this week because it is the week of Thanksgiving and it seemed to fit well.  Once again our family has taken to it amazingly.  Our little pile of papers is growing.  And our attitude is changing again.  We are often talking about "jingle bells" (acts of service we've been prompted to do) inside and outside our home and things we're grateful for.  It really is hard to have a bad attitude when you're thinking about others and what the Lord has blessed you with.

Here is our poem that is up this week.

 

 And our gratitude box.

One more thing that the book talks about is having a nativity and putting each of the characters in the nativity as you learn about them.  I only have one nativity with all of the characters we'll be talking about.  A magnetic one my mom made.  It has a few other characters, so I put up the stable, donkey, cow, camel, and star to start.  The kids noticed immediately and asked where everything was.  I hadn't told them what we were doing yet, so I told them I'd tell them all about it on Monday.  When we learned about Joseph, I introduced it by showing them Joseph from the nativity.  They recognized it immediately and were excited.  I put his character on the poem for that week and we put him in the nativity scene last Monday after our week of learning about him.  Now we have our lambs hanging on our poem and we'll put them up on Monday.  The kids are excited to see each character as we learn about them.  It's working better than I ever hoped.  I feel like our attitudes are different, the feeling in our house is different, and we are able to focus on Christ this year for Christmas; not Santa, what presents we're getting, etc.

Our magnetic nativity on our door.

A God of Miracles

It's taken me a little while to write this post.  It's personal and was hard to write, but I felt like I needed to.  This is a long post, and it's mostly just for me, but I feel the need to share my testimony of miracles.  I was going to on Fast Sunday, but we were in Nathan's brother's ward for his baby's blessing and I have a hard enough time standing in front of people I know.  So, I'm going to share it on my blog. 

Last Tuesday, my testimony of miracles was strengthened.  I know that Heavenly Father can do anything and he has the ability to heal, but I felt it very personally.  I was down in my living room and heard a thump from upstairs.  Owen and Zoey are known to fight and sometimes I just have to let them work it out.  I listened for a minute and didn't hear any crying, so I continued on with what I was doing.  About a minute later, I hear a panicked Owen calling me, telling me that Zona had fallen off her bed (the top bunk).  I still wasn't super concerned.  How many times had I fallen off my bed?  One of my sisters had even landed on a rocking chair and still not been hurt very bad.  I was all ready to comfort, kiss hurts, and continue on with the day.  I saw her coming out of the bedroom.  See?  Walking and fine.  She was crying, pretty hard, but she is known to be dramatic.  So, I picked her up and carried her downstairs to sit on the couch.  I was trying to get her to calm down and she wouldn't (couldn't?).  She said that it hurt to breathe.  I was sure it was because she wouldn't calm down.  Owen mentioned something about her trying to climb up in the net they keep their stuffed animals in.  When I asked Zona, she said she was trying to sit in it.  I later saw that she had pulled one of the screws out of the wall and the stuffed animals were all over the floor.  After talking to her, I started reading her a book to try and get her mind off of what happened and to try and get her to calm down.  After a few pages, there was a picture.  She said she couldn't see the picture.  I was sure it was because she had been crying and had tears in her eyes.  I kept reading to her. 

A few minutes later, Nathan came home.  The kids were eager to tell Nathan what had happened.  He took her from me and decided to assess her.  He got out his EMT bag and took her vitals.  Then he went up in the bedroom and shut the door.  Jo was getting ready to go to with a neighbor and I was trying to do other things, so I let Nathan take care of her.  I got Jo out the door and went upstairs.  Nathan asked me if I knew she couldn't see.  I mentioned what happened with the book.  Then we started asking her who people were in the room.  She named Nathan and me, but squinted as she looked at Owen.  She couldn't tell who he was.  Nathan scooped her up and told me he was taking her to Community Care.  As he was putting her in the car, he handed her her ducky.  She couldn't tell what it was.

Owen and I were concerned and came inside to say a prayer.  I then called our parents and siblings to let them know what was going on and to ask them to pray for Zona.  I also posted on facebook to keep people updated on what was going on.  My mom and Nathan's mom called Zoey's name into the temple prayer rolls. 

Nathan called on the way to the doctor to tell me that Zoey was having a hard time staying conscious and he was taking her straight to the emergency room.  He later told me that he kept doing sternal rubs on her to try and keep her awake.  She would be holding ducky and ask where ducky was.  As he turned on to the street the hospital was, he looked over and Zoey's face was drooping and her had was twitching and at an unusual angle.  He said it reminded him of someone with cerebral palsy.  He was VERY concerned.  When they got to the hospital, he said they didn't have to wait at all in the emergency room.  Once they got back in a room, Zoey started throwing up.  The staff told him to let her go to sleep to see if it would calm her down.  Every time she woke up, he would try to assess her so he could give information to the doctor when he came.  One time, he asked who she was, and she answered, "Zona."  Then he asked who he was, and she looked at him for a minute and said, "Someone."  She wasn't sure who Nathan was. 

The doctor told Nathan that he wanted to do a CT scan and see what was going on.  About that time, Nathan gave Zona a blessing.  Zoey started to come out of it and wasn't excited about doing the scan, but Nathan says she did a great job and did everything they told her to do.

When the results came back, the doctor said that there was no sign of trauma, no fracture, or anything to be concerned about.  He said that she could do anything she felt like.  He said she would probably have a headache for a while, even up to a few weeks, and might be nauseous the next day.  She stayed home from school on Wednesday, but was SO excited to go back to school the next day.  It was the first thing she said when she woke up.  I gave her ibuprofen for a few days, but she only complained about her head a few times and her neck once or twice.  She threw up on the way home, and that was the last time.

She was a little more cautious for a few days, but not anymore.  We can also see little things that are a different.  She takes a little longer to figure out things that used to come so quickly.  And she seems a little disoriented some times.  She has told us the same story over again a few times.  But after seeing what happened in just a few short hours, we are very grateful to have our happy, fun little girl back. 

I am so grateful that it was just a concussion.  With all of the symptoms, it could have been so much worse.  They could have had to do more drastic measures to relieve pressure on her brain.  I'm so grateful that the doctors didn't see anything to concern them.  I'm grateful that she is healing and healthy.  I really do feel like we had a miracle in our family. 

I'm also grateful that if this had to happen, it happened when we were still covered by Nathan's old job's insurance and before the month started when we would be un-insured before his new job's insurance kicked in.  I'm grateful that I didn't realize how bad it was until Nathan got home.  Usually I'm the one that thinks of the worst thing it could be.  I didn't this time.  It didn't even cross my mind until after Nathan assessed her.  I'm also grateful he came home soon after it happened.  He is much more level-headed, plus he's an EMT.  I'm grateful he was the one that took her in.  He was able to decide to take her straight to the emergency room, talk to the doctor on a good level, and make good level-headed decisions.  As much as I would have loved to be with her, I'm also grateful Nathan was able to focus on her, while I focused on our other kids (who were having a very hard time) and made sure they were okay and updated.  I know I could have handled it before he got home, but I'm grateful I didn't have to.  I'm also VERY grateful for where I live.  I love the people that live around me.  On Tuesday, I was having a hard time that I didn't live close to my family, but my friends and neighbors called, commented on facebook, and stopped me in my yard to see how we were doing.  They were concerned and I felt very loved.

I'm not grateful for this situation, but I am grateful for the things I learned in just a few hours.  I'm grateful my testimony was strengthened of miracles and of a Heavenly Father who loves us and is very aware of us.  I'm grateful for friends, neighbors, and family who love and support.  I'm grateful for a level-headed husband and a brave little girl.  I'm grateful for a patient first grade teacher.  And I'm grateful that I can appreciate her fun, bubbly, energetic personality more.

I have so many thoughts going on in my head right now.  I'm hoping they make some sense when put down.  I'm having such a hard time that kids have to grow up so fast.  Yesterday, Owen had to bring a note home from school that he had written to a girl in his class.  Apparently there was some altercation and he had gotten in trouble.  He had reacted to something that the girl had done and ended up having to write a note of apology to her, that he had to bring home and have us sign.  It sounds like the girl and another boy that was involved didn't get in trouble.  Owen had a hard time with that.  We talked about how he can't worry about what others do, and if they get in trouble for it.  All he can do anything about is what he does and how he reacts to what others do.  Definitely something that I think kids need to learn.

Here's my problem.  The situation was something that teachers in my day wouldn't have even thought twice about.  I remember having "arguments" about who's brother/sister was stronger and who could beat up who.  I remember teasing each other and just basically being kids.  Now there are so many rules about how you can touch other kids, how you can talk to other kids, what you can bring to school, etc.  I think it's so hard to just let your kids be kids.  They have songs like "Let Them Be Little" by Lonestar, but how can you really do that.  Even if you let them be kids in your home, there are still so many rules put on them at school.

I do understand why they are needed.  Last Friday, there was a threat at our high school.  They ended up evacuating the whole high school (in 8 minutes!!) and looking for students with weapons and bombs.  I know that things happen and there is a need for stricter rules now than when I was in school.  I'm just having a hard time with it.  I don't want to have to explain to my 8 year old how some kids say things that he said, and then act on them, or worse.  I know that Owen wouldn't do anything, but his teacher doesn't know that.  We had to talk about the bomb threat and how some kids don't know how to act appropriately, for whatever reason.  We talked about how he has to think about his actions and make sure that they are appropriate and follow all of the rules.

I guess I think back to 9/11 and how things changed after that.  How security got tighter at the airports and people were more cautious and wary.  It's hard to have more rules, but I know that they are in place to make us safer.  I know that's how the rules are in the schools, too.  It's hard for me to see them have more rules and not be able to just be kids, but I know the rules are for their safety.  I just think it's easier to understand when you're an adult, than when you are a kid.

I'm not sure if this even makes sense, I just had to get some thoughts down and out of my head.

On a brighter side, I went on my first run with my new shoes today.  I was worried they wouldn't be broken in enough, but they felt great.  It was so fun to get out early in the morning and get some exercise.  I can tell I'm getting stronger and it feels good.  I have hope that I'll be ready to run a 5k on the 4th of July.

1.  I am grateful that my life is good.  I am grateful that I have people in it that love me and that I can love.  I am grateful that I have the health and ability to take care of things in my own life and also to help out others.

2.  I am grateful that I am given the opportunity to see how my "gratitude blogs" help me find things to be grateful for, even when life isn't always fabulous.  It really has helped a lot.

3.  I am grateful that my sister got me on the program c25k.  I love feeling like I'm getting stronger.  I am liking exercising in the morning.  It helps me feel like moving more throughout the day.

4.  I am grateful for a mom who will let me call and cry/vent to her and still love me.

5.  I am grateful that my kids enjoy riding their bikes to school.  Owen is getting so much better on his bike, riding it at least twice a day.

Tonight was the family fun run for our elementary school.  As Owen pointed out, this wasn't just a fun run, it was a whole family fun night.  We ran around the playground for a mile, ate a potato dinner, and socialized.  Way fun!!  Nathan brought the dogs and they ran with Owen, Jo and Nathan.  Apparently Abbie kept Jo going (except Jo says she had to pull Abbie along at the end) and Jo finished quite a bit ahead of Nathan and Owen.  Abbie was pretty tired, she came and laid down by me and put her head in my lap.  She didn't move for quite a while.  Zoey and I actually got to run first.  We kept each other going.  She thought she was going to die at the end, but she didn't.  And once she got water, she was good to go.  The kids all got a water bottle filled with goodies for finishing their mile.

I realized tonight that I am NOT ready to run a full mile.  I'm happy to be where I'm at on the c25k program.  Sometimes I feel like I could go a little more, but I feel like I'm getting stronger and I'm getting better at a steady pace.  So, about c25k, today was day 2 of week2.  I am feeling pretty good.  I've realized that if I stretch out before and after my runs, I can tell I worked out, but I'm not dying.  Last Tuesday, I did think I was going to die, though.  I woke up and I didn't hurt as bad as I did the day before, but as the day went on, my pain got worse and worse.  My hips felt like they were on fire and I could hardly walk by the end of the day.  I wasn't sure how I was going to run the next day.  I IM'd my sister and she told me that her pain was even worse on days that she did her long run.  I didn't want to quit, but I had to do something different.  I had stretched out and everything.  Then, I got ready for bed.  I took off my shoes and went to walk downstairs.  My hip pain was gone.  My stupid shoes were the culprit!!  I had been wearing cheapy Target shoes to run in until I could get some better shoes.  I had worn them all day.  I decided that night that I needed to order new shoes. 

I originally ordered them from Zappos.com because I heard they had a great return policy.  I found out the next day that I can't wear the shoes outside before returning them.  I wasn't sure how to test running shoes without running in them.  I then found RoadRunnerSports.com.  They have at least a 60 day return policy that you can run in your shoes and still return them.  I ordered those the next day and the Zappos shoes will be going back (good thing they have a good return policy!!).  The shoes from Road Runner were actually cheaper, too (same shoes).  And I got them a day early (today!).  So, I'm trying to break them in before my run on Wednesday.  I wore them to the fun run tonight and they feel pretty good.  A few spots that I was worried about are already loosening up.

And now for some awesomely amazing news.  Owen learned to ride his bike today!!!  This is a BIG deal!!  He is 8 and a BIG kid.  People ask me often if he is 12.  He is wearing size 14 pants.  I love having a big boy.  The problem is, I can't find a bike that has training wheels for him.  We got him an awesome motorcycle bike off craigslist that is pretty awesome.  At the end of last month, the cub scouts had a pack meeting with a bike rodeo.  Owen had to use a scooter.  He had no idea how to ride a bike.  The next day, he decided to try sitting on the bike and pushing off with his feet.  Over the last two weeks, he has moved from that to actually riding his bike.  He still needs a little confidence, but he can ride from one street to the next on our block.  He's learning to turn corners.  The best thing is that he knows he's awesome.  He's SO proud (thanks in part to his grandma and her "Proud of You" song - Thanks, Mom!!).  I'm so proud of him, too.  I told him today that I've been looking forward to family bike rides.  Zoey can ride a bike with training wheels.  I'm seeing some bike riding in our future.

1.  I am grateful that my family is patient with me.  I'm glad that they aren't upset when I go riding my bike, or to a family fun run instead of cleaning my much neglected house.

2.  I am grateful that we all went to the fun run tonight.  It was SO fun to get out and socialize, plus get some exercise.  And it's always nice to not have to cook dinner.

3.  I am grateful that I got my new shoes today.  I'm hoping they will help me run so fast.  Or at least not kill my body while I'm running slow.

4.  I am grateful that Owen was able to learn to ride his bike.  I'm so stinkin' proud of that boy.  And I'm so excited to ride bikes with my kids.

5.  I am grateful that the weather was SO nice today.  It was beautiful!!  And I loved getting out and enjoying it. 

Wow!!  I'm really not doing so well at this.  I will try to do better.

So, our town has an awesome 4th of July celebration complete with a 5k that I have never participated in.  Last Friday, my sister called me to tell me that if I was going to run the 5k with her, I needed to start training by this Wednesday.  We had talked about me doing it, but I was pretty scared to try it.  I have never seriously run before.  I had to run in P.E. in middle school and I always failed the tests.  In high school, someone told me that I looked stupid running and it looked completely un-natural (I'm sure a big part of that was due to the rods in my back making it so I couldn't bend it).  I decided then that I would never be a runner.  But part of me really wanted to do it.  So, I told my sister that I would start it today so I could do my weeks Monday, Wednesday, and Friday instead of having to switch on Wednesdays.  I was pretty sure I was going to die on the first day.  Especially because my legs were already hurting from weeding my raspberries for 8 hours on Saturday.  But, I enlisted the support of some friends up here, found a podcast I could run to, and went to sleep "early" last night. 

My friends and I decided to "run" at 6:30 in the morning.  All night I was worried about not waking up in time.  I would startle awake, find out I had lots of time left, then struggle to go back to sleep.  I finally woke up at 6:00 and laid there for 9 minutes.  I finally just got up.  I showed up at 6:30 and neither of my friends did.  I found out later, one of them thought we were meeting at 6:00 and had already waited for us for 15 minutes in close to freezing temps and the other one's phone had died during the night and never went off (They both ran later today, I think).  Nathan had talked to me about how, if I wanted to do this, I needed to commit to it.  Even if everyone else dropped out.  This morning was my test.  I went anyway.  The first week is:  warm up for 5 minutes, then 8 times of running for 60 seconds/walking for 90 seconds, then a 5 minute cool down.  Doesn't sound too hard, but for me it seemed a little overwhelming.  So, when the first cue to start running sounded, I started running.  I was sure it was going to be one of those times where a minute would seem like an hour.  Like when you have to hold nasty tasting mouthwash in your mouth for a minute and accidentally swallow some and it burns your throat.  I listened to the music and didn't even have time to worry about it before it was cue-ing me to walk.  It did get harder towards the end, but I did it.  I really ran.  I was so proud of myself.  As I look at the weeks ahead, I start panic-ing, but then I remember my cute 7 year old nephew was able to do it all and even ran his first 5k on Saturday with his mom, brother, and sister.  I can totally do this, right?

Apparently, just running wasn't enough for me today.  When I got back home, my kids wanted to walk to school.  They have to cross a busy highway and I'm not way comfortable with them doing it by themselves, so I've been walking with them.  So, we walked to school (about 1/2 mile) and Zoey and I walked home.  Then, I had to go back to school to help Zoey's teacher.  Zoey wanted to walk back to school, so we did, then back home.  When it was time for Zoey to go to school, we were going to walk again, but her homework took longer then we thought, so I ended up driving her.  But my friend and I decided to ride bikes this afternoon (I'm trying to keep my knees good by riding my bike).  We rode in a wicked wind.  It was a bigger workout than I was expecting.  So, today was all about exercising.

1.  Tonight I'm grateful that I was able to run.  There were a lot of odds stacked against me:  I was tired, I hurt before I even started, I have never been successful at running, etc.  But I was still able to run.  I was successful.  And it felt great!  I'm also grateful for the stretching video my sister showed me.  It helped quite a bit.

2.  I am grateful that I had the energy to exercise more.  I'm grateful that I could still walk with my kids and ride with my friend.  Hopefully I didn't overdo it.

3.  I am grateful that our ward is so service oriented.  I love that they are willing to help out at the last minute, even if it's different from what they had planned that night.

4.  I am grateful for Advil.

5.  I am grateful for friends that are willing to run with me and ride bikes with me.  It's so much nicer to have someone to be accountable to and also someone who you can enjoy being with while you're exercising.

1.  I am grateful that I was finally able to go to bookclub tonight.  I've missed getting together and talking about good books.

2.  I am grateful that "Art Mom" went well today in Josie's class.  I didn't get any paint on my clothes this time and most of the kids seemed to understand how to do the project and have fun doing it.  I'm also grateful that it was the last one.  I love helping out at school, but the next few weeks are going to be crazy getting ready for school to get out.

3.  I am grateful that I rode my bike to school.  I got to walk/ride home with one of the kids in the neighborhood and we had a great talk.

4.  I am grateful for spring.  Even though it means that there is a lot of work to do, I love the weather.  I'm excited that it's warm and I can ride a bike, be outside, and have my windows open.  I love sandals and not having to wear 3 layers.  I love that it also inspires me to get healthier because I can't hide under 3 layers.  It's also easier to get healthy because there's so many fun ways to exercise when it's warm outside.

5.  I am grateful that my kids enjoy learning and going to school.  I love that they're all excited to do different 4H/clover bud projects this year.  I love seeing them light up.

Today was a hard day, but a good day.  I have a lot to be grateful for.

1.  I am grateful that Nathan asked me to come out and help him measure and cut his stringers for his stairs.  I enjoyed being with him and we were able to have a good talk.

2.  I am grateful that the dirt bike accident I happened upon wasn't worse than it was.  But I'm also grateful that I was able to see that I can handle blood, larger amounts of blood than happen with just a few scrapes (people who grew up with me will know this is HUGE!!).  I'm not ready to be an EMT, but I know I could handle more than I thought I could.  I'm grateful to know that I don't lose my head when something happens.

3.  I am grateful that I have a husband that will tell me when it's time to get over something and admit that things will never be perfect and to make sure my priorities are in line.  It was a very timely discussion.  I'm grateful that we had it last night before I found out that my new floor is having problems.  I was able to tell Matt that we'll just move on for now and maybe later we'll fix it.  At least this one doesn't seem to be flaking off like the other one.

4.  I am grateful for my new purse.  It's awesome!!  Thanks, Nae!!  It makes me smile, plus it makes me feel so organized.  I even realized that a small soda bottle (the little Sprite bottles I got in Utah when Owen got sick) filled with water fits great in the big pocket along with everything else I need to put in there.  I love it!!

5.  I am grateful again for a good bike ride.  I am also grateful for a good friend that will go on shorter bike rides with me until I am feeling up to going on a longer one.  It feels great to get out and be active.  I'm grateful that the weather held out until after our ride.  I'm also grateful that Nathan took the time to go through my bike with me last night and oil, tighten, and pump everything up that needed it.

So, apparently I'm not very good at doing my blog on the weekend.  Oops!!  It was a crazy weekend.  Friday night we ended up having the missionaries stop by to correlate.  On Saturday, Josie and Nathan went to help Gabby doctor horses.  From what I understand, they helped give immunizations, put in ear tags, and brand.  They both had lots of fun!!  Josie came back with a tired, but big, smile on her face.  Owen, Zona, and I stayed here and got some stuff done.  Matt came and put one more coat of polyurethane on the floor, and it was a nice day, so we went outside.  The kids played in the tree and in the shade and I weeded raspberries.  Unfortunately, Nathan and Jo took the one good bottle of sunscreen, so I got burned pretty good. 

That afternoon, Nathan worked a little on his new shop and I cleaned out the chicken coop (a nasty job, but it's SO nice to be done with it!!!).  That evening, Jo and Nathan went to get Mel from the trainer.  About a month ago, Nathan decided that Mel needed some good hours under a saddle and that he wasn't able to give those to him.  He had a guy that comes in to his work sometimes who was willing to take him.  Mel's been helping out on his ranch.  Of course, when Nathan came back from picking up Mel, he had to try him out.  He'd also gotten a new saddle since Mel's been gone and wanted to try it out as well.  I guess Mel doesn't have good withers, and the girth strap on the saddle wasn't short enough, and Nathan ended up landing on the ground while Mel was loping.  I think Nathan's planning on getting a new girth strap soon.  But he did say that Mel is an awesome horse now.  He's really excited to have him.  His looks have always been flashy and he has a great personality (his form of spooking is to step to the side and stop), but now he has some good training to go with it.  Nathan said he's not ready to put anyone up on him yet, but he'll get there.

Sunday was just a lazy day.  We watched the old Parent Trap for our family movie.  I LOVE that movie!!!!  Nathan bought a VHS copy of it and about 10 other movies at an online auction.  I was so excited to watch it.  I'm afraid I ruined it for my kids.  I kept laughing before anything happened.  My kids thought it was hilarious.  Just watching it brought back so many memories of watching it with my family.  Especially my dad.  LOVED it!!

Today was a catch up day (isn't that what Mondays are all about?).  I cleaned the kitchen, picked up the house, dropped Zoey off at school, went on a bike ride, cleaned off the porch, and I was finally well enough to go to quilting (yay!!).  Tonight, I cut the missionaries' hair out on the porch.  My house still smells like Laffy Taffys and very powerful nail polish and I didn't have a place downstairs to cut their hair anyway.  Elder Eudaley brought us some yummy treats made with Ritz crackers, peanut butter, and chocolate.  We had them for FHE treats.  Yummy!!

1.  I am grateful for good weather.  In spite of my sunburn, I'm grateful that I was able to get so much done outside.  I still have a ton to do, my yard was horribly neglected last year, but I started.

2.  I am grateful that the elders brought us some yummy treats.  It made FHE so easy.

3.  I am grateful that I was able to go on a bike ride with J'lene today.  It was great to be outside and exercising and it's always fun to be with a friend.

4.  I am grateful that my floor is done (I hope?).  Now we just have to wait for it to cure before we can move everything downstairs.

5.  I am grateful that my kids didn't have homework tonight, so they were able to play outside all afternoon.  After dinner and bedtime is always so much better when they've had time to run around and play.  I'm also grateful that Nathan took time to help Owen on his bike.  I think he might actually learn how to ride it.

Just gratitude tonight.

1.  I'm grateful that everyone at the pack meeting tonight was patient with Owen and let him ride his scooter in the "bike rodeo."  I'm grateful they also complimented him on his cool "motorcycle bike" and hopefully helped him be excited to learn to ride an actual bike.

2.  I'm grateful that I felt good enough to finish cleaning my house (okay, all except mopping the bathroom floor - I promise, I'll do it tomorrow).

3.  I'm grateful that people ask me to help people out.  I'm grateful that I have the skills to do it.  Sometimes I want to serve others, but I'm lost when it comes to coming up with ideas for how to serve.  I'm grateful to have unique talents that encourage people to ask me to serve.

4.  I'm grateful that my kids love going to the park to play.  I love when they get together with other kids from the neighborhood and all play.  I'm grateful that they love to go to the park, even when it's raining.  They just put their jackets on, and take off.

5.  I'm grateful that my stomach isn't screaming at me anymore when I put anything in it, even water.  It's still not completely thrilled with me, but I actually ate lunch todaywithout getting too sick.  Woo Hoo!!

I think it's a good sign when my house starts bugging me.  I think it means I'm definitely getting better.  My house was driving me CRAZY today.  My house was still smelling a lot today (I'm not sure I'll ever be able to eat banana Laffy Taffys again), so I opened all the windows to get the smell out.  Luckily the wind was blowing like crazy and a lot of the smell is gone now.  Unfortunately, that meant it wasn't comfortable to be upstairs.  The wind was chilly and blowing stuff everywhere.  I decided to spend the afternoon downstairs.  My family had eaten popcorn downstairs on Sunday and I think the popcorn popper exploded or something.  I was feeling good enough that it bugged me enough that I vacuumed.  That was a huge job.  Everything is in the family room from downstairs, so I moved then vacuumed, moved then vacuumed, etc.  Then, I came upstairs and it bugged me.  So I cleaned the living room and swept the kitchen/dining room before my energy completely gave out.  I'm definitely doing better.

My floor is curing nicely, too.  It's taking longer than we thought.  Probably because the concrete is cooler than room temperature.  It's darker than it was last time.  I was concerned about that because I really liked the floor last time, and I'd coordinated my walls with it.  But I still like it, and I think  my wall color is still going to go well with it.  I'm so excited to be on this end of getting the floor done.  It's looking great!

1.  I am grateful that Nathan helped me put up a tarp and plywood "tent" to keep the 60% chance of rain off my floor last night.  I'm also grateful that we didn't need to see if it worked last night.  Even though there was a 60% chance last night and a 50% chance today, it didn't rain.  I'm sure somewhere people wanted the rain, and I'm sorry, but I'm very grateful it didn't rain.

2.  I am grateful that I had the energy to clean today.  I feel so much better when my house is somewhat clean.

3.  I am grateful for the mood my family was in tonight.  They were all on one.  When I was having a hard time being in a good mood, they pulled me out of it.  They were all hilarious!

4.  I am grateful that when I dropped the sour cream container on the kitchen floor, it just cracked and I was still able to save most of the sour cream.  It could have been a lot worse.

5.  I am grateful that I actually forgot to take medicine for most of the day today.  I wasn't counting down until I could take my next dose.  I just realized I have been medicine-free since 3:00 and I don't feel too bad.

Edited to Add:  I'm also VERY grateful to have my furnace back on!!  It hasn't been overly cold, but I'm grateful to have it on and be warm.  I read once that to lose weight, you should keep your house cooler.  I joked that it was because you shivered, but I can see it being a real thing.  I found myself looking for stuff to move around and do today (i.e. cleaning my house).  I do feel like I burned more calories today than I did when I was sitting around sick.  But still, I'm grateful to feel warm air coming out of my vents.  Even if it does mean that I have to be more self-motivated.

Today I'm feeling even better.  I'm still super tired and I cough like I've been smoking for 30 years, but I don't have deep aches anymore (except in my diaphragm and my abs from coughing) and I think my fever is gone.  I can tell I am feeling better because my house is starting to bug me.  I got my dishes done twice today and actually took care of dinner.  Yes, it was leftovers and all I had to do was heat it up, but I didn't IM Nathan and beg him to bring home pizza like last night; or I wasn't completely oblivious and he had to take care of it or let the kids starve like on Sunday night.  So, we are making progress.  Tomorrow, I even plan to make taco soup.  Maybe I'd better conserve my energy.

Another exciting thing happened today.  My house smells like a mixture of banana Laffy Taffys and very strong nail polish.  Matt came and put the sealer on my floor.  Yes, we're still not done with our remodel.  I was reading through my posts the from last year right before I stopped blogging and realized that I stopped before things went wrong with my floor.  The sealer that was used on my floor last year didn't adhere well to the concrete and started turning white and flaking off.  The guy that did my floor has been so patient and just got done re-doing my floor all again. 

Matt came to do our floor when Nathan and I were out of town and found it wasn't as easy to get a floor scraped off as you'd think.  Especially if it's already flaking off.  He tried to do a different fix on it.  That took off some of the sealer.  Then, the kids and I went out of town for Spring Break two weeks ago and Matt was going to strip off the sealer and put something else down.  Still no cooperation from the floor.  Finally, he got everything off that he could and started all over.  It looks beautiful!!  Once the smell goes away, I'll really love it.  I am baby-ing my floor this time until I'm sure it's good and cured.  I don't want it to be all good and have me mess something up.  I'm planning on waiting a few weeks before I put anything on it, except feet for walking.

A few more remodel updates from the last year:  I did get all of my doors and trim painted.  But that was another adventure.  I painted two doors (the ones I mentioned the paint scraped off easily) and within two weeks, they were peeling again.  The paint was sticking to the door jamb instead of the door.  Finally I hired a professional painter to come in and look at it.  He gave me some tips on how to hang the doors differently and gave me good quote on painting the doors and trim.  I do have some touchups to do on them already, but I'm glad to be mostly done with that. 

Nathan took out the bathroom fixtures we put in to get the floor re-done.  We still don't have the baseboards up (hopefully we will in the next few weeks), but we did decide and buy the white baseboards.  And we still need to get cabinets, countertops, and a sink put in the salon along with the handrail and rain gutters outside.  And I still need to get rid of a dryer chair.  I do have a mirror in my salon now, with a little countertop underneath.  It's been SO nice.  I was finally feeling like I was doing hair in a salon instead of a storage room.  I also traded haircuts for blinds for my two windows in my salon and the window in the door of my salon.  Nathan also built me shelves in my storage room to organize my toys.  That's been a huge help!!  My kids can get and put away toys by themselves.

I still don't have my Adirondack chairs on my porch.  I actually ended up giving up on those chairs.  Nathan found me some rocking Adirondack chairs at Harbor Freight that were bare wood.  I still need to find time to paint them.  I have hope they will turn out okay, but I'm a little gun shy after my last two attempts at painting chairs.

Also, I'm really sorry about the pictures (or lack of) on my blog.  I had some mixups with my email addresses and blogger decided that I really didn't want pictures on my blog after all.  I'm trying to decide if I want to try and fix it, or just go from here.  We'll see what happens.  I think that's about it.

1.  I am grateful that I continue to feel better.

2.  I am grateful that it was a nice day outside.  Nice, but chilly.  I'm grateful it didn't rain, though.  My door to my salon leaks and with Matt doing the floor today, it couldn't get water on it or he'd have to re-do it (again!!).  I'm also grateful it was nice, so I could open my windows when the smell got to me and I didn't freeze too bad.  I could also send my kids to the park so the smell didn't make them sick.

3.  I am grateful that I got my dishes done today.  And I'm grateful that Shauna got the song from Mary Poppins stuck in my head while I was doing them.  It made me smile.

4.  I am grateful that Nathan found English Tea Cookies when he went to the store yesterday.  They made my hot chocolate so much better (when I was chilly when I had to open the windows - good excuse, right?).  They reminded me of when we were first married.  English Tea Cookies are one of the few things we splurged on when we were first married.  They are delicious with hot chocolate.  Then we couldn't find them anymore.  Nathan found them yesterday after over 10 years.  It totally made my day!!  I loved sharing them with my girls tonight and I'm hoping to share them with Owen tomorrow.

5.  I am grateful that I don't have anything going on tonight so I can go to bed early and hopefully feel so much better tomorrow so I can do a good clean on the parts of my house I can clean. 

The Land of the Living

It's late, so I'm not going to post much, but it's great to be feeling a little better today.  I started getting sick on Friday and was pretty sure I'd be sick through Saturday.  Saturday I wasn't too bad and was able to work outside for the morning, but started going downhill that afternoon.  I was expecting that was as bad as it was going to get and I'd feel better on Sunday, but it might take me a few days to get all better.  Sunday I thought I was going to die.  I couldn't get comfortable even with ibuprofen.  I was counting down to my next dose.  I've never done that unless I had just had surgery.  Last night I got a priesthood blessing and this morning I finally began to feel a little better.  Still definitely sick, but better.

This sickness has made me feel horrible about how I treated my kids when they were sick with it.  I wasn't overly harsh, but we were on vacation when Owen got sick and I wasn't very attentive to him.  With Zoey it was a little better, but I realized that I could have been a whole lot more sympathetic.  My poor kids!

1.  I am grateful for the perspective this sickness has given me.  I'm hoping I can hold on to it for a while.

2.  I am grateful that I'm back in the land of the living today.  Everyone in my house has commented on how much better I'm looking.  That's saying a lot because people who didn't see me yesterday think I look horrible.

3.  I am grateful that I felt good enough tonight to watch Return of the Jedi.  My kids watched it yesterday for our Sunday night movie and even the sounds gave me a headache.  I had to go where I couldn't hear them very well to get any relief.  I've finally watched all 3 of the original Star Wars movies.

4.  I am grateful to have my taxes done and ready to be sent off tomorrow morning.

5.  I am grateful for sweats.  That's all I've been living in for the last 3 days.  They are very comfy.  I'd better feel better tomorrow, though because I'm out until I wash again.