Need a new Vacuum?

Just a quick note about a contest over at Five Minutes for Mom.

You can win a Dyson Slim vacuum. More info about the vacuum and contest can be found here.
Good luck!

Friday Edition of SHS!

Since tomorrow is General Conference, I'm going to do this today so it doesn't get left til Monday again. We are so excited for Conference. My kids have learned to love this weekend. It could be because they don't have to dress up and go to church, or it could be the tons of Goldfish crackers they get to eat while watching Conference, but I'm hoping that it's because they get to listen to our prophet and apostles and feel the Spirit touch their hearts. As they get older I think they are learning to love it for those reasons. With the little ones, I am just happy that they will sit still and quietly for a bit.

Interesting week here, busy as usual, but it's been hard to be happy about that busyness. I think that has something to do with the weather. I am such a lover of sunshine. I would go absolutely ballistic if I lived in WA where the sun never really shines, at least not often. I NEED sunshine. Must be why I loved AZ, where it shines 360 days a year.

Had a nice lunch and visit with a friend this week. She used to live on our street but moved to Alpine about 4 years ago. It was fun to see her new home and her new daughter and just relax and talk. I need to do things like this more often.

On the SHS front:
-this weeks goal of limiting blog reading to 1/2 hour went fairly well. I have had a bored habit of checking my favorite blogs more than once a day and I decided that once a day was plenty and I can accomplish that in 1/2 hour. It paid off for me too, as I won a contest on one of those blogs and will be getting a little package in the mail shortly. Thanks, WendySue!

-recording transactions into the checkbook every night-went well, except for yesterday. Plan to get to that today. I'm liking this habit and it sure saves me a big job later down the road.
-reading to baby-slacked a bit and only read him a book twice.
-wash pots and pans before bed-did great here, and I love my clean sink area.
-getting to bed on time-this was better this week. Not quite a habit yet though.
-am prayers-still working for me to do them at breakfast time.
-exercise/weight loss-exercise was a bust this week, can't seem to find my motivation. Who took it????????????/
-organization-great week here. C and I went through the bookshelves and CD's and videos and took a load of stuff to DI. Nice to have that pile of extra boxes out of the family room finally. I also made a dent in my recipe pile. Need to get a 3-hole punch and make a binder for the ones I want to save that are off the internet or from Homemaking, etc.

Going to add this week: Washing my face every night. I'm so bad about just brushing my teeth and crawling in bed. It really doesn't take that long to wash my face as well and my skin needs the help. Gotta love hormones and the havoc they wreak on women, ugh!

Have a great weekend.

Spring has Sprung!

Oh, the sunshine is so glorious today and we have spent the day working on the yard and on the addition to the house. C has worked like a madman and the rest of us have put in a half hour of work or so to help......The flowerbeds are looking wonderful in their new coat of compost as are the garden boxes.

I got to go grocery shopping...my least favorite activity of all time. Or one of them, at least. Call it a light-bulb moment or an epiphany or what have you, but it finally dawned on me this week that because C puts all the household operating $$ in my account once a month, that it would be possible for me to make a month's worth of menus and shop once. Let's see, one big shopping trip on one hand and one small trip a day on the other......Which would you choose????
I spent Thursday evening making up a menu and a shopping list and did the lion's share of the shopping today. Still need to hit Sam's or Costco for the produce and cheese and Walmart for a few non-food things, but I'm feeling so pleased with having that icky chore done. I realize that we will still have to get more produce and dairy, but that's no biggie.

Add to this the fact that now I do not have to think every single day what to make for supper and this has been a huge boost for me. Hooray!

On the SHS front:
-last week's goal of recording transactions into the checkbook every night was a success and it's sure nice knowing where my account is sitting. Will keep this one going to make it a good habit.

-reading to baby-C helped me with this and we probably got in 4 or 7 days.
-wash pots and pans before bed-this one is a toughie for me, but I think I managed it twice.
-getting to bed on time-this was better this week. Not quite a habit yet though.
-am prayers-still working for me to do them at breakfast time.
-exercise/weight loss-exercise was a bust this week. Had a nice weight loss(8lbs) but that was due to barfing my guts up on Monday night/Tues morning. Still learning to stop eating when I'm full and honoring my hunger. I am amazed at how little I need to eat to feel satisfied when it's something I like.
-organization-went through the girls drawers and closets last night to pull out things that are too small or no longer used and took a load of things to D.I. Also rearranged the food room shelves to house all the groceries I bought today.

This week I'm going to work on another bad habit I'm developing. I'm going to limit my blog reading time to 1/2 hour per day. Yikes, I better learn to speed read.

That's all for now, have a wonderful week.

What did I do to deserve this?

I'm wondering why my house has been cursed for the last month with germs, bacteria and viruses. We have run the gamut from sinus infections to pinkeye to stomach flu. It's been an absolute nightmare in terms of missed days from school, church, and other activities. Every time I think we're done, something else turns up. And it's so unusual for our family. We have always been very healthy, the only time I see a dr is for my annual exam or for OB care. In fact, he asked me once who my kids saw. I was stumped and asked what he meant. He wondered who we were taking the kids to for medical care. I laughed and told him that he was definitely our doctor but that they just never get sick enough to see a doctor.

Whatever I've done, I repent of it right now. Now, all you GERMS, BACTERIA AND VIRUSES are banished. BEGONE, I say!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

New week, hopefully a healthy one!

Well, I sent all the kids off to school this morning. After nearly 4 weeks of having someone home sick, I'm hoping that we have gotten rid of the pinkeye and stomach flu bugs that have cursed our house. I need to go strip bedding and do a lot of washing today!

Got a new calling in church yesterday after not having had one for nearly 6 months. I am a Visiting Teaching Supervisor. I guess I'm up for another calling that mostly involves phone calls, even though I have phone-a-phobia. I guess it's Heavenly Father's way of helping me overcome that fear.

It has been absolutely gorgeous here lately, in fact, it's been almost too hot. But it is SO nice to see green again and to see my little daffodils and tulips pop open. The roses are rapidly putting on leaves and I see little purple buds on our plum tree. Won't be long before they all put forth their lovely flowers. I LOVE SPRING!! It is by far my favorite season of the year. I love to see things come back to life and to have it start to warm up. But the main reason that I like it more than summer or fall................LESS BUGS!! ;-p

I didn't do such a hot job at my habit-building last week. Could have been something to do with having my mom here, sick at that, and having H home from school for four days with pinkeye. Which isn't so bad, but we had lots of homework to get done, because Fri was the end of term. So I spent most of my days helping her and S get their work done. I feel like I should get a grade for all the time I put into homework.

For SHS I will add entering transactions into the checkbook each night to the mix. I have such a BAD habit of just tossing the receipts into my wallet and letting them pile up for months. I'd like to change that BAD habit for a GOOD one.

AM prayers-Found that if I do them at my Breakfast meal, I get them done.
Weight loss/Exercise 3 X-did exercise twice, but that's better than not at all, right? I'm almost finished with Intuitive Eating. I have really learned a lot from this book and I'm excited to see if it will help me have a better relationship with food and learn to like my body. We went to Brick Oven Pizza on Sat night with some of C's relatives who were in town and I kept myself to a good salad and I got some pasta, but didn't eat all of it, even though it was delicious. I realized that I was starting to feel way too full. I should not have had the soda to go with it! But it was nice to realize I felt full and that I could just take the rest home for another meal another day!
Getting to bed earlier-did pretty good this week. It's harder now that it stays light longer and I can't get the kids to go to bed. That really moves my quiet time back, but I'm still trying here.
Reading to baby-didn't get everyday. He still just likes to take the book from me and turn the pages as quickly as possible. We'll keep trying.
Wash the pots and pans before bed-stunk this one up royally. Must do better this week.
Organization-reorganized my stamping supplies to make room for the new pads I bought at the CTMH warehouse sale on Fri. Couldn't pass up CTMH inkpads for $2 each. I bought 14 of them. That's about all I got done in this area this week. I'm hoping to make a dent in my recipe/cookbook mess this month. It's something that has needed to be done for years, but I've never figured out the best way to organize my recipes. Any suggestions?????

Have a loverly week!

MORP

J got asked to MORP Tues night. SO FUN!

A girl left a stack of underT's on the step with a note that read, "I'd love to take you to MORP, but my name got lost in a crowd. You'll have to wash these shirts and the only name that remains is mine." All the tshirts were covered with names written in colorful marker. Most were kids from school, in his A Capella group, but there were some celebs mixed in. Some of the funnier ones were Queen Elizabeth, Brittany Spears, Anna Nicole Smith, Paris Hilton, Mary Poppins, Hilary Clinton.

He thought they were so fun and didn't want to wash them. In fact, he wore one to school yesterday for fun. But he had an idea who had asked him, so he washed the one with her name on it and, of course, her name didn't wash off. So now he's trying to figure out how to reply in a fun fashion. I'll let you know what he does.

I did take pictures of the note and the fronts and backs of all the shirts. That girl has some great handwriting. I think I need to hire her to do my titles in my scrapbooks. Seriously, cool writing!

What a lllooooooooooooong Week!

Man, am I glad this one's over. Feels like Monday was about a month ago.

In relation to SHS, it was not a very productive week. My baby started with stomach flu type stuff on Sunday and it peaked on Wed when he absolutely could not keep anything down. Fortunately, C got home that night and we were able to give him a blessing(in our church we administer to the ill through the power of the priesthood for healing) and he's been on the mend since then. Then on Thursday, my oldest daughter came down with it and is only feeling better today. And today my youngest daughter woke up with pinkeye. I'm so tired of cranky, sick kids.

But, I did read to my baby this week. Or at least I tried. He is not very interested in letting me read the words on the page, so we mostly just looked at pictures very quickly as he turned the pages.

On the organizational front: I did something today that I've wanted/needed to do for years. I went through a huge container of old cards and letters and grouped them accordingly. I found a very large stack of letters from my mom to me from when I was first married and having kids. She doesn't write much now, but I'm going to put them in order by date and put them in sheet protectors and into an album. I think it will serve as a type of journal. Also going to do the same with the letters from my late grandmother. It was truly a trip down memory lane today.
I also cleared off a large stack of things that needed to be filed.

Prayer: Don't know why I still struggle so much with this one. Still keeping it on my list to do.

Weight loss: Ever since I put my foot down about counting points, nothing has seemed to be so necessary to eat that I just HAVE to HAVE IT RIGHT NOW. Thanks to Lara, I bought the book Intuitive Eating and I'm studying it. I really like many of the things I'm reading and it's amazing how many of the behaviors and thought patterns that they talk about fit me. I did exercise 3X this week, even if one was very short and sweet, I'm still counting it!

Earlier Bedtime: This is becoming easier for me, but still not quite a habit.

My new habit to work on for this week is to wash the pots and pans before going to bed each night so that my sink area is clean! I procrastinate this so badly, that usually they all sit there til there is absolutely not a clean pan to be used.

There, that's it for this week.

Sunny Saturday! (finally)

It was absolutely so wonderful to see the sun today, even though it wasn't very warm, it warmed my soul to have sunshine. I am a person who needs sunshine and craves it. Must be why I loved living in AZ and consider myself a desert rat.

This week was a bit better on habits than I have been doing. I wouldn't consider any of them a permanent habit yet, but I feel like I'm making progress.

*I remembered my a.m. prayers more days than not this week.
*I did exercise, just didn't get three in. ( I tried, but did not have the right equipment on that day to go along with what the instructor was doing and didn't have time to catch a different class)
*I decided to stop trying to count points on WW. It was really stressing me out and making me crave and eat things I didn't really want. What is it about 'dieting' that makes you crave whatever item is a no-no? And yes, I know that WW isn't really 'dieting', that you can eat what you want in moderation as long as you count it, but for some reason it makes me crave those really high point things and think about eating them until I just can't stand it anymore and go and eat it til I think I can't eat another thing. So I'm still trying to eat the healthy stuff and stop eating between meals unless it's a fruit or veggie and drink my 8 cups of water a day, but NO MORE POINT COUNTING.
*I was an organizing freak this week. I finished my scrapbook stuff reorganization by color and can I say that I love it already. I found things I knew I had but didn't know where they were and now they will be a cinch to find. I labeled all those color drawers and the bathroom drawer units I filled last week. I went through the kids books and got rid of ones that were falling apart and set aside ones that I think my baby would like to look at now to put in a basket on his dresser. I moved the kids school notebooks from various places around the house to the now empty spot on the bookshelves. I made further adjustments to the hanging organizer I have in the master bath to hold all my stuff. I love my pedestal sink, but miss having a place to store all the stuff I need every day. I have looked and looked for a wall cabinet for over the toilet but can't find one I like, so my solution was to get a hanging shoe organizer to hang on the wall. It has 12 pockets and holds my vitamins, lotions, nail and heel files, nail polish and stickers, brushes and combs, hair spray and gel, cotton wipes, and I took the stitching out from between two of the pockets so that my makeup bag would fit in that space. It cost me $1 at Dollar Tree and until I find a cabinet that I like, it will work for me.
*I did a bit better at getting to bed earlier but still need to work on that one.

**This week I would like to work on reading a book each day to my baby. I currently spend lots of time reading with my Kindergartner and 2ND grader and my baby gets lost in the shuffle, so that's my new thing to work on.

Have a great week, everyone.