Back to the Grind!

Well, Spring Break is over. It went by just a bit too fast for my liking. I could so get used to not making that drive to A.F. every day. I'm really looking forward to the end of school this year.

We puttered around for the first two days of break, doing some yardwork for Great-Grandma Y and visiting with family. Grandma Welch was in town from GA to help Aunt N with her new twin boys. Tuesday we took most of the kids and went to the matinee of Meet the Robinson's in 3D. It was such a fun little movie with a good message and the 3D part made it extra fun! I'm sure we all looked so COOL(ie:dorky) in our 3D glasses. Wednesday I took the 5 youngest kiddos and headed south! Stayed at my parents house til yesterday and then reluctantly made the drive home. Unfortunately the weather really didn't cooperate with us for doing any out of doors activities while we were there. It was either too windy, cold or rainy/snowy. So we made the best of it and played with cousins and just hung out at Grandma's house. I always love going home even if we don't have anything 'special' planned. For me, just getting out of the city and being with my sisters and parents is a treat. I know that it can be overwhelming when my hoarde and I descend upon them all, but I appreciate how readily they take us in. Thanks, Mom and Dad! Love ya!

Due to the nature of my travels this week, I did not make much progress on my habits. So I'm rewinding to last week again. I really did take my exercise clothing with me and was hoping to walk there every day, but the weather just was not nice enough for me! What can I say, I'm a wimp!

I am also going to add a new habit this week that I thought of on my drive home last night. I have not taken the time to play the piano for such a long time. So I'm going to add playing the piano for at least 10 minutes a day. Practice up on the hymns again. I love playing the piano, and although I cannot play to accompany anyone(I freeze up!), I love to play for my own enjoyment and I find it very therapeutic. If I'm bothered by my kids, I can sit at the piano and before long the thumping and banging changes to lovely peaceful hymns. I can't believe I didn't think of this before.

Have a great week!

A Roof, We have a Roof!!!

Wow, it has finally happened. C and D(friend who knows construction) have been busy as little bees working up on our roof the last two days and finished putting in the large beam that will hold up the roof when we remove the kitchen wall, finished the trusses and got the sheathing done and I believe they are now putting down the tar paper stuff. I'm beyond excited. From here on out, with the exception of the plumbing and electrical stuff, C can do lots of the work himself. Next on the agenda are a door and windows and duct work for the new rooms so we can put in a new furnace and A/C. Wahoo!

Speaking of bees, we got a new batch today for our second hive! We are hoping to get lots more honey this year with a well established hive from last year and a new hive as well. Go girls!!!

We have been busy this week trying to get the yard looking better. Got a few more annuals for the raised flower bed, a garden hook for a hanging plant (still not sure what to plant in it) and also planted a few potatoes in the garden. The beans and corn I planted in a little started box last week are growing like crazy. Wish I dared put them out, but I need to wait a bit longer so they won't get frozen like the tomato C planted last week. Poor little thing. Still no peas or lettuce up yet.

Well, I ought to update my habits.....ok, it was a so-so week. Started out great, but as the week went on and I got busier with committments at school, ie; fitting costumes for the Shakespeare play and driving for the Kindergarten field trip as well as a dr. appt, I sort of forgot or was just too darn tired.
I'm going back over my list and the one that I see I've really slipped on is my exercise. So that's what I'm going to focus on this week again. So hard to get back into it after doing nothing for 3 weeks. Ugh! But I know it will help in all areas of my life. I love how I feel about myself when I am active and that it makes me want to eat more healthily. So that's my habit re-do! Check out Lara's blog for more info on Smart Habit Saturday's. Join in for a chance to win prizes!

I got two fun packages in the mail in the last week. The first was for getting my name drawn over at Wendy's blog and she was WAY generous. It was full of fun things like foam stamps, acrylic paint, rub-on's, charms, frames, ribbon and more. Then a couple of days later my name was drawn in a contest over at Christy's blog, and I just got that fun package today. She sent an adorable little felt covered notebook(red-one of my favorite colors) and some great papers and embellishments to go with it. I'm still trying to figure out a fun thing to do with it. Any suggestions? It's about 3x5 big. I'm still so amazed that I was lucky twice in a week's time. Thanks so much Wendy and Christy, 8-D!!

SHS Easter Version

Easter is not really a big deal at our house. Not that we don't love and appreciate the reason for the holiday, but the whole Easter bunny, basket, new dress stuff just isn't a big deal here. Sometimes I feel really bad about that.....but not too bad. We did run and pick up a few things for the baskets at WalMart tonight and I have a turkey thawing for Sunday dinner. I need to make rolls tomorrow and check the rest of the menu. This will be the first big Easter dinner we've done, but I think that's a tradition I'd rather have than the flagrant spending of more money. I know that I need to do a better job of helping the kids(and myself) remember why we really celebrate Easter. What traditions do you have that help you remember the real reason?

I'm trying to be the first to post on Lara's SHS this time. So I'll be brief. Had a so-so week. I don't think I did any of my habits every single day but everything has been worked on and I think that's a pretty good habit!

Going to add flossing to my face washing this week. I really should have this habit down, after all I am a trained dental assistant. I KNOW how important flossing is and how many problems it prevents, but for some reason I have never been in the habit of doing it on a regular basis. So that's my newbie for the week. Have a great one!

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.

Trying to post some pictures!

Hey, I'm just trying to figure out how to post more than one picture in my blog and also how to put text between them. Can anyone help me out?





Here is S on his first birthday. He was lots of fun that day.

Here he is getting his first haircut.

Here is our addition with the trusses hanging inside the room. They are now upright. Guess I need a new picture.

Wow, it looks like I might have figured this out. I have a couple more pictures to post regarding organization stuff I've been doing, but I'll do that another time.

**update: No, I don't have it figured out, cause I've tried and tried to line that third picture up and I can't get it to move. so this will have to do......tired of messing with it.

SMART Habit Saturday, a day late and a few goals short!

I wonder why I am bothering to even put this on the list. For the life of me I can't seem to remember to do anything. With the exception of eating, of course, which is the one thing I should forget to do.

Anyhoo here goes:

Exercise: only once this week. Just too many things that had to be done and exercise got pushed off.

Prayer: I think I need to invest in a boulder sized prayer rock so that I really stub my toe in the a.m. to remind me. What works for you???? I wonder if a large poster on my ceiling would help, or have my alarm play "Ere you left your room this morning".

Early to bed: stunk this one up well. C and I need to get on the same page on this one. He hasn't been feeling well and so is watching lots of TV and I have sort of either gotten stuck downstairs in front of the tube with him or upstairs on the computer waiting in vain for him to come up.

Oraganize 3 things: This is the only thing that I did do this week. I started organizing all my scrap embellishment stuff by color. Still need a couple of small drawer units to finish it up. But I did get rid of lots of stuff I'll never use.
I went through the hall/utility closet and organized it. Hung up a drawer unit, and separated out all the screws, nails, picture hanging stuff, outlet covers, etc. Then I put together a tool caddy, a gardening caddy and got rid of lots of cleaning supplies. I can actually get my vacuum in it easily now. I also finished up the bathroom closet, getting the 3 drawer unit in and getting it filled. Everything now has a designated spot and it will be so much easier to find what you're looking for there.

Hope this week is a better one for me and that its productive for you as well. I will be a work widow so this may sideline me again, since I will be doing all the school driving this week. But I'm not going to use that as an excuse to not even try.

What's a mother to do?

Well, it happened.

My first baby went and turned 18 yesterday. Without my permission.

What a strange thing to say and think about. I absolutely can't believe how quickly 18 years can go by. I don't feel much older than that myself. Of course, I am reminded of the fallacy of that thought every time I look in the mirror. I made him pick out what he wanted for supper and made him a cake. We got him some new clothes which of course weren't the right thing. I have hopes of him someday wearing his pants at the proper altitude.

We ate our supper of Chicken Parmigiana and salad, cleaned up and waited around for the party to begin. After my sis and her family and J's friend T came over, we lit the candles, sang to him and made him blow out the candles. I told him it was the last time we would make him do it. It was a very low key birthday, but it was so nice to have family and friends here to help celebrate this special day in a special young man's life. He is really a good young man, with great potential. I'm looking forward to seeing what the next 18 years bring with him. Love ya, J!

SMART Saturday Holiday weekend version

I have been wracking my brain trying to remember if I followed through on any of my habits this week, and I honestly know I did something but can't remember what it was.

It has been such a crazy week with lots going on at the kids school and extra meetings and functions there, that required so much of my time. I think I got in about 8-10 extra volunteer hours this week and C got 5-6. I'm hoping to have a somewhat quieter week next week.

I didn't even get in all my exercising this week, just not home enough......

SO, this week, is just a renewal of all the same old things I'm trying to work on. I think I will have to go back and read what they were, since I'm having a hard time even remembering them.

I would like to get on here one week and report a perfect week...hahaha! Haven't failed til I quit trying.

*update: My brain finally kicked in and I remembered the one organizational thing I did this week. I spent a lot of time Sunday on the computer organizing and catergorizing my pictures. I then burned most of them onto cd's. This is a huge load off my mind. Now I'm not so worried about losing them if my computer crashes. I need to do a bit more 'clean-up' of pictures, deleting duplicates, etc., then delete the duplicates off my camera so I can take new pictures.

Whew, it's nearly over

Last school holiday party down for this year for me as the holiday room mother. Why, oh why, do I get myself into these things? Actually, it hasn't been bad being the room mom for an upper grade class. The kids are really easy to please and don't have to have tons of structured activities. They have always been really wonderful about participating in the activities and thankful for the treats. They are just plain fun, too!
C got to see that for himself today because they needed an additional driver for their field trip up to the Capitol to see the legislative process at work. He got to drive a carload of boys up and back. Good thing he's great with kids and is a Scoutmaster. He has no trouble having fun with them, but being firm, too.

So, after all the 'stuff' I've had on my mind for the past couple of days, I came home from school and literally crashed, taking a much needed nap, and I let 5 Buck Pizza cook for us tonight. Heart shaped pizzas, kind of fun! I think I am just mentally exhausted. I still have more to do, now it's on to the baby shower invites(70) for my SIL and I get to cut out 5 cardboard goats for H's class's Heidi celebration next week.

So, again, I say Whew! Just to catch my breath and dive back in!

I have to be the world's dumbest blogger....

I have been feeling really bad because no one ever left me any comments on my blog and wondering if I was such an incredibly boring blogger that no one had anything to say. Then today for some reason I had to go to my dashboard to change the language from Spanish back to English (don't ask how it got changed to Spanish, I have no idea) and saw that I had lots of comments that had to be moderated to be posted. And it was so fun to read them and realize that someone has actually read this silly blog.

So, thanks to all of you who left me comments and I promise to look for them more often.
There, now I feel better!

So I really sort of slacked off on SMART Habits. I think my brain only functions half the time and for some reason those things I've wanted to work on don't cross my mind like they should.

I am still trying to organize and I cleaned off the dresser in my room, hung up some pictures I've been meaning to do for years, moved the baby's crib and dresser to make more room in our room for them and put more clothes in the new tubs I bought getting rid of the old, raggedy cardboard boxes.

I did get three sessions of exercise in this week. That was great! That kick-boxing was killer-I'm still sore and I'm sure it was hilarious to watch.

I also did research online to gather information on some of the 'skills' I'm trying to 'store' up. I have added to my list and I've divided it into three areas:

Food:
*Cheese making-have recipes, need to practice
*canning-need to get a new pressure canner and gather more bottles, practice canning meat
*sourdough-found a place to get a free start from some 150 year old starter and will be sending for that this week so I can learn to make bread from it
*Honey Candy-(this is a family tradition that will die if I don't learn to do it. Of my grandma's 10 children only two currently make it; my mom and my uncle. I don't want to let this die, so I'm going to learn to make and stretch it properly)
*Dutch oven cooking-have oven and recipes now just need nice weather so we can practice
*Pickles-no info here but I want to try to make some this year

Yard/Garden:
*composting-lots of info, this week I found a good article on building compost bins
*Veggie gardening-Need more info on raising potatoes and onions and how to stake up tomatoes
*Fruit/vines-want to learn more about raising fruit and grapes and berries. Need to check with the extention office for info for Ut Co.
*Root cellar-Found a good website with info on all these 'old-fashioned' things that our forebears had to know to survive. The Old-Timer's Page. I would like to build a small one, if I thought we were going to be here at this house forever.....
*Harvesting and storing seed-found a good article about harvesting wildflower seed and how to clean and store them. Need to find info for vegetables.

Home:
*Pattern making-Found a neat system online called The Lutterloh System that I think would work well and for the price it would work for our entire family. Pondering purchasing this just for preparation's sake
*Hand stitching-need to practice my hand stitching. If I had to make clothing and stitch it by hand I'm not sure it would stay put together.
*Quilting-pretty much the same idea here. Maybe make a wall-hanging to practice piecing on.
*Knitting-I have learned many times, but can't ever remember how. Need to get needles and some stitch guides. I want to start this one right away.

And I finally downloaded some pictures and I'll post them here when I figure out how to get them from my photoshop album. Like I said, I AM the world's dumbest blogger.

Where did my baby go??

Well, it's official.....Soren is no longer a 'baby'. I took the buzzer to his lovely blonde hair today and he now looks like a little boy instead of a rugrat. It was hard to watch all that hair dropping away from his head, but it was time. I put him in his high chair, put my cape on him and proceeded to cut. He was amazingly still for me, I only had to distract him from the comb and scissors a couple of times. He looks so cute now, Jordan put a bit of hair goop in his hair and gave him a mini faux-hawk like his. I love how I can see his expressive eyes and eyebrows now.

He has also started saying 'Whoa!' all the time now. Whenever anything falls or he bumps into things or throws things, out it comes....."WHOA!"

And tonight he started winking his eyes at the girls at the dinner table unsolicited. SO ADORABLE!

I am amazed at how quickly a year in a child's life can fly by and how much I feel like I missed. I feel like the time is just literally slipping through my fingers like water. I try to hold on to it, but I can't. What a blessing this last year has been with Soren. I'm so thankful for the lessons I've learned along the way. I'm thankful to have had one more chance to enjoy the wonders of infancy and childhood, because I think I have a heightened sense of it's fleetingness and it's pricelessness. When I watch him I can't help but try to think back to all the other kids at his age and try to remember all the little details that are threatening to slip away. Hopefully I will find or make time to record these feelings and memories and emotions before they fly!

Midweek Madness

Whew, Wednesday's over. It has been a busy one. But a good one too. My friend Kristi, had an entry in her blog about good things. I thought it would be nice to try to really focus and come up with some good things that are happening in my life right now.

1-kids are doing well in school. Case in point, today C and M each came home from school with an engraved medal and a certificate for winning in their class spelling bees. C took 1st place and M took 2nd. They will now compete against each other and the other winners in the All School Spelling Bee. Happy Mom moment!

2-The window openings in our new dining room got framed in today. Just need to order windows now. We have picked them out, just have not put the order in for processing.

3-SJ is mostly sleeping through every night now. He's only 13 months old....it's about time. Now, I just need to make myself get to bed earlier and up earlier.

4-I have been pretty consistent in exercising. We updated our television service and we now have FitTV and I find that I like many of their workout programs and I can pick and choose so I don't get bored so quickly. And I like it better than going to a gym...Uck!

5-Got to have a nice quiet leisurely lunch by myself today. I got to spend 1 1/2 hours helping in SK's kindergarten class and then to wait til pick up time I went to Subway and ate. It was nearly 2 pm and the place was mostly empty. It was loverly.

6-Used my new Cricut machine to make a quick thank you note today. I love that little machine. I need to use it more often. Need to make some cute Valentine candy boxes for the kids to take to school.....

7-The inversion is gone for a day or two. It snowed last night and the gunk in the air is gone. It was absolutely heavenly today to see the blue sky, the mountains, the lake and sparkly snow everywhere.

8-J came home tonight and told me that he had just filled out his papers for his Eagle Scout project... I believe my jaw nearly hit the floor. I had given up on that one. I'm praying that his project gets approved.

9-Tried a new recipe tonight. I have never had chili Cincinnati style before. I had seen it before and thought it was strange, but for some reason when I saw it on the Betty Crocker website today it sounded like something to try. And I had all the ingredients. It was GOOD and I actually liked it and I'm happy to have another reason to make chili. Most of my kids liked it, even though it was just 'WEIRD' to them.

10-Used my new pressure cooker again. Got it for Christmas. Love that I can cook up a batch of beans in 1/2 hour. My mom always used her when I was growing up and I assumed I would have one when I grew up, but for some reason I have never had one til now. Guess that makes me a grown up now! LOL! But it is a really handy tool to have and so Thanks, MOM! I think it's one of the best gifts I've gotten.

That's it. Hope you had a GOOD day too!

SMART Habit Saturday

Just trying to figure out this goal tracking thing.

I had a fairly good week in most areas, but not in getting to bed on time. I just seem to crave that quiet time at the end of the day for myself. I think this week I will set bedtime at 11:00 which is more doable for me.

I exercised three times, once for 1/2 hour and twice for 45 minutes. We recently upgraded our TV service and I find I'm really liking the FitTV channel. I have lots of different workouts to choose from and I'm not getting bored as quickly.

I bought some containers this week for organizing and reorganized the main toiletry shelf in the bathroom closet (got rid of lots of old stuff), revamped the 'junk' drawer in the kitchen and fought my way through my stack of receipts to get the check book up to date.

This feels really good, to actually be making some progress.

This week I will continue to exercise, hopefully for an hour a day, 3x.
I will get to bed by 11:00 pm
I will do three more organizational jobs.
And I'll add......morning prayer. I have a hard time getting that one in and I NEED it.