Oh, the busyness

I have to say that the advent of spring [with no snow this week to dampen our spirits] has certainly cheered everybody in this house right up. We currently have a lawn in our backyard! It's some type of seasonal grass, and usually goes away in the summer, but always reappears in September. Weird, but pretty for now :)

Jared's in Idaho this week, saving the world one training manual at a time. His kids are currently: practicing their Tarzan yell from a tree in the backyard [Walker], picking grass to make a nest for an as-yet-unchosen animal [Morgen], and choosing some weapons [sticks] to chase his siblings with [Hyrum]. I really LOVE my backyard. Just add kids, and you have instant fun and games! Well, sometimes you get mud, too, but only if you're really, really lucky.

Did you know that my kids yell at each other? As in, *first name, middle name, last name*, this is my *unusual name for a house* and it has a *weird name for protection* to keep you *monster name* out!!! Yep. They yell at the dogs, too. I'm trying to decide if this means they are treating each other like pets, or the dogs like siblings...

Gratitude List:
* family visits- sorry about the sparse accommodations ;)
* more family visits this week
* another family visit next week [we'll be heading to see my in-laws]
* spring weather
* Library day!
* kids decided on their own to have a contest to see who could finish the most schoolwork before recess. Weird, but cool.
* I baked on Sunday- chocolate chip cookies. Mmmmm!
* Daily meditation time and the peace it spreads through my whole day.
* Jared's Idaho trip is only a week long.
* sunshine and blooming plants and HAPPINESS in my daily life today.

Easter

It's probably a deep psychological problem that causes my procrastination. Either that, or my short-term memory loss. Sunday last week somebody mentioned it being Palm Sunday, which meant I had one week to figure out what we were doing for Easter. It took me a few days, and an emergency shopping trip with a friend [thank you Rebecca!] but we did celebrate Easter this year.

Thursday the kids and I drove to 3 or 4 stores [memory's blurred, shopping with kids does that to me]. We ended up with 4 clay pots from Target's dollar spot, 3 6-packs of flowers to put in the pots, some potting soil, a pair of gardener's gloves [mine are either packed or lost- same thing at this point], and several toys to put on Myles' grave. Some of the toys may look familiar to you, if you own a dog. The big blue pretzel, for example. Or maybe the wacky-looking grey squeaky dog toy. :)It's all good- my dogs and my kids are great at sharing toys.

The kids pulled tags off the toys while I potted the flowers. Into each pot I put a white alyssum, a not-blooming-yet-but-soon-will-be-yellow snapdragon, and a pink-n-white dianthus. [and I actually remembered all the names- wow] We put the flowers and the toys out, then placed flowers on my grandparents' grave, my great-grandparents' grave, and on Laura May's grave as well. It was a beautiful sunny day, perfect for planting flowers. The extra plants went into our front flower bed.

Friday, Rebecca and I went looking for Easter presents. I knew I wanted to get "Bohnanza" [it's a card game], but I was also looking for easter outfits, and some other last-minute supplies for dying eggs. We ended up at Walmart [home of the great deal], and here are my children in their outfits:

I love that, on Easter, we celebrate how Jesus Christ broke the bands of death, making it possible to live again. I love the reminder that death is not the end. I'm glad that God loves me enough to want me with him always. I am trying to enjoy my life right now, with all of the messiness that it includes.

Gratitude List:

* fudge :)
* friends who will buy fudge with me so I don't have to eat it alone.
* Easter
* Easter egg hunts [no pictures, but I was glad we did it]
* my daffodils are beautiful
* green grass
* meditation time makes me much more mellow
* feeling God's grace in my life
* this video:

No snow

for two days now, and now that I've pointed that out it will probably snow tonight, ruining my spring yet again. But, some of my crocuses are still blooming- their little purple heads are drooping and yet they haven't given up. The daffodils are budding all over my front flower beds, and I am excited to see them open soon.

Just to keep some economic perspective, here are some stats:

2009
8% unemployment rate
4.5 % interest rate

27 years ago, in 1982:
12% unemployment rate
17% interest rate

So, seriously? I'm thinking that the less TV/Radio "news" I listen to, the more optimistic I feel. Because I can look at the stats and see for myself that it really isn't as bad as CNN claims. I mean honestly, we aren't even CLOSE to 30% unemployment, which was what the stats were in the 1930's, during the Great Depression.

And on to more important [:) at least in my life] things: Hyrum finished his reading workbook [goodbye Little Critter, we will miss your stories about lost kittens and naughty puppies]. He is reading out of the beginning books that my mom gave me, and needs very little help with the words. This is a good thing, as we are reading words like "garden" and "four furry feet" instead of "max sat on a mat." So his reading practice now consists of 3 of these little readers a day. I also ordered cursive writing workbooks for Morgen, which she's added to her school schedule, and math workbooks for Hyrum, also now in his school schedule. Depending on how quickly we finish up Walker's math [currently about 50 lessons/tests left], we should be finished by the end of May. :0

Gratitude List:
* good weather
* treats ;)
* outside walking
* text messaging my husband, just because I can
* knitting projects
* peace in the house
* hope is slowly creeping into my soul
* podcasts to keep me optimistic
* good books, especially Good Books [scriptures]
* my family
* my friends
* we finished school with no complaints and excitement about new workbooks.

Not alone

This weekend I participated in a semi-annual [April and October] general conference given by my Church leaders. I wish I had been able to sit and soak up all of the wisdom and spiritually enriching talks that were shared. However, I have the audio in a podcast already [downloaded this morning], and by Thursday the English text will be available online at LDS.org.

And I have been listening to another podcast regularly, and picked up this quote from it:

"You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.

You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

You cannot further the brotherhood of man by encouraging class hatred.

You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.

You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.

You cannot build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence.

You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves."

-Abraham Lincoln

I am doing my best to continue to live frugally, keeping our monthly expenditures within our monthly earnings. We are down to 2 debts: our house [which is for sale, and will soon be paid], and one student loan [with thrift we'll get this paid off in another year]. I'm not seeing any fiscal responsibility happen at a state or national level, with our government, which means I will be voting against several incumbents this coming election.

Gratitude List:
* my parents and siblings
* friends and neighbors
* craft books- they are seducing me with their ideas, and I so want to make something!
* music
* warm, sunny weather today
* I went shopping Friday and found some really cute candy to put in my kids' easter baskets :)
* a beautiful story about Easter by Elder Holland
* my husband and sons
* taking time to meditate on my scriptures this morning.

Hah! and other random comments

:) I very casually put the pitcher of April Fool's juice on the table for dinner tonight. Ha ha ha ha!!! Walker tried to pour it, and ended up having Jared tell him that something must have happened to it while it was in the fridge... :) at which point I smiled and said "April Fool's!!" Good thing that the jello went well with dinner tonight.

So last weekend we drove over to Heber/Midway to look at rental houses. When we began discussing this whole move thing, we both wanted to rent in Heber. But we haven't found anything that feels "right" for us, even with the almost daily additions to the online lists of houses for rent there. Midway, on the other hand, feels "right." Weird, and wonderful, all at once, to feel so strongly about this before we've even sold our house.

Gratitude List:
* prayer, and answers to prayer- even when He answers "NO"
* my kids
* Jared
* good friends/neighbors
* family
* repentance
* scriptures
* hot cocoa in the mornings
* playing my april fool's prank a day late and getting a good laugh from it
* a constantly changing weather report ;)

Fooled you!

I had plans for April Fool's Day. Big plans, involving a meatloaf "cake" with mashed potato "frosting" and some gelled juice [just try pouring it LOL]. But, we had a showing for our house that night, so the juice sat, unpoured, in the fridge, and my meatloaf "cake" got procrastinated to another time. Instead, we went down to Thanksgiving Point, and hung out with Nate and Caitlin and their boys for a while. We also saw "Monsters vs. Aliens" which my kids truly loved :)

Gratitude List:
* Scriptures
* Our house has been officially on the market for one week, and we've had 6 showings. We have another one today.
* House has stayed sparkling clean, because my kids are helping me keep it picked up.
* Spring is coming. My crocuses and daffodils are blooming, sometimes through the snow, and I love seeing their green leaves poking up above the ground.
* A furnace that works well :) for those not-quite-spring snowstorms.
* God continues to bless me and my family.

quickie answers

Emily, the white organizational thing is the Expedit bookcase from Ikea. Canvas bins were a surprise find at Target.
Judy, breakfast cake is GOOD. :) I've also seen it in recipe books as coffee cake, but when my mom baked it, she called it breakfast cake.

And, there is a sign in my front yard. We are officially listed now. Let the showings begin ;)

Show-worthy

So, this is our new carpet:

I thought about taking pictures of the new paint, but... well, that didn't work out. All walls and closets and doors, etc have been painted by my long-suffering husband. And they look fantastic, darling.

Now, I do not do well when things are out of place. So, when we got the call Thursday that the carpet installers were on their way to our house, I took the kids and deserted Jared. Temporarily, of course. :) We ate lunch at Ikea [always good for an hour's worth of looking around and trying out all the furniture], then headed down to Thanksgiving Point. According to this scale, I have a goat and her kid's worth of children. Wonder if I could trade... The kids got a pony ride each, and spent a lot of time feeding corn to the chickens and turkeys. We also walked through the gardens- they're sort of closed right now, but members can get in to go walking. We saw 2 or 3 other people there. Being solitary has advantages: my kids got to run and scream and play "BEAR!" because nobody else was around. We headed back home about 5:30, stopping to get sandwiches for dinner. Normally, I'd cook [okay, normally SOMEBODY would cook], but with the table on its side, the kitchen chairs stacked on each other, plus a couch and a desk squeezed into the kitchen, I couldn't even see the counter, much less reach it to prepare anything. We ate outside. The carpet guys got all the carpet laid except for the living room, so after dinner we moved furniture again, leaving that room bare and echoing. Friday, I read a few chapters of history to the kids, and we colored in my bedroom while the carpet guys finished up. Then we straightened and organized and scrubbed things the rest of Friday and all day Saturday.

I feel like I'm living in a Stepford house. This is my new living room- all neat and tidy and dusted :)

This is my craft room. With all that scrapbooking junk out of the way [ha ha], this room is so big and open :)

Sunday my planning meeting was cancelled [hooray!] so I made bread. 4 beautiful, golden, delicious loaves, waiting for me to gobble them all up. Or, ummm, maybe I got a few bites in before I took pictures. So, 3 1/2 loaves waiting for me to gobble them all up :) Warm-because-it's-fresh-out-of-the-oven-homemade bread, drizzled with butter and honey, is my favorite comfort food. And I could totally eat an entire loaf all by myself. I didn't, but I could ;)

This morning, just because I could, I made breakfast cake. I am a baking fool.

Gratitude List:
* New paint and carpet :)
* Neat and tidy house- I know it won't last, but someday ...
* Mmmm, more homemade bread in the freezer, waiting for me.
* Hot cocoa and breakfast cake taste SOOOOOO good when it's snowing outside. Yep, those early-blooming crocuses are now under two [so far] inches of snow. And it's still falling.
* We'll have plenty of water for gardening this summer.
* I have a yard, so I can banish my children from the house instead of killing them. :) :)
* Even with the snow, it is still warm enough to send kids outside without endangering their health.
* Time this morning to read my scriptures.
* All the blessings my Heavenly Father has given me today.
* The Library.
* A working furnace.
* 4WD so I am not stranded at home, even if it does keep snowing.
* A washer and dryer, because doing my laundry by hand and then hanging it up to air dry would really stink in this weather. LOL, so would wearing the same clothing all winter and washing it the following spring ;).

And we're off

We have new carpet all over our house.

I am not ready for this.

More accomplishments to be proud of

My day:
- wakes up at 7:50am because dh's phone makes some weird, loud noise.
- puts on his Air Force sweatshirt, her black yoga pants, and a pair of flip-flops.
- stumbles out to the living room, where kids are transfixed by '3-2-1-Penguins' cartoon and informs them that Walker is in charge till Mom and Dad get back. no response from kids.
- opens the gate while dh backs the Durango out of the driveway.
- hopes none of the neighbors see her leave kids unsupervised.
- gives husband directions to storage unit.
- husband rolls down window and comments, "Hey, I thought they [car repair shop] were supposed to fix that squeak." [wife is way too cold to like driving w/window down, even if husband must listen to important car-sound thing.]
- unloads big heavy boxes and one small heavy bookcase at storage unit [the purpose of this act of temporary child abandonment- get junk in car to storage so there's room for important hunting equipment in back.]
- keeps window down to listen to car-sound thing, in case it changes.
- drops wife at home, then drives now-squeaking Durango back to car repair shop. wife has shower. kids haven't moved from couch.
- husband calls 4 times while wife is in shower. when she returns his call, she finds out that the U-joints are bad [they hold the transmission in place, so when they go, so does the transmission. right onto Foothill Boulevard, actually, which necessitates husband leaving work and driving an hour to pick up stranded wife and kids, then dropping them at home and arranging for a tow truck to collect undrivable Durango while wife self-medicates with chocolate. 2 years later, memories are still fresh.] thankfully, U-joints are going bad, but haven't arrived yet, so transmission is still attached to vehicle.
- husband stays at car-repair shop and supervises necessary repairs.
- wife is now awake, and eating breakfast.
- kids get dressed and eat breakfast, during commercial breaks in cartoons.
- kids whine about missing commercials. no sympathy given.
- kids notice that "good" cartoons end at 10am. hooray. herds kids into car, and loads a bowl of shredded chicken and 2 hard-boiled eggs into trunk.
- drives to church building, unloads chicken, eggs, and kids, takes a call from husband who tells her cost of repair and that it isn't finished yet. reassures wife that this won't ruin his planned day of hunting. wife is thrilled.
- herds kids into church building, stopping at kitchen which is locked; no key. takes kids to nursery room, makes them put coats/shoes/socks/boots together in one pile. threatens with dismemberment if noise is made. or toy boxes are broken.
- heads back to room next to kitchen. calls husband. car repairs progressing slowly. decides to send oldest child home [5 minute walk] for keys to kitchen.
- oldest child agrees. he leaves building, and close friend with keys opens kitchen door.
- eventually, oldest child returns, with no longer needed keys.
- kids are invited to play with friend at the gym, and their departure is eagerly encouraged.
- church activity goes relatively smoothly. breathes a huge sigh of relief.
- goes home. packs 2 boxes and labels them. gets out crocheted blanket and sits down to take a break.
- kids call 1 hour later, wanting to extend their gym time. permission granted.
- more crocheting, and self-medicating with chocolate occurs.
- kids home. younger son brings in mail. kids abandon house for neighbor's much-more-interesting garage.
- opens mail. renews driver's license by filling out questionnaire. wonders how DMV ensures truthful answer to questions: "Have you suffered from, or been under a doctor's care for, any disability or condition that may affect your ability to safely operate a motor vehicle?" finds out how government is raising money to pay for stimulus package: "Do you authorize the DMV to release your name and address for commercial sales or marketing purposes?"
- writes a check out. uses a christmas stamp on envelope.
- wonders about dinner. takes pictures of DMV forms instead.
- wonders about dinner again. posts instead. crochets blanket some more.