One of my favorite "celebrity" scrapbookers is Ali Edwards. In her newsletter and blog, she posted an article about choosing one word to be sort of your "theme" for the upcoming year. (You can read the article at http://aliedwards.typepad.com/_a_/2007/01/one_little_word.html). I love this idea!
I've been thinking about what my one word could be for 2007. It's hard to choose just one. I love words. At home, we have the words "joy", "hope" and "love" on the top of our entertainment center. Those are special, important words to me. I started a list of possible words I could use as my theme for 2007, thinking it would be easy to select the right word. It's not. The list gets longer and longer and longer the more I think about it.
Possibilities include:
Calm (who, me? Yeah, right!)
Free (free from...free to...)
Relax (I so need to work on this!)
Play (I seriously need to work on this)
Experience (as in experience life, be open to new experiences)
Simplify or Simplicity (for the Queen of Stuff, that's a hard one!)
Organize (again, a hard one for the Queen of Stuff)
Enjoy (needs no explanation but I'll give one anyway. I have a favorite CD and one of the songs on it talks about not just enduring to the end, but also enjoying to the end.)
Balance (again, something I need to work on)
Do (just do it...stop thinking about it and stop procrastinating...just jump in and do it)
Can (I loved Sis. Tanner's talk from the New Year's Eve Youth fireside..."I can do hard things." LOVE that!)
I'm not sure what my theme will be this year....I'll have to ponder that over the weekend. Ali's article includes a challenge to do a scrapbook layout, a project, or a blog entry explaining why we selected our word and why it is important to us. I can't even get my foot in the door of my scrapbooking room (that's where some simplifying and organizing would come in handy), but I can certainly post an explanation here about why I chose my word (when I actually do get the list narrowed down to one!).
I love that each new year brings with it the possibility to change, grow, learn, and start over. I don't love that it's already the 5th of January and I'm not doing so great on the resolutions I posted a few days ago. But that doesn't mean I can't start now.
So what will your word be?
Friday, January 5, 2007
Thursday, January 4, 2007
100 Things You May or May Not Know About Me
I saw this on a friend's blog and decided to do the same thing for myself!
100 Things You May or May Not Know About Me
1. I love listening to music, but I can't keep from dancing or moving to the beat whenever I'm listening to music
2. In high school, some friends and I had a "circle journal" and we would spent all of our free time (and some class time) writing notes to each other in it
3. I learned how to knit once but forgot how to do it about a week later
4. I love to read "fluff stuff" like People Magazine
5. I love school
6. I love writing research papers -- seriously!
7. I never had a pedicure before I moved to the south, but now I'm addicted
8. I love snow -- actually, I love looking at snow. Being in it is o.k. for a little while, but I love to look at it through a big window.
9. I am not an outdoorsy kind of person, but I love Alaska.
10. I love sunsets and sunrises.
11. I have seen the Northern Lights and they are truly beautiful.
12. I am afraid of horses.
13. I started going gray immediately after B was born...I've been coloring my hair nonstop since then.
14. I like beets.
15. My favorite colors are blue, white, and brown.
16. I have 7 pink sweaters...so I guess I love pink, too!
17. I wish I had been able to graduate from BYU. One year there just wasn't enough!
18. I am incredibly forgetful so I rely heavily on my DayPlanner to run my life.
19. When I was growing up, I planned on getting married and having two sons and two daughters.
20. I want to visit Ireland and England.
21. I hate flying.
22. DH wants to go on a cruise, but the thought scares me to death.
23. My favorite treat is Cherry Coke with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Yummy!
24. I drink too much Coke and need to cut back...someday!
25. I do everything from left to right -- getting dressed, doing my makeup, putting in my contacts, brushing my teeth...everything.
26. I am mildly obsessive/compulsive about certain things (see #25 above!)
27. I don't mind cleaning other people's houses, but hate cleaning my own house.
28. Toenails must be polished at all times during sandal season, but I don't like wearing toenail polish in the winter when no one sees my toes.
29. My parents knew DH and I would get married before we ever started dating.
30. I love shopping.
31. I took years and years and years of French in junior high, high school, and college but have never used it.
32. I used to be a very high soprano but am now an alto and sometimes second soprano if the part isn't too high.
33. I wrote a weekly newspaper column during my senior year of high school.
34. I am not a very adventurous person.
35. One of my biggest fears is the fear of failure.
36. DH loves country music...and I'm actually starting to like some of it.
37. I love 80s music.
38. Europe was (is) one of my favorite bands ("It's the final countdown.....")
39. I do not like eating alone in a restaurant. I think I've only done it once and it was agonizing.
40. I like flowers and fresh vegetables but don't like gardening.
41. I can't stand to have anything dirty, sticky, or yucky on my hands. It literally turns my stomach.
42. I like ironing.
43. I like watching football (preferrably college) on TV....other than during the bowl games, when there are just too many games!
44. I love daffodils, lily of the valley, and tulips
45. I can't stand sweat -- yuck!
46. I like water aerobics.
47. I love holding babies.
48. I love musicals.
49. I think Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan, and the guy who played Capt Picard on Star Trek TNG (can't remember his name!0 are absolutely gorgeous.
50. I'm a Trekkie
51. When I was dating, I preferred my boyfriends to be several years old than me.
52. I am stubborn.
53. I love shoes, especially heels.
54. During the summer I sleep with lots of covers on the bed and the ceiling fan running.
55. Bedsheets cannot be messy...they must be neat and pulled straight when I get in bed.
56. Sheets must also be tucked in, preferrably very snug.
57. I love playing the piano but rarely have time.
58. I love to decorate for Christmas, but I don't care for traditional red and green decorations. I prefer burgundy, silver, blue, and dark green.
59. I love fireworks on the 4th of July.
60. I love ribs from Tony Roma's.
61. I can't stand dirty fingernails, toenails, and ears.
62. Don't tell me I can't do something...that's the surest way to guarantee that I will do it.
63. I'm a procrastinator.
64. I'm terrible at keeping in touch by phone or snail mail, but I am great at keeping in touch via e-mail.
65. I want to go to law school.
66. I want to get a PhD in either public policy or political science.
67. University of Utah offers a joint law degree/PhD, but I'm a true blue BYU girl and just can't stand the thought of going to the U!
68. I love scrapbooking.
69. I love beautiful paper, pens, notebooks, and journals.
70. I love little things...anything that is little and miniature. So cute!
71. I rarely ever wear perfume.
72. I love lazy Sunday mornings.
73. I am very organized at work...but at home it's a totally different story.
74. I love the smell of grass after the lawn has just been mowed. But please don't ask me to mow the lawn.
75. Cardboard boxes give me hives.
76. I have a strong testimony.
77. I love reading biographies of historical figures, especially American Presidents and early political leaders.
78. I love hearing babies laugh
79. I love exploring little shops and stores
80. My family is very important to me and I can't imagine life without them.
81. I get physically sick to my stomach at the thought of something happening to DH, A, or B.
82. I love cuddling in my bed with A and B on nights when DH isn't home.
83. I love leftovers for breakfast.
84. I love beautiful, deep colors but am afraid to use them in decorating my home.
85. I don't like to be alone. Anywhere. Ever.
86. I am not a spur-of-the-moment person. Everything must be planned in advance.
87. I love to play board games.
88. I love cuddling on the couch with DH, watching football on TV.
89. I love to watch Food Network but don't particularly enjoy cooking.
90. I don't like to watch crime/law shows on TV. Sorry, people -- but in the real world, courts just don't work that way!
91. I have 12 years of legal experience.
92. I tend to be shy until I get to know you.
93. I love girls' nights out with my friends, just going out to dinner or shopping. I think it's crucial to my mental health!
94. I love my three sisters and wish all of them lived closer so we could spend more time together.
95. I want to go to BYU's football camp for women.
96. I want to go to Education Week at BYU with my Mom and my sisters.
97. It is so neat to watch my daughters grow up and see their blossoming personalities. I'm amazed that two siblings can be so different from each other.
98. I still tuck my 12-year-old DD into bed every night. I love that she still wants me to.
99. I detest bad manners and coarse, crude behavior. I also tend to be a corrector of poor grammar.
100. I desperately want to be debt-free but I'm a shopaholic so it probably won't ever happen.
So, tell me 100 things about you!
100 Things You May or May Not Know About Me
1. I love listening to music, but I can't keep from dancing or moving to the beat whenever I'm listening to music
2. In high school, some friends and I had a "circle journal" and we would spent all of our free time (and some class time) writing notes to each other in it
3. I learned how to knit once but forgot how to do it about a week later
4. I love to read "fluff stuff" like People Magazine
5. I love school
6. I love writing research papers -- seriously!
7. I never had a pedicure before I moved to the south, but now I'm addicted
8. I love snow -- actually, I love looking at snow. Being in it is o.k. for a little while, but I love to look at it through a big window.
9. I am not an outdoorsy kind of person, but I love Alaska.
10. I love sunsets and sunrises.
11. I have seen the Northern Lights and they are truly beautiful.
12. I am afraid of horses.
13. I started going gray immediately after B was born...I've been coloring my hair nonstop since then.
14. I like beets.
15. My favorite colors are blue, white, and brown.
16. I have 7 pink sweaters...so I guess I love pink, too!
17. I wish I had been able to graduate from BYU. One year there just wasn't enough!
18. I am incredibly forgetful so I rely heavily on my DayPlanner to run my life.
19. When I was growing up, I planned on getting married and having two sons and two daughters.
20. I want to visit Ireland and England.
21. I hate flying.
22. DH wants to go on a cruise, but the thought scares me to death.
23. My favorite treat is Cherry Coke with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Yummy!
24. I drink too much Coke and need to cut back...someday!
25. I do everything from left to right -- getting dressed, doing my makeup, putting in my contacts, brushing my teeth...everything.
26. I am mildly obsessive/compulsive about certain things (see #25 above!)
27. I don't mind cleaning other people's houses, but hate cleaning my own house.
28. Toenails must be polished at all times during sandal season, but I don't like wearing toenail polish in the winter when no one sees my toes.
29. My parents knew DH and I would get married before we ever started dating.
30. I love shopping.
31. I took years and years and years of French in junior high, high school, and college but have never used it.
32. I used to be a very high soprano but am now an alto and sometimes second soprano if the part isn't too high.
33. I wrote a weekly newspaper column during my senior year of high school.
34. I am not a very adventurous person.
35. One of my biggest fears is the fear of failure.
36. DH loves country music...and I'm actually starting to like some of it.
37. I love 80s music.
38. Europe was (is) one of my favorite bands ("It's the final countdown.....")
39. I do not like eating alone in a restaurant. I think I've only done it once and it was agonizing.
40. I like flowers and fresh vegetables but don't like gardening.
41. I can't stand to have anything dirty, sticky, or yucky on my hands. It literally turns my stomach.
42. I like ironing.
43. I like watching football (preferrably college) on TV....other than during the bowl games, when there are just too many games!
44. I love daffodils, lily of the valley, and tulips
45. I can't stand sweat -- yuck!
46. I like water aerobics.
47. I love holding babies.
48. I love musicals.
49. I think Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan, and the guy who played Capt Picard on Star Trek TNG (can't remember his name!0 are absolutely gorgeous.
50. I'm a Trekkie
51. When I was dating, I preferred my boyfriends to be several years old than me.
52. I am stubborn.
53. I love shoes, especially heels.
54. During the summer I sleep with lots of covers on the bed and the ceiling fan running.
55. Bedsheets cannot be messy...they must be neat and pulled straight when I get in bed.
56. Sheets must also be tucked in, preferrably very snug.
57. I love playing the piano but rarely have time.
58. I love to decorate for Christmas, but I don't care for traditional red and green decorations. I prefer burgundy, silver, blue, and dark green.
59. I love fireworks on the 4th of July.
60. I love ribs from Tony Roma's.
61. I can't stand dirty fingernails, toenails, and ears.
62. Don't tell me I can't do something...that's the surest way to guarantee that I will do it.
63. I'm a procrastinator.
64. I'm terrible at keeping in touch by phone or snail mail, but I am great at keeping in touch via e-mail.
65. I want to go to law school.
66. I want to get a PhD in either public policy or political science.
67. University of Utah offers a joint law degree/PhD, but I'm a true blue BYU girl and just can't stand the thought of going to the U!
68. I love scrapbooking.
69. I love beautiful paper, pens, notebooks, and journals.
70. I love little things...anything that is little and miniature. So cute!
71. I rarely ever wear perfume.
72. I love lazy Sunday mornings.
73. I am very organized at work...but at home it's a totally different story.
74. I love the smell of grass after the lawn has just been mowed. But please don't ask me to mow the lawn.
75. Cardboard boxes give me hives.
76. I have a strong testimony.
77. I love reading biographies of historical figures, especially American Presidents and early political leaders.
78. I love hearing babies laugh
79. I love exploring little shops and stores
80. My family is very important to me and I can't imagine life without them.
81. I get physically sick to my stomach at the thought of something happening to DH, A, or B.
82. I love cuddling in my bed with A and B on nights when DH isn't home.
83. I love leftovers for breakfast.
84. I love beautiful, deep colors but am afraid to use them in decorating my home.
85. I don't like to be alone. Anywhere. Ever.
86. I am not a spur-of-the-moment person. Everything must be planned in advance.
87. I love to play board games.
88. I love cuddling on the couch with DH, watching football on TV.
89. I love to watch Food Network but don't particularly enjoy cooking.
90. I don't like to watch crime/law shows on TV. Sorry, people -- but in the real world, courts just don't work that way!
91. I have 12 years of legal experience.
92. I tend to be shy until I get to know you.
93. I love girls' nights out with my friends, just going out to dinner or shopping. I think it's crucial to my mental health!
94. I love my three sisters and wish all of them lived closer so we could spend more time together.
95. I want to go to BYU's football camp for women.
96. I want to go to Education Week at BYU with my Mom and my sisters.
97. It is so neat to watch my daughters grow up and see their blossoming personalities. I'm amazed that two siblings can be so different from each other.
98. I still tuck my 12-year-old DD into bed every night. I love that she still wants me to.
99. I detest bad manners and coarse, crude behavior. I also tend to be a corrector of poor grammar.
100. I desperately want to be debt-free but I'm a shopaholic so it probably won't ever happen.
So, tell me 100 things about you!
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
Happy Anniversary!
Today is my wedding anniversary. Happy Anniversary, DH!! It doesn't seem possible that we've been married as long as we have -- I'm not old enough! LOL It doesn't seem like it's been this long. I still remember details from our wedding day as if it was yesterday.
Yesterday we went to the Temple. We try to go every year as close to our anniversary as possible. The drive, normally just under 2 hours, took about 3 hours because of traffic. At one point, DH wondered if we shouldn't just turn around and go home. I didn't want to push one way or the either, but I was secretly praying that we would be able to get to the Temple and do a session. I wanted and needed so badly to be there. I'm glad we made it. DH has a cold right now and wasn't feeling all that great (and neither was I), but I'm so glad we went. We did an evening session and it was so empty, with just four couples (including us) and one other man. But it was wonderful. As always, I learned new things, noticed new things, and thought more deeply about other things. One thing in particular happened that is not appropriate for public discussion, but it definitely confirmed to me that I was supposed to be in the Temple yesterday.
When we announced our engagement, DH's BIL told me, "Don't ever expect him to be able to read your mind. We can't read women's minds!" He was right. After this many years, he can sometimes read my mind but not always. Things go much better when I just come out and say what I want instead of waiting for him to read my mind.
He balances me. We're just right for each other. I'm so grateful for him!
Happy Anniversary -- I love you!
Yesterday we went to the Temple. We try to go every year as close to our anniversary as possible. The drive, normally just under 2 hours, took about 3 hours because of traffic. At one point, DH wondered if we shouldn't just turn around and go home. I didn't want to push one way or the either, but I was secretly praying that we would be able to get to the Temple and do a session. I wanted and needed so badly to be there. I'm glad we made it. DH has a cold right now and wasn't feeling all that great (and neither was I), but I'm so glad we went. We did an evening session and it was so empty, with just four couples (including us) and one other man. But it was wonderful. As always, I learned new things, noticed new things, and thought more deeply about other things. One thing in particular happened that is not appropriate for public discussion, but it definitely confirmed to me that I was supposed to be in the Temple yesterday.
When we announced our engagement, DH's BIL told me, "Don't ever expect him to be able to read your mind. We can't read women's minds!" He was right. After this many years, he can sometimes read my mind but not always. Things go much better when I just come out and say what I want instead of waiting for him to read my mind.
He balances me. We're just right for each other. I'm so grateful for him!
Happy Anniversary -- I love you!
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
New Year's Resolutions
I've never been very good at keeping New Year's Resolutions. Not good at all!
But I had an interesting experience...opportunity...on Sunday and I think this year I might actually be able to get somewhere with some resolutions.
Normally on the 5th Sunday, the youth meet with the adults during the third hour of church in our ward. So that's what we planned for this past Sunday. The Young Women's President left church early to drive up north to visit family, but we figured we were good since the youth were meeting with the adults. Imagine my surprise when I found out at the end of Sunday School that the plans had been changed and no one had told the Young Women's Presidency! I had approximately 3 minutes to come up with a lesson. Yikes! The bishopric counsellor over the YW said he would do something since he was going to be visiting YW for a little while, but I told him we could handle it.
After a quick prayer as I was walking down the hall, inspiration hit and my sister E and I started frantically looking up scriptures to go along with the blossoming idea. I think it all turned out really well -- and I couldn't have done it without E's help. I thought of the four categories New Year's Resolutions fall into: home improvement/organization, personal health/fitness, knowledge/learning new things, and spirituality. We found some scripture to go with each category. We talked about why people set goals/resolutions, and what causes people to not reach their goals or keep their resolutions. We talked about breaking things into small, manageable, realistic goals and finding the right kind of motivation. We talked about each of the four areas, read the scriptures that went with them, and then the girls had a piece of paper and pencil so they could write out some goals/resolutions in those four areas, along with ideas for how they could achieve those goals. They really seemed to enjoy the lesson and participated a lot more than I expected. Yea!
I shared with them some of my failed resolutions and they gave me ideas for making the goals more achievable and manageable. I think I'm going to try it.
Home Improvement/Organization: Dejunk and declutter our home by the end of 2007. That gives me one full year. DH is on board, and so are the kids. If we manage to dejunk one room every month, plus the garage, attic, and yard, we'll be in good shape.
Personal Fitness/Health: Exercise a minimum of 15 minutes every day. Right now, that will be accomplished by doing my physical therapy exercises on a daily basis. That, and walking with my best friend, J who lives right behind us. We used to walk together all the time and we need to start again!!
Knowledge: Decide if I'm going to go to law school or do a PhD, and start working on the applications and preparing for entrance exams.
Spirituality: Read the scriptures every day -- even if it's just one verse. We need to get better about doing this as a family, so that's part of the goal, too.
I think these are pretty manageable. We'll see what actually happens!
But I had an interesting experience...opportunity...on Sunday and I think this year I might actually be able to get somewhere with some resolutions.
Normally on the 5th Sunday, the youth meet with the adults during the third hour of church in our ward. So that's what we planned for this past Sunday. The Young Women's President left church early to drive up north to visit family, but we figured we were good since the youth were meeting with the adults. Imagine my surprise when I found out at the end of Sunday School that the plans had been changed and no one had told the Young Women's Presidency! I had approximately 3 minutes to come up with a lesson. Yikes! The bishopric counsellor over the YW said he would do something since he was going to be visiting YW for a little while, but I told him we could handle it.
After a quick prayer as I was walking down the hall, inspiration hit and my sister E and I started frantically looking up scriptures to go along with the blossoming idea. I think it all turned out really well -- and I couldn't have done it without E's help. I thought of the four categories New Year's Resolutions fall into: home improvement/organization, personal health/fitness, knowledge/learning new things, and spirituality. We found some scripture to go with each category. We talked about why people set goals/resolutions, and what causes people to not reach their goals or keep their resolutions. We talked about breaking things into small, manageable, realistic goals and finding the right kind of motivation. We talked about each of the four areas, read the scriptures that went with them, and then the girls had a piece of paper and pencil so they could write out some goals/resolutions in those four areas, along with ideas for how they could achieve those goals. They really seemed to enjoy the lesson and participated a lot more than I expected. Yea!
I shared with them some of my failed resolutions and they gave me ideas for making the goals more achievable and manageable. I think I'm going to try it.
Home Improvement/Organization: Dejunk and declutter our home by the end of 2007. That gives me one full year. DH is on board, and so are the kids. If we manage to dejunk one room every month, plus the garage, attic, and yard, we'll be in good shape.
Personal Fitness/Health: Exercise a minimum of 15 minutes every day. Right now, that will be accomplished by doing my physical therapy exercises on a daily basis. That, and walking with my best friend, J who lives right behind us. We used to walk together all the time and we need to start again!!
Knowledge: Decide if I'm going to go to law school or do a PhD, and start working on the applications and preparing for entrance exams.
Spirituality: Read the scriptures every day -- even if it's just one verse. We need to get better about doing this as a family, so that's part of the goal, too.
I think these are pretty manageable. We'll see what actually happens!
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Random musings for a Saturday afternoon...
Ten random thoughts for a cloudy, dreary Saturday:
1. Clothing manufacturers, please start making more dresses. I haven't found a dress in ages that I really loved and I'm in the mood to buy one. I couldn't find a Christmas dress (meaning a new dress for Christmas, not a Christmas print dress!) this year, or even a new skirt. Please, please, please...make some dresses and lovely skirts....in my size!
2. I love Bath and Body Works Wallflowers. Yummy. And I love them even more when they're on sale for $5 each (starter and refills). Run, run, run to your local store and buy some! We have different scents in the living room, girls' rooms, and our room. They smell so good and help disguise the fact that we have a dog. Don't even get me started on the dog.
3. Our master bedroom got painted today, thanks to DH, my Dad, and BIL. It looks so good! For the last few months we've had a big rectangle of the color painted over our headboard and splotches of other colors covered up with primer. It's so nice to have it painted. It actually makes me want to get in there and do more decorating (which I'm not very good at).
4. If you're planning a wedding to a sports fan, do not get married over Christmas break. Why, you ask? Bowl games. There are more and more bowl games every year. DH watched football most of this week and it will continue for the next several days. Our anniversary (15 years!) is coming up next week and I bet he'll watch football that night, too. *Sigh* Christmas break is a sports fan's favorite time of year. Not because of Christmas...because of the bowl games.
5. Wouldn't you think Christmas merchandise would be marked down more than 50% by now?
6. I love calendars, Day Planners, and organizers. Love them. If things aren't written down in my Day Planner, they just don't happen.
8. I love the iPod Nano "Santa" gave me for Christmas. Love it! It's so cute...I love little tiny cute things.
9. "Santa" also got me some scrapbooking software for Christmas. My DH, the non-craftiest man I've ever met, has now done two scrapbook layouts on the software! And B, our 7 year old, has done one, too. So the software is definitely easy to use. I'm looking forward to using it for some things, but for other things I really love the look and feel of "in real life" scrapbook pages.
10. I'm not an organized person. Everyone thinks I am, but I'm really not. It just looks that way at work. I'm really so disorganized. Maybe that will be my New Year's Resolution...to be more organized.
1. Clothing manufacturers, please start making more dresses. I haven't found a dress in ages that I really loved and I'm in the mood to buy one. I couldn't find a Christmas dress (meaning a new dress for Christmas, not a Christmas print dress!) this year, or even a new skirt. Please, please, please...make some dresses and lovely skirts....in my size!
2. I love Bath and Body Works Wallflowers. Yummy. And I love them even more when they're on sale for $5 each (starter and refills). Run, run, run to your local store and buy some! We have different scents in the living room, girls' rooms, and our room. They smell so good and help disguise the fact that we have a dog. Don't even get me started on the dog.
3. Our master bedroom got painted today, thanks to DH, my Dad, and BIL. It looks so good! For the last few months we've had a big rectangle of the color painted over our headboard and splotches of other colors covered up with primer. It's so nice to have it painted. It actually makes me want to get in there and do more decorating (which I'm not very good at).
4. If you're planning a wedding to a sports fan, do not get married over Christmas break. Why, you ask? Bowl games. There are more and more bowl games every year. DH watched football most of this week and it will continue for the next several days. Our anniversary (15 years!) is coming up next week and I bet he'll watch football that night, too. *Sigh* Christmas break is a sports fan's favorite time of year. Not because of Christmas...because of the bowl games.
5. Wouldn't you think Christmas merchandise would be marked down more than 50% by now?
6. I love calendars, Day Planners, and organizers. Love them. If things aren't written down in my Day Planner, they just don't happen.
7. I'm trying a new recipe for French onion soup tonight. The little crocks (ramekins) to cook the soup in under the broiler are hard to find. But, once again, Target came to the rescue and I found some. I hope the soup turns out good...we love French onion soup but I've never made it from scratch before.
8. I love the iPod Nano "Santa" gave me for Christmas. Love it! It's so cute...I love little tiny cute things.
9. "Santa" also got me some scrapbooking software for Christmas. My DH, the non-craftiest man I've ever met, has now done two scrapbook layouts on the software! And B, our 7 year old, has done one, too. So the software is definitely easy to use. I'm looking forward to using it for some things, but for other things I really love the look and feel of "in real life" scrapbook pages.
10. I'm not an organized person. Everyone thinks I am, but I'm really not. It just looks that way at work. I'm really so disorganized. Maybe that will be my New Year's Resolution...to be more organized.
Friday, December 29, 2006
They say housework makes you ugly....
And let me tell you -- they are right! I need a big sign that says it to hang up in my house. Then, when anyone comments on the condition of the inside of my home, I can point to the sign and tell them that I just can't afford the "ugly" part! LOL
I hate cleaning. Detest it. Despite it. Would do almost anything to avoid it. It's horrible. Awful. Miserable. Did I mention that I hate cleaning? I have always hated it. I remember scrubbing baseboards with a toothbrush when I was younger...mopping and waxing kitchen floors...scrubbing bathtubs with cleanser...cleaning military houses before final inspection and our family moved on to the next military base. It was terrible. I think I developed an allergy to housework!
Now that I'm older, I find that my allergy to housework has gotten worse. I get so incredibly cranky when I have to clean house. Yuck. Part of the problem is that I'm a "get it done and move on to the next thing" kind of person. Super Type A personality...always on the go, rushing about. I like to do something once and be done with it. Housework isn't like that. There is always another load of laundry to fold, more dishes to do, more beds to make, more things to dust...it just goes on and on and on and on. Pure drugery.
I have learned that, when the housecleaning mood hits me, I have to jump on it right then and there and get as much done as possible before the "uglies" set in and the mood has passed. That's where I've been for the last two days. We remodeled our master bathroom this summer (although there is still some detail work to be finished), and the next project is painting the master bedroom. The paint color is lovely...there's a huge 3 foot x 6 foot splotch of it on the wall above our bed. I'm sick of the splotch and I want to get the room painted. DH is only off work until Wednesday of next week so if it's going to get done, now is the time to do it. Painting the room, of course, requires prep work, which requires that the room actually be clean so the furniture can be moved and the painters (us) can actually get to the walls. So I've left work early for two days to go home and clean. After a couple of hours I'm ready to tear my hair out...and the hair of anyone else who happens to be within range (except DH, who is bald so there's nothing to tear out!). Four bags of stuff for Goodwill, two large trashbags, and at least 3-4 loads of laundry later, the room is almost clean...and it reminds me of how nice it is to have a space that it neat, tidy, and uncluttered. Alas, I've never been able to keep it that way for long!
I wonder if this cleaning bug will last a few days longer so I can get more done....I highly doubt it, though, since I'm already starting to feel cranky at the thought of the 3-4 loads of laundry that need to be done before I can officially say the room is clean...and then there is the kitchen, and the laundry room, and my scrapbooking room (I can't even see the floor in there -- it's become the "dump it here because I don't know what else to do with it" room).
It's true -- housework makes you ugly!
I hate cleaning. Detest it. Despite it. Would do almost anything to avoid it. It's horrible. Awful. Miserable. Did I mention that I hate cleaning? I have always hated it. I remember scrubbing baseboards with a toothbrush when I was younger...mopping and waxing kitchen floors...scrubbing bathtubs with cleanser...cleaning military houses before final inspection and our family moved on to the next military base. It was terrible. I think I developed an allergy to housework!
Now that I'm older, I find that my allergy to housework has gotten worse. I get so incredibly cranky when I have to clean house. Yuck. Part of the problem is that I'm a "get it done and move on to the next thing" kind of person. Super Type A personality...always on the go, rushing about. I like to do something once and be done with it. Housework isn't like that. There is always another load of laundry to fold, more dishes to do, more beds to make, more things to dust...it just goes on and on and on and on. Pure drugery.
I have learned that, when the housecleaning mood hits me, I have to jump on it right then and there and get as much done as possible before the "uglies" set in and the mood has passed. That's where I've been for the last two days. We remodeled our master bathroom this summer (although there is still some detail work to be finished), and the next project is painting the master bedroom. The paint color is lovely...there's a huge 3 foot x 6 foot splotch of it on the wall above our bed. I'm sick of the splotch and I want to get the room painted. DH is only off work until Wednesday of next week so if it's going to get done, now is the time to do it. Painting the room, of course, requires prep work, which requires that the room actually be clean so the furniture can be moved and the painters (us) can actually get to the walls. So I've left work early for two days to go home and clean. After a couple of hours I'm ready to tear my hair out...and the hair of anyone else who happens to be within range (except DH, who is bald so there's nothing to tear out!). Four bags of stuff for Goodwill, two large trashbags, and at least 3-4 loads of laundry later, the room is almost clean...and it reminds me of how nice it is to have a space that it neat, tidy, and uncluttered. Alas, I've never been able to keep it that way for long!
I wonder if this cleaning bug will last a few days longer so I can get more done....I highly doubt it, though, since I'm already starting to feel cranky at the thought of the 3-4 loads of laundry that need to be done before I can officially say the room is clean...and then there is the kitchen, and the laundry room, and my scrapbooking room (I can't even see the floor in there -- it's become the "dump it here because I don't know what else to do with it" room).
It's true -- housework makes you ugly!
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Christmas 2006...over already?
It's now December 27. Christmas Day is officially over...too soon. Usually I feel the Christmas spirit very early in December. I love it. I love everything about it. This year, though, things were different...strange...delayed. And I didn't love it. Maybe it was that I didn't have the Christmas shopping finished in early December like I usually do. I felt so rushed at the end, trying to find the perfect gifts at the perfect prices (is it just me, or is that getting harder every year?). Or maybe it was because we were so busy between work, school, the girls' activities, church, and everything else that there just wasn't time to sit down and absorb the Christmas-y-ness that was all around us. Maybe it was because the stores put out their Christmas displays before Halloween (there ought to be a law....) and it just felt too commercial, too overdone. I don't know. Whatever it was, I didn't like it at all. Even after we went to bed on Christmas Eve (after panicking over a missing gift, which was finally found), I told DH that I just didn't feel it this year. And I was so sad about it.
But then, at 6:30 a.m. on Christmas morning, I heard the girls up and about, in the bathroom. They told us they were going to get up at 6:30 to get their hair and teeth brushed and get all ready to open their gifts. LOL! Hearing them giggling together, 12-year-old A helping 7-year-old B, getting along, warmed my heart. It started...that Christmas-y feeling I had been searching for all month. The girls bounced into our room at 6:45. The rule in our house is that they aren't allowed into the living room until 7 a.m....DH wanted to give in but I wanted to build the anticipation a bit longer, while we waited for Grandma and Papa to arrive for the fun. According to the girls, it was 7:02 when we finally let them out into the living room.
Usually there are very large, unwrapped gifts awaiting the family. One year it was a huge Barbie house...another year it was a ride-on Barbie 4-wheeler. As the girls have gotten older the gifts have gotten smaller, but more expensive (read: Electronics). It seemed a bit bare and sparse and I was hoping the girls would love their gifts. They did!! A was especially excited about her cell phone and upcoming trip to Massachusetts to visit Aunt M and Uncle B and see SNOW (she has missed it terribly since we left Alaska).
Brienna was thrilled with everything she got. She loves that monkey Bobby Jack, and her favorites were a monkey pillow and a stuffed Bobby Jack monkey from Grandma and a Bobby Jack fleece hoodie from Grandma Gaye. Of course, she also loves the new bedding Santa brought her!
Santa was very good to me this year. After years of doing my own Christmas shopping, I decided to let Santa handle it himself this year. And he was wonderful! An iPod Nano, a beautiful ring, a gorgeous bracelet...a lovely sweater from A along with a soft pillow she crocheted herself, and a really nice black handbag from B along with a name sign she hand painted for me...I was truly spoiled this year and it was so much fun to be surprised with my gifts! Santa brought DH a small fridge for his classroom and he also got a new stereo receiver, so he was happy as well.
Later in the morning we went to Grandma and Papa's house where we were further spoiled. We spent the rest of the day enjoying the new games Santa brought us (Deal or No Deal, Rummikub, and Blokus -- all huge hits!), spending time with our family, and especially enjoying baby N, my sister's son. It was a beautiful day. It made me so grateful that we are blessed to live near family (right around the block!) and be a part of each other's daily lives, and share these special holidays. We spent time on the phone with extended family and siblings and missed them so much...hopefully next year more of us will be together.
All in all, it was a beautiful Christmas...everything I could have asked for and more...it just ended too soon.
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