TV Line Up

Over the past year, I have realized that my life is a lot calmer when the TV is off. I generally don't turn the TV on at all during the day but, I do TiVo programs that I may want to watch later on. Thank heavens for that Tivo. However, in doing so, I have missed out on a lot of the current television action.
*I have no idea who is competing on American Idol.
*I couldn't tell you what celebrities are competing on Dancing With the Stars
*Not only could I not tell you who won the millions on Survivor, but I also have no clue where it was that they were surviving.
*I am completely lost with the whole concept of the show Lost. Although everyone I know is hooked on it, all I know is that there are a bunch of people on an island. It could be Gilligans Island for all that I know.
*As for The Biggest Loser, I could be on that show for all that I know!

There are a couple of shows that I can't miss or I go through major withdrawals.
*The Office. My brothers got me hooked to the British version several years ago. The entire collection is on my wish list. I already own the British version.
*Ghost Hunters. I know, you all think I am nuts. Thank heavens I have my friend Julie to get me through this addiction.
*Project Runway. This is the coolest show ever. It is a show down between a group of high fashion designers. I can't wait for the new season.
*The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. This is one of my favorites even though the whole premise is a little hokie.

Kaeson's Lady Friend

While on our trip to Houston, we were driving in the car when Kaeson decided to inform the entire crowd with the developments in his love life. We were swiftly caught up to date with all of the latest and greatest girlfriend news. This came as quite a shock to us seeing as Kaeson is usually not very vocal about anything. However, in this case, he went on and on about this amazing girl that he has developed a fancy for. For every new fact that he told us he started it like this:



My Girlfriend:

*has pink hair
*has pink eyes that glow like a flashlight at night.
*her feet grow really giant so that she can squash bugs and spiders.
*can blow giant bubbles.
*has a big pink scooter with butterflies on it.
*can stick to the walls.
*can turn into anything like a dolphin.
*'s color is pink.
*can jump over the house.
*like to wears Kyra's clothes.
*likes to bologna sandwiches.
*likes to go to work.
* works making heart boxes at Lowes.
*lives in either Africa or China. He isn't quite sure.

So, with all of that information, its no wonder that he is absolutely smitten with this girl.

Weekend With Kaesey

After a very exhausting day, he lost it and fell asleep on the couch sitting straight up! It reminded me of "Weekend At Bernie's."

When Material Presents Itself

Today, I was doing my usual activity...avoiding the things that really had to be done. I kept looking at my blogs and thinking that I should really catch up with one of them. I thought of all of the things that I could write about but, I couldn't come up with exactly the phrasing and organization of the things that are really plaguing my mind. Wishing that I could get one solid idea gelled into my head, life presented one to me.

I hear from the upstairs bathroom, Harvey screaming my name. I came upstairs to him shrieking in horror, "Do you notice anything different about your son?" I had to look at him for a few moments. He had all of his limbs, no blood anywhere, he was not naked, all of his clothes seemed to be in order and no, there was no chocolate, shampoo, shaving cream, marker, crayon, toothpaste, or spaghetti sauce covering his little body. I also took note that he was not reeking of cologne. So, no. I didn't notice anything different about my son.

Then, it hit me. The huge chunk of hair missing from the front of his head. Apparently, rest time means something entirely different to a nearly 5 year old than it does to his exhausted mother. I walk into his room and find a pile of hair and a tiny pair of embroidery scissors. How in the world did he get those????? Goodness, I am having to lock up every single tiny little thing in this house. Do I ever get a rest?

So, the next time I wish that I had something obvious to blog about, I will shut up and just be grateful that life is calm!

My Reward System

Wow, I got a lot of feedback on my personal rewards system. Everyone wants to know what is on the rewards side. Funny though, no one asked what is on the work side. Maybe it is because you already have seen what I need to work on. I have even had a couple of offers from people to lend a hand depending on what the prize was going to be. Thanks.... I think. So, in no particular order I am going to tell you some of the things that I was going to put down on both sides of the list. If you think of others that I am missing, I am all ears. I still haven't quite figured out which rewards go with which task though. That is still in the works.

Oh, and I hope that you are all getting a kick out of my self rejuvination. Most people that read this have already mastered this part of their lives but, then you wont get the prizes. So there! Pthbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb!

Tasks:
Clean out the Garage
Clean out the Storage Room
Finish Painting Sewing Room
Re-do that triangle space in the back yard
Paint my bedroom
Finish decorating Kyra's room
Paint Basement
Landscape my front yard
Recover the kitchen chairs
Paint curio cabinet

Rewards:
These are just some ideas that I pulled from my vision board
Pedicure
Garden Fountain
Zoo Membership
Thanksgiving Point Membership
Serger
Get my teeth whitened
Girls weekend out to Park City
Ebroidery kit for my embroidery machine
IPod
Gift Certificates (haha, I will just use my debit card) for Hobby Lobby, Gardner Village, JoAnn etc

Let me know if I am missing stuff from either list.

Just When I Thought That I Was On The Right Track!

So, I am gung ho with this whole transformation thing right. Well, last night, I was working on my vision board, I came across this little article. It touched my soul a little. I thought that I would share a bit with you!

At first, I thought that I should take it as a sign. If I read it in a magazine, it must be true. I should stop cleaning immediately and let life continue on. Then, I noticed the date on the article, April 2004. Well, I guess the sign that I am getting is that I have to dejunk even more than I thought. It is a fun article and I will share some of my favorite reasons that they had to Stop Cleaning!

1. Did you ever try to have a conversation with someone who loves cleaning her house?

2. Follow Roseann's advice: "I'm not going to vacuum until Sears makes one you can ride on."

3. You have a choice: Clean out your closets or meet a friend for lunch. Its a no-brainer.

4. "Cleanliness is next to Godliness" refers to your personal hygiene, not your house.

5. Your house doesn't pass the white glove test? Luckily no one wears white gloves anymore.

6. Nowhere in the marriage ceremony does it say, "I promise to clean the house every day."

7. If you can't stand the sight of a speck of dust in your house, leave the house and go to a see a movie.

8. When you are 90, do you want to look back on clean bathrooms as your major accomplishment?

9. If you just have to clean, make a strawberry shortcake with lots of whipped cream and clean up after that.

10. Put 40 watt lightbulbs in all your lamps and no one will see the dust.

11. Lots of cleaning leads to red, rough hands.

12. A cluttered desk makes you look busy and important.

13. Water rings on the coffee table just show off how many great parties you've had.

14 Waxed floors are dangerous. Someone might slip, get hurt and sue you.

15. Progress: Grandma used a washboard. Mother used a washing machine. You send it out.

16. A cluttered attic shows you have a colorful past.

17. Instead of cleaning your house, you could be learnign to Salsa!

18. If God meant for us to clean, we would have mops instead of feet.

19 Dust is unsanitary, stay away from it.

20. Real friends don't see the mess in your house because thier house is the same.

Pretty Dang Proud Of Myself

In my attempt to reconstruct my life into something more productive, I decided to tackle the yard today. Little did I know that the yard was a much bigger Goliath than I had previously anticipated.

We have a small triangle patch in our backyard that has been filled with all sorts of stuff since we moved in. Shrubs, rocks and this year weeds. Not only were they weeds but, they were taller than Toad. How pathetic is that? So, I decided to dive in. It took me three hours, three sets of clothing, three showers, and a garbage can and a half. The sad part is that I am only about half done. However, I called it good for the day. I will start up again tomorrow.

In the mean time, I would love to have some suggestions as to what to put in that area of the yard!

Now, I am completely tuckered out and I am making Harvey take me to dinner.

Oh, and as a side note, it is now the next day and I am SORE! I pulled muscles that I have never pulled before. So not fun, but atleast I have pictures that I accomplished it. Now, hopefully, I can get the rest of the triangle done asap!

Killing Two Birds With One Stone

The more that time passes, the more I realize that I need to pull it together and get my life into some semblance of order. After a weekend of interspection, self analysis, chats with good friends, vision board design and self realization, I have decided on a plan to get myself to where I want to be. Sounds ominious doesn't it!

For the most part, I am pretty happy with my life and who I am. However, I am swiftly and painfully learning how far from perfect I truly am. So, in a (somewhat) grand effort, I am going to kick it into gear, bite the bullet and try to close in on that gap.

The Problem:
As too many of you know, I have fallen off the organizational bandwagon. It started years ago, and although this is a lame excuse, I am sticking by it. When I got married right in the middle of life. I was a full time grad student and a full time elementary teacher. I would teach every weekday from 7:00 a.m. until 3:20 p.m. I would hop into my oh so fancy Mercury Topaz and race from Salt Lake to Provo to attend classes from 4:00 p.m. until 11:00 p.m. every night. I would get home a bit before midnight and start the whole process over the next day. The weekends were reserved for studying, library and spending a little time with my family. Although I did spend some time trying to make our house a home, I fell very short of perfect.

Since that time, I have had a hard time catching up. I could bore you with the details of the birth of my children, moving to a new house, illness, stress, family, yadda, yadda, yadda. Now, I know a lof of you are thinking, "Why didn't I start over when I moved to the new house." Well, I was pregnant, very sick and tired of living at the inlaws. So, on move in day, I had everything thrown into the garage. Coincidentally, that is where a good portion of the disaster has remained.

But, I digress. In so many ways, my life has now slowed down. I have two kiddos in school. A toddler instead of a baby. My surgery is over and done with. My basement is finished...for the most part. I finally took a look around and thought "Dang!" (not the exact word but...) "How did I let it get this far." I immediately got discouraged and thought that there was no way that I would be able to get myself out of the situation that I had so ignorantly turned a blind eye to.

My Solution (I Hope):

This solution came two fold. The first part came from my good friend Leigh. We were talking on Saturday when she mentioned that a friend of hers is trying to lose weight. This friend has set up a rewards system at each of her milestones. She has it set up that she will reward herself with a purse at 5 pounds all the way up to a trip to Hawaii with her husband at 30 pounds. What an awesome idea! Although, I am not really interested in losing weight per say nor will I be making it to Hawaii any time soon, I loved the idea of a personal rewards system.

The second part came when I sat down on Saturday to work on my vision board. (Yes, I do them. Yes, I think that they are great. Yes, I know that they get a lot of slack but, they work for me.) Anyway, I started noticing a theme on my vision board. There were the things that I wanted to accomplish organizationally and things that I wanted to eventually treat myself to. So, BING! My idea came into play like a little cartoon light bulb above my head. Why not kill two birds with one stone. I can get my house and life organized and treat myself with some of the things that I would like as a reward along the way. I know! Don't I sound like I am working with a 5 year old. I think that it might just do the trick! Not only will I get the nice organized house and life that I crave but, I will get the satisfaction that I did it on my own. Not only will I get those treats that I am seeking after but, I will know that I worked hard for them.

So, cross your fingers and wish me luck. If you are super interested in what exactly is on either list, let me know. I am debating as to whether or not to post it!

I Would Never

At some point in time, we are a little judgemental. Yes, I am among that group. I try very hard not to be critical of others especially since it tends to turn around and bite me in the behind! Over the years, I have become a bit more wise in my judgments of others. It turns out that many of the things that I had always told myself that I would "never" do have found their way into my life. Let me give you some examples! Yes, and you go right ahead and judge me for doing them. I used to tell myself that I Would Never:
* Let my children watch a movie just to get a moment of peace.
* Find out the gender of my kiddos before they were born.
* Drink soda directly from the 2 liter bottle.
* Buy my children a Happy Meal just for the prize.
* Let my daughter go to the store dressed like THAT
* Be seen in public with wet hair and no make-up.
* Teach my children how to use the remote control so that I could sleep in a few extra minutes.
* Hire a babysitter just so that I could go to the grocery store alone!
* Cut my hair short.
* Eat ice cream directly from the carton.
* Set my infant in front of the TV to watch Baby Einstein.
* Seriously consider buying Nintendo game system for my kids.
* Be a helicopter parent.
* Call poison control over every dumb little thing.
* Stay in my pajamas all day.
* Let my kids stay in pajamas all day.
* Serve my kids cold cereal for dinner.
* Put Diet Coke in my child's bottle (I know! Didn't I say don't judge me! Sometimes you get desperate on road trips!)
* Go to the grocery store just to drop my kids off at the playland!
* Paint my boys' fingernails.
* Put my journal online for everyone to read!
* Drive my child to school if we lived 10 houses away.
* Put my child in preschool.
* Buy flowers just for the heck of it.
* Use spell check on the words restaurant and souvenir.
* Allow myself to become unorganized (I know, I know, I know!)
* Forget a dentist appointment.
***Although there are a lot of things that I am leaving out (on purpose of course) there are a lot of things that I am trying to get better at! There are a lot of things that I promised myself that I would never do, have subsequently done, and loved it! I am just learning that everyone has a purpose in the things that they do, and although they don't make sense to ME right NOW, that doesn't mean that they don't make PERFECT sense to the other person. I am trying to remember that!

Eclair Cake

This is one of my favorite recipes. Even people who don't like sweets like this. It tastes exactly like an eclair. I made a few of them for the family gatherings that we had this weekend. I had several requests for the recipe so, I thought that I would post it here.

In a saucepan, on low heat:
1/2 C. butter
1 C. water
1/4 tsp. Salt
1 c. flour
4 eggs
Melt the butter, add water and salt. Add flour in little by little. Add eggs in one at a time. Stir until thickened a bit. Pour into a greased jelly roll pan. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes. My oven cooks quicker so, I only baked it for 20 minutes. It WILL BUBBLE. Take out of the oven and let it cool a bit.

While it is cooking, combine in a separate bowl:
2 small packages French Vanilla Pudding
2 C. milk
1- 8oz. package cream cheese

When cake part is cooled, spread pudding mixture over it.

Cover the entire thing with whipped topping.

Chocolate Gnoche
1/2 C. chocolate chips
2 Tbs. butter
1 C. powdered sugar
3 T. milk

Melt butter and chocolate chips. Stir in powdered sugar and add milk to thin. Spoon and circle the chocolate mixture over the top of the whipped cream.

Race For The Cure

For the past few years, my friends and I have participated in the Susan G. Koman Race for a Cure 5K. It is an event that I really look forward to. Although I had a late start getting ready, due to my surgery, I was ready to do my best. Unfortunately, I hit a couple of complications this week and my doctor told me to take it easy over the weekend.

I was quite disappointed but, I registered anyway. This morning, I got up and went anyway. Only this time instead of wearing my running pants and shoes, I opted for my jeans and heels. I rooted from the sidelines today.

It was a different experience. Instead of being so focused on me in the middle of the action, and chatting with my girls, I was by myself watching all of these amazing women in front of me. The women wearing the pink shirts are all cancer survivors.

As I stood on the sidelines, I watched daughters walking for their mothers and grandmothers. I saw mothers walking for their daughters. I saw husbands, boyfriends, children and friends all dedicating their walk to someone that they loved. Some walked in memory of someone whose battle had ended. Some walked in celebration that their loved one was still with them. I watched as people held hands and cheered each other on. What an amazing display of unity and togetherness.

As I watched, I thought of all of the amazing women in my life. I thought of how blessed I am to have so many incredible associations. I thought of how these women have shaped my life and helped me become the person that I am today.

I thought that it is not by coincidence that they have this race the day before Mothers Day. It was a surreal experience for me to think that I should never ever take my shot at motherhood for granted. My heart reaches out to those that have lost their moms to breast cancer.

I thought of the people in my life that have been affected by this disease. My aunt who is still bravely fighting her fight against breast cancer. I thought about my great aunt who finally succumbed to her courageous fight. My thoughts drifted to my own daugther and the world that she is facing. I support this cause in the hopes that there will be a cure when she grows up.

I thought of my cute friend Laurie. She is a 3 year survivor and has three children about the same ages as mine. I thought of what an amazingly strong person she is. She is a fighter and is teaching her cute kiddos to be strong little fighters too. She is one of my heros.

Although I didn't have the chance to support this amazing cause by running to the finish line, I think that my heart was much more deeply impacted this year. It makes me want to give it my all next year and race for the cure.

I Spy A 7 Year Old

At first glance, you would think that this was mearly the messy, unmade bed of a little girl. Although, it is a daily struggle to get Kyra to make her bed, at this particular moment, it was quite the opposite. In fact, Kyra is sound asleep in her bed, under the covers with her head completely burried.

She sleeps like a bat and has every light off and sleeps under the covers. She prefers completely blackness. The second picture is another angle of her minutes later. She really is a tiny thing huh!

When Life Slows Down

The title may be a bit deceptive. Life never ever slows down here on my little homefront. However, amidst all the chaos and craziness, I have had a couple of days of "pretty great!" Don't you love it when that happens. They have had their normal doses of stress and curve balls, but all in all, I have enjoyed them.

Today was a capstone on this great feeling. I have been a bit stressed over my children's track assingments. For those of you that are not familiar with Utah schools, a good portion of the Salt Lake Valley is on year round school. There are just too many kiddos for the exising schools (not hard to believe considering Utah is such a bunny rabbit state) so, in a year round school, they always have 1/4 of the students on a break. Schools go "on track" where the children are in school, for about 8 to 9 weeks, then they "off track" for 2 to 3. I thought that I would hate it but, it is growing on me.

All though I am sure that every track has its advantages, there is one track that is certainly sought after more than others. D track. D track has a longer summer break and has only three "off track" times during the school year. Last year, when Kyra was assinged to "A" track, I was the first parent at the school requesting a change. So, this year, when I found out that they were going to retrack the entire school, I about flipped! I fought so hard to keep Kyra on D that I was afraid that we would be kicked right back off. That, and the kindergarten teacher that I wanted and needed for Kaeson was on D track.

I knew that the letters were arriving in the mail today announcing the new track. I held my breath the entire day half anticipating, half dreading, the arrival of that little while envelope. Well, as soon as I saw the mailman turn the corner, I ran to the mail box (a bit of a feat in heels and a skirt.) I about fell over when I saw that we were automatically assigned to D. WOW!

That means, no petitions, no letters begging our entrance into the desired track, no camping out in the school parking lot! It is so nice to have just a little piece of stress taken off my plate! Yeah!

When Grandma Comes To Babysit

I don't go out a lot and I rarely need a babysitter but, when I do, family is the best way to go. Now that my mom is on break from teaching I have loved having her over. Today, I had a doctor appointment so, mom came to babysit. These are the cool things about having Grandma babysit:

1. The kids ADORE her! They would prefer to be with Grandma over me any day!

2. My mom always finds a project. Today, I came home to a completely emptied out and reorganized junk drawer! Thanks mom.

3. She always makes food. Over the past few weeks, I have gotten two homemade pies, enchiladas and today was cupcakes.

Maybe I should take this as a huge clue and get her over here more often. Maybe I can get my spa day in!

Keeping Up With the Jones'

Over the past couple of months, I have noticed how well organized most of my friends are. They plan way in advance, they know exactly which activity is going on in school on a particular day, their houses and yards are in perfect order and... they know where all of the matches to their children's socks are. I have sat in awe of these people. I then think back to my now distant past and think that I used to be one of those organized people. I have never been a "neat freak" and I am a self proclaimed recovering pack rat but, I used to have some sense of organization going on in my life.

So, now I have taken a refreshing new vow of organization. I have been going through the rooms in my house, tidying them up and tossing the things that are no longer necessary. I have discovered two things with the new endeavor of mine. First of all, I love it. I am getting a kick out of trying to see how much I can accomplish and how long I can get it to stay that way. Secondly, I have found it to be a daunting, exhausting and overwhelming task.

I look around and see how much stuff that we have collected over the years. I look at the boxes that we haven't even opened after moving to this house 5 1/2 years ago. I look at our garage and wish that we could get the cars in there. I then look at our storage room, the one that we didn't even know that we had when we bought this house, and see that it is absolutely stocked full of I don't even know what!

Then, the other day when I went to try to reorganize my sewing room, I was thrilled when all of my fabric fit into the amount of Space Bags that I had bought for the project. I vacuumed closed up all of the fabric, arranged all of my notions and odds and ends, then I sat down to enjoy the peace so proud that I had made it work. That was until I later went to the garage to retrieve something only to find SEVERAL new boxes of fabric, notions, and other craft things that I had completely forgotten about.

The yard, well we could go there but, at the present moment, lets just say that it leaves a lot to be desired. Last year our neighbors brought over a whole bunch of "extra" flowers that they had "mistakenly" bought and suggested that we could use them to plant in our front yard.

So, where does that leave me. Honestly, I am not sure. It is hard for me to start one of those tasks and not be completely sure of where the ending to it is. I need to figure out a plan. I have jumped off a with a pretty significant spring and I have a mom that has offered to throw away everything I own (thanks Mom,) but I am biting my lip and hoping that I can have endurance on this one! Now, you have to understand how hard this is for me to admit especially since my blog is private and I know EXACTLY who is reading this and you are all way too organized. However, it was on my mind and I thought that I would share.