Bits and Pieces

Did you know that the reason people get sick more often in the winter is because people spend more time inside, together and in close quarters with the windows shut. It's like a breeding ground for disease.

Did you also know that Cupcakes originally called for a cup of each ingredient and that's how it got it's name originally. It wasn't because they are mini cakes.

Here's a brain teaser for you: A rich old lady died and left a precious diamond to her family, but first they had to find it. She gave them one clue: "it is inside a cylinder surrounded by a thousand squares." Where did she hide it?

Why do we say "slept like a baby" when babies wake up every hour and a half?
Why do we yell "heads up" when we should be yelling "heads down"?
How do you throw a garbage can away?
How can something be both "new" and "improved"?
How did the "keep off the grass" sign get there in the first place?

Looney Laws:
It's against the law to slap a man on the back in Georgia

A train conductor in Illinois may not collect fares without wearing his conductor hat

If you're in a meat market in L.A., do not poke the turkey to see how tender it is

Minnesota forbids women from impersonating Santa Claus.

Unrestrained giggling on the street is illegal in Helena, Montana

Newark, New Jersey forbids the sale of ice after 6pm without a prescription

In South Foster, Rhode Island, any dentist that extracts the wrong tooth must have a similar tooth pulled by the village blacksmith

I thought these were pretty funny so I wanted to share them. More will come in later posts.

Do you ever wonder

Do you ever wonder what your life would have been like if you had chosen a different path or made different choices? I do. I don't regret my choices in life and I am grateful for the things I have learned along the way but when I look back at my life, I wonder why I thought certain things were important at that time in my life. Or I wonder what I could have done differently to make me love my husband more easily, sooner. I knew I always loved him but it hasn't been until this last year that I have realized just how much and how deeply I love him. Why didn't I feel that way before? Was I so hard hearted that I couldn't see what was right in front of me? Or why did I put my foot in my mouth when expressing my feelings to someone recently and now the relationship isn't the same. Why couldn't I have just kept my big mouth shut? Why couldn't and can't I be more forgiving? Why do I feel so inadequate to do anything in my life right now? Actually to be blunt, I feel worthless and under -appreciated. Why is that? I feel so vulnerable and doubtful of things. I use to be sure of a lot of things but now, a lot of those things that I use to be sure about, I feel unsure about. Here's what I know for sure: That Matt and Tanner love me totally and completely unconditionally, that tomorrow is a new day, that I have the most amazing, wonderful friends I could ask for. I don't have a ton of those best friends that you just want to be with all the time and hang out but the ones I do have, I cherish completely. I know that tomorrow I'm doing laundry. I just got this new amazing smelling laundry detergent and I love it! Seriously, who actually can say that they LOVE the smell of their laundry detergent. It's just detergent right? Wrong! If a detergent smells yucky or unpleasant, I don't like to use it. It doesn't make me actually want to and look forward to doing laundry.
I also know that I have a testimony of the gospel. It's much easier to live the gospel than not to. If you've ever been off the right path and get back on the right one, it's easier to stay on the right one because you never want to go back to the "dark" side.
I just feel like I'm being raked over the coals or something right now. Like I'm on this emotional roller coaster. I don't think I've cried so easily since Tanner was born and in the Hospital. And I really don't like to cry. I don't mind the puffy eyed look....whatever. But it physically hurts my eyes to cry. It's like I'm allergic to my own tears, and let's face it, who's ever heard of being allergic to their own tears?
Maybe I feel like this because I haven't really been focusing on any certain goals. The only one I can think of that I've really focused on, is reading my scriptures. I'm totally bad a praying (personally. We are super good at family and companion prayer), which is so odd for me because I know (just like staying on the right path) it's much easier than not praying. I'm just not doing all the things I should be and it's really affecting me lately.
Life is just hard right now and I believe it will be worth it at the end of the year when I look back and see where I was a year ago.
When I look back at where I was a year ago right now, we've come a long way. We had just moved to Raymond and we had gone back to Calgary for Christmas and we were getting ready to come back to Raymond, with Tanner for the first time, and unpack. I was so nervous and excited at the same time about everything. Being so far away from my family for the first time (okay, well I lived in B.C. for a summer with the family that I nannied for but I took the bus home every other weekend for the weekend, so that doesn't really count), being so far from the hospital and all of Tanner's doctors. I was most worried about that because I thought we wouldn't be able to see them anymore but thank goodness, we can. Worried about if Tanner would still know his relatives who he use to see twice a week at least. Worried about what the family I nannied for was going to do for child care. Worried that Matt wouldn't find a job. Excited for making new friends. Excited for being on our own. Excited for having our own place that we didn't have to share (even though I LOVED sharing a house with Erica) or worry about music being up too loud in an apartment. Excited to have a garden and our own yard. Excited to be able to walk everywhere without feeling nervous or afraid. Excited for that small town feeling. Excited to actually get to know our neighbours.
I have had a wonderful year. Amazing, in fact. My life, up until about a month ago, was, I would say, perfect. But now, it's not so perfect. I wouldn't call it a disaster or a failure, but just trying and unsure. Hard, is a better word. I know for sure, without a doubt that this is exactly where me and my family is suppose to be. Right here, in Raymond. I know that for sure. And honestly, you couldn't pay me enough money to move back to Calgary. I wouldn't do it for all the money in the world. I know I've said that before, but I still feel that way. The city is not a good place to raise a family, in my opinion. I've posted about this before, so I won't repeat... at least not for now.
It's hard to believe that we have already been here a year! It doesn't seem that long ago that we were pulling our super huge semi truck load of crap onto the driveway and unloading it all. It wasn't really a semi truck but it was the largest moving truck you can get and it was packed top to bottom, back to front full of stuff. We had to fill our car and the front of the truck to get all our stuff down here. That was crazy! I've gone through some of the stuff and got rid of some of it, but you know how it is, for however much you throw out or get rid of, you accumulate about 2x as much.
Well, I guess that's it for now. Happy New Year and I hope everyone stays safe.

A little bit of this and that

I just got off work (yes, I know it's 1am) and I can't sleep. I have things to say but they are all kind of jumbled up and random. First, Christmas. We had a great Christmas. It was actually really nice not to have the big to do with everyone and just have it small and intimate. My family tends to be the type of family that overspends every Christmas, even though everyone promises to stick to budgets and we limit the dollar amount on how much you can get your person. It never sticks. This year Matt and I spent a total of about $25-30 dollars on gifts. We, okay I, made 90% of the gifts I gave because we couldn't afford to buy anything much. I think it helped us appreciate more the wonderful things we received from people because we know it was in the true spirit of giving and not because people had to get us something. The one thing I really wanted, okay 2 things, were a queen size duvet and lots of food storage. I got some food storage and I got my duvet. I didn't want that much this year. Which is kind of weird for me. I usually have a list of about 10-15 things so people have a choice. It's so hard to buy for someone when they only have a few things on their list. And that was me this year. I think I had 5 or 6 things. As I get older, I realize, I don't really want "things". I want food storage and money for food storage. Things are not that important to me anymore. There are things that I'd like to have but they are not what's important to me. Books are also something that I really enjoy. Especially Church books. I want to know everything there is to know. I am just not as excited about getting things that clutter my place even more. It is so hard to find places for all the stuff that I have. It may sound like I'm ungrateful, but I am definitely not ungrateful. I'm very grateful, in fact, for everything that I got. We had a feast of food for about 4 days. On Friday, we had this Jerusalem dinner. We had fish, pita bread with different cream cheese spreads, grapes, oranges, cheese and "wine" (which was actually just grape juice). And we had it by candle light. It was nice. Then on Sunday we had a big turkey dinner. As well as on Monday at my Aunt's house. Then on Christmas, I did a roast with Thyme and fresh parsley with baked potatoes and all the toppings and a field salad with this yummy raspberry/honey vinegarette. It was a lot of food for the 4 days. Plus we had people coming constantly to our door with treats. I have treats for a whole year almost. It's insane! Maybe next year I'll tell people we are allergic to chocolate. It's just so much for just 3 of us to eat.

I'm already thinking about new year resolutions. I don't have a lot because I feel like I really want to focus on a couple of certain ones. I'm looking forward to working on the ones that I have.

Tanner has really enjoyed this time off. He won't be going to school that much in January because of Allergy testing and then Surgery. That's okay by me. I need to have the time with him. He is doing really well and actually likes when I go to work. I think he gets away more with Daddy.

Work is good. For Matt and I, both. I'd like to do more card making and try to sell them. Maybe I'll find a place in the new year that will sell them.

4 of my friends have announced that they are pregnant and due the same month. So that's exciting for them.

So, life is pretty busy and that's good. I think that's it for now.

Warning Labels

When I was at my Sister and Brother in laws this last week for Tanner's appointments (which were good for me but not so fun for Tanner, I'll explain later), I was reading this "bathroom" reader that they have. It's basically a book about random things and lists. One of them that I came across was a Warning Label page.

On a can of insect spray: "Harmful to bees."

On a life-saving device: "this is not a life saving device"

On children's cough syrup: "Do not drive or operate machinery"

On a motorcycle mirror: "Objects in mirror are actually behind you"

On garden furniture: "Keep away from damp and sunlight"

On a box of sleeping pills: "May cause drowsiness"

On a milk bottle: "After opening, keep upright"

On a bag of peanuts: "This product contains nuts"

On a water heater: "If building which heater resides is on fire, do not go into building"

On a mattress: "Do not attempt to swallow" (WHAT!!!! This one is the funniest of them all)

On a T.V. remote: "Not dishwasher safe"

On a garden hose : "May cause cancer in California"

On an iron: "Never iron clothes on the body"

On a graduation gown: "Do not wash or dry clean"

On a video came console: "Do not attempt to stick head inside deck, which may result in injury"

On a bottle of aspirin: "Do not take if allergic to aspirin"

On a chainsaw: "Do not attempt to stop chain with hands or genitals"

On a birthday card: "Not suitable of children aged 36 months or less

On a wristwatch: "This is not underwear. Do not put in pants"

On a hammer: "Do not use to strike any solid object"

On a curling iron: "For external use only"

This is a laugh for me to read these again. Who thinks of these things.

So about Tanner...we went to speech and he was doing good for about 10 minutes. Then he was kind of fooling around, pushing himself up against the table and his arms buckled and he fell. I caught him but I didn't notice until later that he had scraped his back down the chair when he fell. So he was crying and crying and he fell asleep. It's the first time in all the times of speech that he's done that. So Allison and I discussed his therapy and how I felt about things etc, etc. I'm at the point now where I'm doubting that putting him in the PUF program was the best decision for him. Even though I know it's good for him socially and probably even mentally, he has come home with negative behaviour problems such as hitting and screaming. His hitting we have got to a minimum but his screaming and yelling is out of control right now. I know he gets it from the PUF program because a lot of the kids in his class do the same things. That's the reason they are there. Plus I am a little concerned with his speech because there is no way in my mind that he is getting sufficient amount of one on one speech therapy. His class is 75 minutes and there are 5 other kids in his class as well. So he's most likely getting only about 10-15 minutes one on one time and that, in my eyes, is not enough. He gets at least 40 minutes with Allison at ACH and I could see that he was improving a lot more with that. I am partly to blame because I haven't been working with him at home as much as I was when we were in Calgary. I have resolved to be a little more strict in working with him and being more diligent about it.
I also feel like I'm being pulled in several different directions where his speech is concerned. Plus we haven't been followed up by with the O.T.. I know she has come to the school once but to me, I feel like if they are saying that he has a moderate delay, he needs more consistent O.T. So when the new year comes around, I am going to have a meeting with the program leaders to find out what to do.
I was also asked to watch carefully if Tanner gets headaches. This from his Neurosurgeon and Plastic Surgeon. He hasn't complained before so I'm not anticipating a huge change but they asked me to be more aware of it because it most likely means that there is tightening of things in his head and that means surgery. I'm am positively hopeful and sure that things with his head will be fine. If he needs surgery, then we'll do it. I've done it before and I can do it again. So that's the story with Tanner.
While we were up in Calgary, our car had it's first official vehicle accident. My sister was backing out of her driveway and hit our car. There was barely any damage and I drove it around the city and back home the next day without incident. I know my sister felt bad but it was fine. We've had the car for 5 years and we have had minor bumps and scrapes but no official vehicle to vehicle accident. So that was "exciting".
Well, I think that's it for now. I'll be back in a few days with more "bathroom" randomness.

My Husband

I know, Sarah, this was titled "My Man" but I decided to re-name it.

What is your Husbands name: If you don't know by know, then you don't know me very well. It's Matthew but he usually goes by Matt.

How long have you been married: It will be 8 years on January 28th/08

How long did you date before you were married: We dated a month before we knew we were getting married. But from the time we dated to the time we got married was just a couple weeks short of 5 months.

Who eats more: Matt does. No questions asked.

Who said I love you first: Me

Who is taller: Matt

Who sings better: Me

Who is smarter: Like Sarah and her husband, Matt and I are smarter at different things. I'm WAY smarter in the common sense stuff...lol. But Matt is really good at math (mmm..maybe Matt and Todd should get together sometime and have a math battle or something), and yard work

Who does the laundry: Me, but Matt does know how to do it as well

Who does the dishes: We take turns. We don't have a "real" dishwasher

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed: We don't have left or right sides of the bed that we choose. It goes like this: I always sleep closest to the door and Matt sleeps on the inside (if that makes sense). So it depends on where the bed is in the room.

Who pays the bills: Matt. I used to but when I had Tanner, I didn't want the additional stress of doing it while we were in the hospital so I taught Matt how to do it before Tanner was born

Who drives when you're together: Matt only drives our car on Sunday's. Any other time, I drive.

Who is more stubborn: I use to think I was the most stubborn but now that Matt "fights" back, I have learned that he can be pretty stubborn too. But overall, I'm more stubborn.

Who's parents do you see the most: My family, hands down.

Who proposed: Matt did on Halloween

Who is more sensitive: I'm more emotionally sensitive and Matt is more socially sensitive

Who has more friends: Me

Who wears the pants in the family: I really try to let Matt, but sometimes I have to take over in order for things to get done

Where did you meet your husband: At a break the fast potluck after Church

Where was your first Date: To a fireside and then to play games at my house

Where was your first kiss: Either on his front steps or in the car (I can't quite remember)

Where did you get engaged: At his Mom's house in her living room with her and Matt's brother there (not really what I expected)

Where did you get married: Cardston, Alberta Temple

Where was your honeymoon: In Alabama a year after we got married. We couldn't afford to go right away.

Now I tag Juliette, Bobbi-Jo, Jen E, Christal, and Christine M

Be thou learned

Today I have realized that I am in a very hard learning curve in my life. It is not easy at all and I feel and know that I am being tested and humbled greatly right now and it is so very hard at this moment in my life. The lessons that I am learning right now are as follows:

1. To be patient. Especially when it comes to being patient with the Lord. I am having a super hard time with that right now

2. That I need to let go. I need to let go of feeling like I'm burdening people if I ask them for service, especially when they offer that service...like babysitting Tanner when I need to go to work. This has been an especially hard thing for me these last 2 weeks since I've had to be working 4-5 nights a week and Matt isn't always home when I need him to be. I just always worry that I am infringing on other peoples lives when I have to leave him somewhere for an hour...or the one night I had to leave him for my whole 4.5 hour shift until closing at 12. Thank goodness for a wonderful, understanding, caring friend who saved my life at that moment. I need to stop feeling so guilty.

3. I'm learning that feeling heartache for something that is a blessing to someone else, still doesn't get me the thing that I wish I had so badly.

4. What I thought once would be a sensitive subject, isn't. I realize that I was worried about Tanner being accepted into a normal life by other people but he really is. People genuinely think that he is a cute boy. I use to think people just said that so they didn't hurt my feelings but I realize that people truly mean it when they say that he is cute or adorable.

5. Whoever said being a mother is equal to having 2 full time jobs was wrong! Being a mother is easier right now that having to work part time. It is EXHAUSTING! Fun, but very tiring. I guess I was blessed to have such a great, independant child. Don't get the wrong idea, I do stuff with him and play with him and take him places but if I need to have a quick 30 minute nap, he plays on his own for that little bit of time. Quite often when we are watching a movie, I'll fall asleep for half of it and then my body always seems to know when it's the end because I always wake up at the end. Weird. I know, I'm such a slacker...napping. I guess that's a blessing that comes with having an only child.

Those are the things that are at the forefront of my life right now. It's a lot for me. Plus there is always things that happen within a family, plus it's the holidays. So that's about it for me right now. I'm just ho humming along right now.

Well, I should go to bed now.

Part 3 of Holiday Randomness

Here are some more ideas for Christmas:

-Have a Santa's workshop day. Set aside a day at the beginning of December and sift through all the toys and gather up the ones in good condition but haven't been played with for a long time. Wash them with soap and water and take them to good will or a local shelter.

-Personal Ornaments. Buy your children an ornament signifying what they had an interest in for that year. They can take them with them when they leave home.

-Christmas Eve Books. Choose a special book that perhaps focuses on a hobby, tells a story you want them to experience, or a specific book they want. Write a note in it and on Christmas eve, let them open up the book.

-Three gifts. Give only Three gifts to each of your children to represent the three gifts the wise men brought the savior. It can cut down on your expenses and keep the true meaning of Christmas in your Children's minds.

-St.Nicholas Night. This is a German tradition where you gather on Dec 7 and leave your shoes outside the front door. Sometime during the dinner, the shoes are magically filled and everyone gets a treat.

-spend the money you would on presents on a trip to take with your family.

-Invite people over to sing Christmas Carols and have treats. This one is a great one for empty nesters.

**ALSO***please don't forget to leave a comment in the comment section of my blog if you have ever read my blog (if you haven't already) for my own personal Christmas wish. If you just let me know how you came across my blog, I would really appreciate that. Thank you.

Holiday Randomness Part 2

I've kept Tanner home today from school because he has a cold...AGAIN! This boy seems to always have a cold lately. Oh well. So as he's resting, watching a movie I thought I'd post some more holiday randomness. I just have to say, though, that I attended our ward Christmas party this weekend and it was by far, the best Christmas Party I have ever attended. It was amazing!
Anyways, back to the randomness;

**DISCLAIMER** these are NOT my ideas, they all come from the magazine LDS Living

Christmas Charities (I didn't know they had such things)

Christmas Spirit Foundation
christmasspiritfoundation.org
Help needy families in the U.S. during the holiday season

Holiday Project
holiday-project.org
Brighten the days of people confined to nursing homes, hospitals, and other institutions

My Two Front Teeth
mytwofrontteeth.org
This organization offers personalized online gift giving experiences to aid underprivileged children who get to choose their one holiday wish

Toys for Tots
toysfortots.org
Donate a new toy or give a donation to help the Marines make a merry Christmas for a needy child in your community

Christmas Card Aid
cardaid.co.uk/catalog
Purchase your Christmas cards here and one hundred percent of the profits will be donated to charity.

Ideas for Christmas:

-take goodies to the firefighters at the local fire station.
-Have a "Jerusalem Dinner". Dress up in simple biblical costumes, play music from the Messiah and eat simple biblical foods by candlelight-foods like fish, pita bread, hummus, cheeses, grapes oranges and grape juice. Do this on Christmas Eve so that your children think about the Savior instead of Santa on Christmas eve.
-Do a Christmas around the world. Explore the Christmas traditions of a different country. Throughout the season, read about what families in that country do to worship the Savior, who the "magical gift giver" was and what he did, how the families decorate for the season and how the celebrate New Year's. Experiment with recipes from that culture, make decorations to reflect what you've learned (which can sometimes mean no Christmas Tree) as well.
-Sleep under the tree (we've done this one ourselves)

So that's all I will give you for now. There are more, so stay posted and I'll give you more. While you're waiting, enjoy the holiday's.

Holiday Randomness

I subscribe to this magazine called "LDS Living" and the new one just came in the mail last week. I LOVE LOVE this magazine. It has really great ideas and great information. The current one has a lot of holiday stuff in it (well, Duh!) and I thought I'd share some if it with you.

There are several towns with 'Christmas' type names.
-north pole, alaska
-santa claus, indiana
-santa claus, georgia
-noel, missouri
-roudolph, wisconsin
-dasher, georgia
-snowflake, arizona (now there's an oxymoron)
-holly springs, mississippi
-mt.holly, north carolina

In a book titled "The Merry Book of Christmas" the author, Larry Wilde, says "Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of your children, they are all 30ft tall."

Facts and Figures
Candy

24 pounds of candy the average American consumes each year
55% of candy are bought on impulse buys
$84 is the amount the average American spends on Candy annually
100 punds of chocolate are consumed every second in the U.S.
1896 is the year the tootsie roll was invented
20 million Hershey kisses are produced daily

My Christmas wish

So I have been tagged again by Christal. I have to write 6 things that people don't know about me, so here goes nothing...lol

1. I LOVE maple flavored Mini-Wheats. They are my favorite. I also love the brown sugar ones. They are my second favorite kind.

2. I am, right now, completley stressed out with life. I feel burnt out and over stretched

3. I get to have an early Christmas with my family in Calgary on the 18th. I am excited about that.

4. I can't find our Christmas Tree stand. I have the tree but can't find the stand for it so we might not be able to put up a tree this year. Which is really sad because I spent about 3 months making a beautiful tree skirt for our tree. I'm totally bummed out at the thought that I might not get to display it this year.

5. My theme for Christmas is snowmen. I don't really like the whole Santa Claus thing and I am not going to encourage Tanner and future children to believe in Santa. I'm not going to discourage him but I'm not going to encourage it. I personally believe that it is dishonest to force your kids to believe in something that isn't even real. I will tell him the story of St.Nicholas but if he doesn't want to believe in it, I am not going to tell him he has to. I don't believe in lying to your kids. Snowmen are a real part of winter. I thought about doing a Nativity theme but I wanted to do something a little funner for when our kids were little. Plus, they didn't have a lot of Nativity things when I startred looking. Tanner knows about the Nativity and he knows the story of the Savior's birth.

6. This one isn't so much about me but it affects me...Tanner is having surgery in January. This one will be the last one for about 5 or 6 years. I am SO happy to have been able to get to this stage.

Now, for my Christmas wish. I would love for all of you who read (or ever have read) my blog to let me know that you read it. Weather you have ever commented or not, I would love to hear from those who read this. Just a simple Hi in the comments would be awesome. If I don't know you personally, tell me how you came across my blog.That is my Christmas wish this year. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and for commenting when you do.

That's it for now.

Can I breathe now?

So I know that I haven't blogged for so long but I have a totally valid reason. Tanner turned 4 and I was so busy with 800 things last week. Okay, well, not literally 800 but I had SOOOOOO much to do to get ready for his party. I had snack for both his schools, so that was a lot. Then cake and food for his friends party, plus cleaning for that. Then I had to make and ice his Cars cake for the family party on the weekend and clean up for that. Plus decorate. It was hectic to say the least. Tanner had a perfect birthday day. It was so awesome. He had lots of fun and the day went off without a hitch. He was spoiled rotten, to say the least, at both his parties.



I haven't hardly had time to breathe. At least I feel like that. I had to write myself a note to remember to breathe. Then my dear, sweet friend called to leave a message to remind me to breathe on Thursday night. Needless to say, I have paid for the craziness that I put myself through this week. I have a really bad cold. I am in Calgary for the week and most of my time I am having down time with Tanner.



I have had a lot of reflective thoughts about Tanner and about being a mother. Tanner has been my greatest joy. I knew that I loved him even before I knew I was pregnant with him. How is that possible is what I'm sure some of you are asking but it just is. The love you gain when you are a mother is one that you can not describe in words. Having Tanner has blessed our lives in ways I never thought possible. Having a baby put you on a rollercoaster of very high highs and very low lows. It's incredible. So in honor of my son, I will tell you what I love the most about him.



1. His laugh is infectious at every level. When he laughs, you can't help but laugh along.



2. He is a total free spirit. He knows no limits. The world is his. He has rules, don't get me wrong but he is happy to do just about anything.



3. He is SUCH a ham!



4. I LOVE that when he smiles, his eyes smile too. Those of you who know him, know exactly what I'm talking about. It's awesome.



5. I love that he's so tiny. It makes me feel like he's still my baby



6. He likes to help out with just about anything. I love it that he can help out.



7. He is a fish in the water...literally. He sticks his head under the water and swims around like a fish.



8. He loves his little monkey (Dangles) like it was a real person. It's the sweetest thing.



9. He doesn't walk. He runs everywhere. He has so much energy and just wants to go.



10. He has a scar on his head from his head surgery that matches the scar on Matt's head that Matt got when he burnt his head with hot oil off the stove. I love this scar because it reminds me of all he has been through and how we lucky we are to have him with us.



So that's it for now. I could write more, but I don't want to expose it all...lol.

My 5k

Today I ran my very first 5k run. Okay, I sped walked the whole way, but at least I was in a run for a good cause. My friend was looking for someone to go with and I've always wanted to do one so I offered and off we went. She's a runner and I'm not so much. She can run up to 28 minutes (I think that's what she told me) and my max is about 7 and a half minutes. I'm such a slow poke. Anyway, we didn't run because she had her little 3 month old in a snugly and it would be hard for her to run with her. That's okay, though. I didn't mind. She would have been done the race 15 minutes or more earlier than me if she didn't have her little one. It was a pretty good day. Not overly cold but not warm by any stretch of the word. Anyways, we came in at 46:02 which is good for me since it was my first time doing something like that. I'm just sorry that she couldn't get a better time because of my lack of ability to run. Oh well...I'm going to train for a 6k in March and we'll go together and do it. I'm looking forward to it. I've always kind of secretly wanted to be a runner and do marathon's and stuff but didn't have the guts to do it alone. Now that I have a 'partner' I have more motivation to get in shape.

I am looking at an insanely busy week. This Wednesday is Tanner's 4th...yes 4th birthday. It's hard to believe that time has gone by so quickly. I have baking to do every day this week. I will try to remember to breathe and relax, but there are no guarantees. I am really excited for his part on Saturday with the family. It should be fun. I'm mostly looking forward to my family coming down and seeing them.

This week was just an okay one. Nothing extreme happened...okay that's a total lie! On Tuesday night, Tanner was in the bath having fun, and I don't normally supervise him because he's old enough to be in there on his own and I can always hear him. Anyways, he has some toy buckets in there and he likes to fill them and dump water on himself. Well that night for some random reason, he decided that he was going to dump at least 4 big bucket fulls out of the tub and onto the bathroom floor before it clicked in my brain what he was doing. I thought he was just splashing around but nope. I went in and told him to get out of the tub and go to his room. He asked for a towel and I said "no, just get to your room right now and I'll talk to you when I clean up this mess". So I cleaned it up. Then I went in to talk to him and I told him that I was disappointed that I couldn't leave him in there without him making a big mess and that he was not allowed to have a bath for a very very very long time. Maybe until he was 10 years old. I told him no more baths with Mommy or Daddy and only showers. He said sorry to which I replied "I'm sorry that you won't be able to have baths for a very long time because I know how much you love them". He didn't cry about it, he just got dressed and went back to playing. So tonight when Matt had a bath, he of course wanted to get in and we told him he couldn't. He was not happy about that but we are standing firm in not allowing him to have baths for a long time. This is not the first time he has made a mess of water on the floor and we remind him every time he gets in the bath that water has to stay inside the tub. So, that was Tuesday. Not the best night but at least it could have been worse. I recognized that I stayed in complete control of my frustration about the situation and was amazingly calm about it. I didn't raise my voice at all and when I sent him to his room, I asked him nicely (I actually said "Please go to your room right now!). So, that's a positive thing.

We made cookies on Thursday. Tanner LOVES to help bake things, which I do on a pretty regular basis. Weather it's bread, or cookies, or squares, it's a weekly thing. I usually give them away except for a small amount for us. I like baking and giving it away, but I like eating it more so I have to be careful. I have to watch how many treats I eat because of my pre-diabetes. It's something that I have to watch more than before. Plus, I can't eat enormous amounts of food. When I go to a buffet, I take one spoonful of each thing I like instead of 2 or 3 spoonfuls. So if you want some baking, let me know.

It was a pretty windy week this week so we didn't get out too much. Luckily, I had the car for about 3 days this week so that was really helpful in preventing long, hard bike rides to school or to the post office. It's kinda funny that ever since we moved here, my life is about walking or bike riding everywhere. I'm really lucky to have the car. In Calgary, it was the opposite. Matt was lucky to have the car because I ALWAYS had it. I like walking everywhere. It seems kind of silly to get in the car to drive 1 or 2 blocks to go to the store or to a friends house. It makes me realize how lazy people can really be...including me when we lived in Calgary. It was really funny because if I offered to walk anywhere that was a distance, people would look at me like I was crazy. I remember I walked to my Mom's house with Tanner in the stroller one time and it took me 2 hours and 45 minutes. I could have taken the car (which would have taken me about 15 minutes) but I wanted to walk. It was a beautiful spring day and I was up and needed the exercise. I was tired at the end but I enjoyed it for the most part. Then we got bikes and everything changed. And we got a double bike trailer for Tanner to go in that converts into a stroller so it's really handy. And it glides through snow like butter. So smooth and nice.

So I've had a physical 5k and a 5k kind of week. Slow but now at the end.

So these are my random thoughts for tonight. I don't have anything deep to say. No opinions on anything in particular. But that's okay. This will be an 'easy' post. Not a 'hot topic' post.

Well, I think that's it for now.

Sorry

I'm sorry that I haven't written lately. I guess I was going through a really intense transition with all the last posts. Maybe it's better that I keep a low profile and keep my opinions to myself for a bit. I think I need an emotional, thinking rest. This week has been kind of blah...not much happening and not too many opinions or thoughts or feelings on anything particular. I do have parented pre-school tomorrow, so I may have more to write about then. We'll see.

Until next time, I think that's all for now.

Isn't it sad?

As I was preparing my talk that I have to give tomorrow I was thinking...well, first I should tell you what Matt and I were asked to talk on. The 11th article of Faith. For those of you who might have forgotten it: We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own concience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where or what they may.



As I was thinking about this topic, I realized that in a previous post ( see 'Almost Fuming' 9/17/07) I had talked about not being able to, or should I say refrain, from religious talk/conversation in Tanner's parented pre-school. I was thinking about how sad it is that we are not able to exercise this privilege of worshiping how, where, or what we may when these types of restrictions are placed upon us. I get both sides, I really do. I understand that some people may feel uncomfortable about religion but it's not as if we talk about it constantly in the parenting class the adults have. It gets hinted to, I feel, a lot but never directly talked about. I believe there is (and I have said it in my previous post) a line between preaching your religion and talking about it. Preaching, to me, is more to do with actually teaching the principles to someone and talking about it is just what it is. You don't talk about your religion with the intent of trying to convert someone or "teach" them. It's just talking about it. Talking about things you learn or commenting on the great lesson you had on Sunday.

I feel that because there are many religions in the world, we should be at least tolerant of each other and our beliefs. If you're uncomfortable about talking about other religions or even hearing about other people's religions, then just say so. But if you don't mind, I'd like to share my experiences sometimes of what has worked for me and what I've learned. I could be wrong on this, I've never studied other religions, but I think unless you're an athiest you believe in God or some higher being. So if people believe in a higher being or God, why can't we talk about it?

I certainly wouldn't be opposed to hearing other people's beliefs and the things they believe in. I've had discussions with friends about why they do what they do because of what they believe in (I hope that makes sense). That doesn't mean because we don't believe the same things we can't be friends or talk about what we believe in.

Why can't we exercise our privilege of "freedom of speech" because people don't all believe the same thing?

I think there are people out there that are super hard core in preaching and talking about God and maybe it's because of those people that are so forcefull and overbearing about their beliefs that the rest of us can't talk about religion in schools. I'm talking about those kind of people that talk and talk and talk about the gospel and have to prove that what the other person is saying or what the other person believes in is wrong. That's not how we are suppose to be examples of Christ. We're not out to prove other people are wrong, we are out to add to other peoples knowledge about Christ and his teachings.

I hope that one day, we will all be able to just tolerate each other and our beliefs and be able to talk about what we choose to without the restrictions.

OH! Here's a funny a story

I was studying and I had the music on that I usually only turn on before church on Sunday's (it's church music) and Tanner said "we going to church in a bit?" and I said "no, not for a few more days". He was a little perplexed because it was Tuesday and I normally just play that music on Sundays but I just felt like I wanted some calm music. So he asked "why you have the mormon tabernacle choir on?" and I replied "I just wanted to listen to some good, calming music while I was reading". The answer satisfied him because he didn't say anything more about it.

I am happy to say that I have all my Christmas shopping done. I have made most of my gifts because we are being careful with our money (okay let's just face it, we're poor...lol) and don't have a lot of extra money to spend so I made my gifts. It's a good thing I got my sister's name and not my brother in law because I don't think he'd appreciate the gift that I made for my sister even before I knew I had her name. Matt got his name (yes, we all know who got each other this year) and so he (okay truthfully I do the shopping) had to buy him something. We have an amazing dollar store here that has some really good stuff. So that's where I headed. I was very successful and even got a christmas pen with bells on it for me and a balloon for Tanner. Everything is truly and honestly only $1. They have things that are 2 for $1 or 4 for a $1 but unless it has a little tag that says that, it's really only $1. Even the Helium balloon I got for Tanner was only $1. They even take credit and debit cards. I hate those dollar stores that are cash only. It is so annoying sometimes.

Then we headed over to Toys R Us and spent about 1 hour or more just looking and playing with the toys. Tanner knew it was just a looking trip and that he wasn't getting anything, though he tried to get me to buy him this huge plastic dinosaur. But I stood firm and said no. I did find a little cheap (okay, on sale) gift for one of the girls that I use to nanny for her birthday and Megan's stocking stuffers.

Then it was to Superstore to get milk and butter and a few other things. $40 later and we were good. About $15-$20 of that was exclusivley for us and not gifts so that was good. I did find some really cute black, peek toed pumps that I really liked but of course I had to walk past them. Oh well, maybe another time.

I'm pretty sure Matt will have to find another job. His pluming job is not giving him enough hours right now. We'll see how it goes. I'm trying to get my cards to be sold in this craft store here so hopefully I'll be successful at that. That'll be a little bit of extra money. Oh well, I know it will all work out somehow.

Well, I guess that's it for now. I should get going and wash my floors and clean my bathroom...ugh! Not something I'm really over motivated to do but it has to be done.

Until next time...

A bad day

So, for Sharon, you already know my feelings on this because you were there so this will be a repeat for you but I am not sure why, but today I feel a little bit hyper-sensitive to my parenting skills and abilities. On a normal regular day, I don't feel so sensitive about the subject but for some reason today, I do. At pre-school we were asked about how we were disciplined as kids and if we thought it helped and how we discipline our children.

When we were young, we either sat on a chair, went to our room, or for me...I got spanked if I was especially bad (which was about maybe 6 times in my childhood that I was spanked). I just want to say that I do not believe in spanking kids. I don't threaten to do it but that said, I have spanked Tanner twice in his life. I am not proud of that but I'll be honest in saying that I did it. I felt horrible and guilty and like the worse parent ever after I did, but it takes a lot, and I mean A LOT for me to even think about spanking. Nevertheless, my normal method of discipline is to sit Tanner on a chair for things like hitting others, throwing his toys (and by throwing I mean actually aiming them at a specific person or potentially breakable object), or refusing to listen (which, actually doesn't happen all that often). He gets sent to his room for yelling or making lots of noise when he is playing his musical instruments and we are trying to study or have a quiet time. Tanner is generally a good boy and behaves reasonably well and is generally obedient. But like all kids, they have their moments.

My feelings are, and my experience with Tanner has been, that just sending him to his room does not work for him. He thinks it a play time and so if he does something negative or "breaks the rules" it's not really a consequence for him to go to his room. So we put him on a chair for "breaking the rules". He knows, when he gets off the chair, why he was on the chair and he says sorry.

Well, I got the impression from the teacher at pre-school that putting him on a chair is not discipline but punishment and we as parents should discipline, not punish, our children. I don't agree that putting a child on a chair is punishment. My opinion is that the child should think about what they did wrong and try not to do it again. Obviously, sometimes they are going to do the same "bad" thing they did to get the original time out, but at least they know what the consequence is.

Other people talk about natural consequences, but what is the natural consequence for hitting or hitting with a toy or throwing toys at things and people?

In my heart, I know that ultimately I am the parent and if it works for Tanner, then it should probably be okay.

I know that I frequently praise Tanner for being good and being helpful and doing kind things and for listening etc, etc, but why should a negative action equal a positive reward like playing in your room for breaking the rules?

Again, I know this is a "hot" topic for some, but I am interested in what other people have to say about this.

I'm just wondering, what other people's opinions on this are and if this has worked for them.

Well for now, that's it.

This is a gooder

Last week in our package of weekly flyer's came the Toys R Us Christmas catalogue. I really haven't had a chance to look at it because I can barely take it away from Tanner long enough to get a good look at it. Well last night when he went to bed at 7:30 I decided I was going to waste time looking at it. I had to laugh at some of the things in it. I will share with you some of the things I found quite funny.

First a digital photo frame with a remote control. So now when your guests least suspect it, you can switch the picture and they think they might be crazy because they are sure there was a different picture there 30 seconds ago but are too embarrassed to ask so they keep quiet. Then later in the evening, there's another picture there...how did that happen??? Mmmm....I wonder.

A nintendo DS game called "Master Chef". Unless it can actually cook gourmet food in real life, I'm not interested. Who comes up with these things?

Digi Glam Makeover. You can change your hairstyle, make up and accessories. It has a built in digital camera so you can give yourself or friends a makeover. I'd like a makeover at least once a week so will it actually do it in real life? What is the purpose of this thing? So you can look different every 20 minutes? To see what you could potentially look like. Show that to your Mother when you want green hair and see what she says.

Roboquad. This is an actual robot with mulit-directional movement capabilities, advanced sensory awareness and advanced movement control. Do I need to even say anything about this one? Could people get any lazier?

Remote control dragon Fly or Bee. Now there's more ways to annoy your parents and siblings with a flying bee/dragon fly that flies inside or outside of the house. Awesome!

Thomas Whistle Lounger. With real "chugga chugga" sounds and train whistle. Wheels really turn. So while watching your favorite show, you can have train sounds and move your "lounger" around. Sounds like fun to me.

Girl Crush Hair Streaker. Now little girls can streak their hair any color they want, whenever they want.

Society has become bombarded with toys of all sorts. Some of them are useful/helpful and even fun. But then there are some of them that I wonder "how can a company get away with such random toys/things?" Like it's a competition to see who can make the neatest, coolest, funnest item. I remember as a child, we didn't have many toys. We had tons and tons and tons of Barbie's and Barbie clothes and accessories. That's pretty much what we all got (except Melany) for Christmases. We had other toys, but not that many. My Mom and Dad and Aunt built us this huge massive Barbie house to play in. Just ask anyone who ever came over, they can attest to how big this thing was. It was a 9 room house that stood about 5 feet tall and 6 feet wide. It had real carpet and wall paper in it. There was even a room or two with lino. It was the sweetest house. We played a lot of house and dress up and store when we were kids. We didn't have the latest and greatest in toys. It makes me realize how spoiled children (including my own) are these days. Why does every child you have need a T.V. in their room? Why does a 6 year old need a Nintendo or Sega or Wii? What happened to good old fashioned imagination and crafts. Lego, trains and dinosaurs for boys and barbies and dress up for girls? In the summer time, we were rarely found inside the house. We ran through the sprinkler, played on the slip and slide, jumped on the trampoline, had fashion shows in the backyard, rode our bikes. We hated to go inside and now, you can't get a kid to even think about leaving the T.V. or the game they're playing. The latest thing I've seen is grade 6's having cell phones, texting their friends. Why in the world does a 12 year old need a phone? Where is that child going that they feel they need a phone? What happened to carrying .25 cents...well, .35 now.

I have also come to realize that I am very much a simple kind of person. When we get a house, there are maybe 2 things we are going to splurge on...a shower head that is one of those super huge ones and Matt wants this type of toilet that has 2 different kinds of flushes. One for small jobs and one for big ones, if you get my drift. But it doesn't really matter to me if I have the latest style of kitchen cupboards, or even a dishwasher. My feelings and theory is that if it's functional, why pay mega bucks on something that is just the style. If it's not broken don't fix it. If it's less expensive and still functional then why not save the extra money. That is my thinking on the subject.

Anyway, that is it for now. I should get back to my catching up that I need to do. Plus I need to make bread because we are on our last half a loaf. I refuse to buy bread, now that I know how to make it and it's probably cheaper to make it. But it's a weekly job that has to be done. So, I'm off until next time.

Slow down

A friend recently sent this to me and I really liked it so I thought I'd share it.





Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine. I got to thinking one day about all those women on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back. From then on, I've tried to be a little more flexible.How many women out there will eat at home because their husband didn't suggest going out to dinner until after something had been thawed? Does the word "refrigeration" mean nothing to you? How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched 'Jeopardy' on television?I cannot count the times I called my sister and said, "How about going to lunch in a hal f hour?" She would gas up and stammer, "I can't. I have clothes on the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday, I had a late breakfast, It looks like rain." And my personal favorite: "It's Monday." She died a few years ago. We never did have lunch together. Because Canadians cram so much into their lives, we tend to schedule our headaches. We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect!We'll go back and visit the grandparents when we get Steve toilet-trained. We'll entertain when we replace the living-room carpet. We'll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out of college. Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter, and the list of promises to oursel ves gets longer. One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of "I'm going to," "I plan on," and "Someday, when things are settled down a bit." When anyone calls my 'seize the moment' friend, she is open to adventure and available for trips. She keeps an open mind on new ideas. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious. You talk with her for five minutes, and you're ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of Rollerblades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord. My lips have not touched ice cream in 10 years. I love ice cream. It's just that I might as well apply it directly to my stomach with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process The other day , I stopped the car and bought a triple-decker. If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy. Now...go on and have a nice day. Do something you WANT to......not something on your SHOULD DO list. If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting? Make sure you read this to the end; you will understand why I sent this to youHave you ever watched kids playing on a merry go round or listened to the rain lapping on the ground? Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight or gazed at the sun into the fading night? Do you run through each day on the fly? When you ask "How are you?" Do you hear the reply? When the day is done, do you lie in your bed with the next hundred chores running through your head? Ever told your child, "We'll do it tomorrow." And in your haste, not see his sorrow? Ever lost t ouch? Let a good friendship die? Just call to say "Hi?When you worry and hurry through your day, it is like an unopened gift....Thrown away. ... Life is not a race. Take it slower. Hear the music before the song is over.

AGAIN???

People really like to Tag me and to tell you the truth, I don't mind it at all. So I have to write 6 habits or things people don't know about me that I haven't written about before (which is going to be hard because I've written plenty of this stuff before)

1. I'm like Adrienne in that I'm in a clothes crisis. I feel like nothing fits, nothing looks good and I don't like the style right now. I just wear what is comfortable and I don't really care. I use to be a little bit trendy/school girly but now, I don't know. Clothes is too expensive. I like JOE, LOVE LOVE LOVE Reitmans, and sometimes I like Old Navy. Also, I am in a music jam. I don't really know what I really really like. I love The MTC, and most country and old stuff. I don't really think the stuff they play now is worth listening too. I listen to it sometimes but it get's on my nerves pretty quickly.

2. When I am having a really challenging day I have a bad habit of thinking that life as a pioneer would be easier than what I'm dealing with at the moment. I know, totally unrealistic, but, whatever

3. I believe in the natural, homeopathic stuff. I believe oils and herbs are better for a person. I wish we had more money so that we could do all that stuff full on.

4. I have to sleep with a pillow between my knees. Ever since I was pregnant, I have to have it.

5. After my Dad died, I had to sleep with something in my arms every night. When I got the Jordan doll from NKOTB, I slept with it. Then I slept with a dinosaur that I got from someone when I got my wisdom teeth out. It's not so bad now but for a very long time, I couldn't go to sleep with something in my arms. It could get a bit akward at sleepovers but I didn't really care.

6. I have a habit of when I get a needle to have my blood drawn or having any kind of pain, I dig my thumb nail into my pointer finger to lessen the pain of where I feel it. It weird, I know.

***I know we are only suppose to do 6 but I thought of one more that is kind of funny. I got a new set of scriptures for my birthday and I can't bear to mark them up yet. I carry my old BofM around so I can mark it up like crazy. I did't have a seperate Bible before my new ones I got for my birthday, so I carry around my new (seperate) set of The B of M and the Bible and my old B of M. It's too pretty to mark up yet. Next year I'll be braver and do it really nice. I should have arms of steel pretty soon with all that weight in my church bag.

So I am going to tag Christine, Amanda, Malauney, Juliette, Kim, and Brooke.

Also, besides being tagged I discovered that a mouse ate through some of Book of Mormon study guide. So I said to Matt "that mouse better be super smart from Alma 1-15 because that's where he ate through". It was pretty funny. He laughed at me.

In other news, my sister came to visit and we had a wonderful time. I always love when my family comes down. I always have a good visit with them.

So I think that's it for today.

mama called the doctor and the doctor said...

Tanner had a virus, that is gone thanks to faith and a priesthood blessing, and it caused him to cough a lot. Becuase of all the coughing, he got a minor type of asthma and the doctor gave us perscription for a ventilator (which I know we can't afford because they are super expensive) and a puffer if I felt we needed it in a couple of days. He said the cough will go away but the puffer might help if I wanted to get it. So thankfully he doesn't have brhoncitis. I have a very wonderful mother type lady here that does natural oils and I got some oil for his breathing/coughing troubles from her. It works like magic on him so I will keep trying the alternative method first. I hate to give Tanner perscription medicine if I can do a more natural thing first. Anyway, that's the update on Tanner.

lessons learned

As I was making bread today, I realized how retarded (not literally but you know what I'm talking about) I am. I was thinking about how when I was baking bread with my Aunt last week, she doesn't even measure her stuff. She just knows how much to use. I think that is so amazing! I am a measure it freak. I measure everything I bake. Even my laundry detergent I measure. Okay, well that's partly because the pre-measurable pump on it is not working properly, but I don't just add a random amount to the wash. It's a bad habit. I always worry that when I'm cooking with my Aunt that what we are making won't turn out, but it always does. She is a wonderful cook. It makes me realize I have a lot to learn. I guess if you bake enough, you know how much 1 cup of flour looks like, or 3/4 cup of sugar looks like. I believe that there are recipes for a reason. I guess that's why I'm not a professional baker or chef. My skills are in cleaning and organizing other people's houses...which is ironic given the last post. I can organize and clean and actually really love doing it for other people, but for myself....that's a different story. When I organize my house, Matt asks me for about 2 days where things are. Crazy, I know.

Tanner and I have just been hanging out the last 2 days. I am finally taking him to the Doctor this afternoon to be checked out. I would rather do it now than have to take him to the hospital this weekend when my sister is here. I have a feeling he has bronchitis (or however you spell it). It would be the first time if he did have it. We have a terrible time at getting colds. I think it was partly because we moved and it was a new environment and we had a couple of colds at the beginning of the year. Though none of us have had a cold since April or May. So I guess that's good. Tanner's had 2 bladder infections since May. They were right after each other so that wasn't good. But I guess not being sick for 5 or 6 months is good. We went through a period when he was 2 that he was sick with a cold or something else about every 6 weeks. And last year, he wasn't hardly sick at all. I think it helped that I switched him to Soy Milk and took him off of Cow's milk. I know that is a huge topic to discuss, so I won't. I know everyone has their opinions and I have found that it has helped us. Not everyone thinks it's good for you or thinks that it's helpful, but I do. My friend sent me an article about Soy Milk verses Cow's Milk and I found it quite interesting. Anyway, I have found that it helped him not get sick.

I really enjoy being more of a homemaker and doing things like baking bread and making jam. I would really like to get into canning. I am hoping next year I can do it. I need to get some more mason jars. If any of you have any that you are not using anymore or have excess and would like to give away, let me know. I am more than happy to take them off your hands. I would have made more jam this year but I didn't have enough jars so next year I'll do more.

Well, I think that's it for now. I'll update you later as to what the Doctor says about Tanner.

Match maker, match maker....

I only have about 30 minutes before I have a lady from Tanner's school coming over for a home visit. I was going to clean my house perfectly but then I thought, NO! I have a 4 year old and if she or anyone for that matter, expects me to have a perfectly cleaned house with a 4 year old, they are crazy! I'm not typically a showy kind of person. If you come to my house in the middle of the day and it's messy, oh well. If I know you are coming over, I will 99% of the time clean it so it looks nice for when you come. I would have made the beds (which I am SO SO SO bad at doing on a daily basis), picked up the toys in the bathroom, done the dishes, wiped off the counters and table. Some days are better than others to do that stuff. If we make a big mess at the table, I wipe it off but if it's just a little bit, I think, "ah, I'll do it tomorrow". I use to be way better at keeping it nearly perfectly clean on a daily basis but now, I have Christmas projects to work on and service to give and bread to bake and school to take Tanner to and other things. Maybe that will be my new year's goal is to be in a better routine to do that stuff on a daily basis. Plus, we are not a very dirty family. With Tanner and I just home, we don't make a big mess. Maybe I'm just lazy. Lately, it's not what's important to me. Plus, I rarely get people showing up at my house to hang out or pop by for a visit. I have a friend that we go over to each other's houses at 10-15 minutes notice, but that gives me 10-15 minutes to improve my house a little bit.
I know of people and have been to people's houses where every time I go over, their house is perfect. Not a thing out of place. This seems a little weird to me. How do people get their house to be perfect all the time? Especially if they have kids? I could understand if you had older kids and they helped to keep it clean by putting their coats away and not leaving their shoes in the doorway, but if you have little kids, how do you motivate or teach them to keep their toys in certain places so they aren't all over the house?
I'm not even sure why I lack the motivation to be a better housekeeper. My house isn't dirty...please don't think that. I just don't mind if there are a few dishes in the sink or on the counter, of it I haven't vacuumed for 5 days, or if my bed is unmade (you can ask my Mother this, I have NEVER been good at making my bed), or if there are toys in the living room. We certainly don't live a pigsty, but some days, I feel like there are more important things. I do get the things done within a day or two, but I'm not an immediate, get it done right now or you'll think about it for the rest of the day kind of person.
So that's my opinion on that for today.

We had a huge sign up last night that said we had no candy (we are watching our budget and candy wasn't in it this month) and we had a group of teenagers come and knock on our door regardless of the sign. We didn't even bother opening the door. I thought it was kind of funny. Only teens would ignore the sign and do it anyways. We took Tanner to a few houses, even though he was sick and we weren't going to take him but he was really upset when I said no and I didn't think that a few (4) houses would kill him. He had fun for the short time and we got a couple of cute pictures.

My Mom sent him a package in the mail last week and she sent one of those garbage bags with the pumpkin face on it. So we filled it up with leaves for FHE and he was pretty happy about that. It's really cute.

Well, I think that's it for now. Until next time....

Twice Tagged

I've been tagged for 2 different things. One from Bobbi-Jo and the other from Tara so here goes.

Me summed up in fours

My four favorite naughty food:
1. Cheeseies
2. Tim Bits
3. Popcorn with flavoring salt
4.Crave cupcakes

My 4 favorite movies
1. Ever After
2. Lion King
3. Pride and Prejudice
4. Mean Girls

My 4 favorite things to say
1. SERIOUSLY?!
2. For real?
3. Whatever
4. Yeah right!

My 4 favorite T.V. shows
1. Grey's Anatomy
2. Prison break
3. Brother's and Sisters
4. The Hills

4 jobs I've had:
1. Pet Councelor (Petland)
2. Subway Sandwich Artist
3. Usher (Saddledome)
4. Nanny

My 4 favorite scrapbooking colors
1. Pink
2. Brown
3. Saffron Yellow
4. Black

Four places I would love to visit
1. New York
2. Disneyland
3. Navoo
4. All over California

Four names I like but never named my children
1. Ava
2. Ausitn
3. Callie
4. Dylan

My 4 biggest fears:
1. Tanner dying
2. The Dark
3. Not knowing my family as well as I think I do
4. Being unhealthy

Now I tag Jamie and Lahni on this one

Six random things:

1. I put my towel on the heat register when I'm in the shower to warm it up for when I get out.

2. I loved growing up in the 80's. It was the best time of my life...or should I say funnest.

3. I love the smell of fresh laundry. It makes me happy and even a little giddy.

4. When I was a kid, after breakfast my sister's and I use to all find a heat register and pull our nighties up over our knees and sit on it to get warm before we had to get dressed for school.

5. It drives me crazy when people leave dishes in other rooms of the house and they don't bring them to the kitchen to be washed.

6. I have moved 9 times in my life. Most of which have been after I have been married.

I have to tag 6 people but I don't even know 6 "bloggers". So I will tag anyone who is willing to do this one.

Hopefully light

I am amazed at the response to my last few posts. They are informative and definitely intense!

So in an effort to make things a little lighter I will write what I call a 'willie-nille' post. Just something completely random that has nothing to do with anything in particular.

First, we had stake conference today. Is it just me or does Stake Conference seem to go on for about 8 hours? I don't know what it is. Today it felt like forever. I kept zoning out and missed what the speaker was saying. It is so hard for Tanner to sit still for the hour in normal church sacrament let alone 2 hours! Call me a bad parent if you want, but I normally bring a few toys for him to play with so he stays quiet. He is not allowed to play with them during the passing of the sacrament nor is he allowed his snacks until after the sacrament is done. But today, we brought a bag full of toys for him. He's not big on coloring so that's kind of out of the question. He is actually really good at just playing quietly with his toys. And am I the only one that has a child that likes to eat other kids' snacks even though he has his own? I feel so bad sometimes because I feel like the other parent thinks that I don't feed my child or something. As if the snacks I packed aren't good enough. What is that about? He even gets special snacks on Sunday that he isn't allowed to have any other time of the week. Matt is so cute too. He tends to pack a little bit more than what Tanner will eat so that he can eat what Tanner doesn't. Do any of you have husbands like that? Or am I just the only one? How do I get him to not bring and or eat the snacks for Tanner? I must say that he is not the greatest at time management and even though every week I remind him that he needs to have everything ready 45 minutes before, he still either doesn't or does but chooses not to eat before we go to church at 1pm. He's a "take your time, why rush" kind of guy and I'm the total opposite. I'm a "get up at the last possible minute so you can get all the sleep you possibly can, shave your legs fast in the shower, chew your food while you dress in the clothes you picked out the night before, brush your teeth and hair at the same time" kind of person. This is not a regular thing, it just seems like it's always on Sundays that there is a lot of lolly gagging around our house. Of course, being a woman, we would do things differently. I would get Tanner bathed at least an hour ahead of time, let him play for a little bit, then get him lunch, put his Sunday clothes on, get his scriptures, put on his coat and walk to church. But Matt doesn't get him bathed until about 45 minutes before we need to go. I laugh to myself every week when Tanner won't co-operate with Matt because he's trying to run around getting things done. In my mind, I think that I'm helping Matt learn a lesson on how to manage his time better but every week, it's the same thing. I usually end up helping him anyways, so we aren't late for church, but I just think that it's a bit funny how we are opposite in that way but we still love each other and have fun together and laugh together. He is such a good Dad and I know Tanner loves him so much.
Last week, Tanner said to Matt "Daddy, you my friend". It was the sweetest thing.
Matt is also a wonderful husband. He gets up in the morning every day with Tanner and gets him breakfast so I can sleep in just a little bit longer, he always wakes me up if he has to leave super early in the morning so we can have prayer together, he puts his own laundry away and rolls on his side when he snores and I ask him to. He does other things too, but those are what comes to my mind. And! if he says he'll do the dishes and I get up to start to do them, he makes me stop doing them and does them.
So, I hope this made things a bit lighter. Tanner is very close to being grounded from watching movies this week, so I hope this week goes good. He gets to watch one movie a day and I usually do my study then or do something like mopping so he's not walking all over the wet floor. He would watch movies ALL day if I let him. He loves movies! And not movies like "12 episodes of Dora the Explorer". He likes Dumbo and the Lion King and The Jungle Book, and Monster's Inc, and Night at the Museum. I am sad to say that he hasn't watched Cars for a few months. Which, ironically, is the theme of his birthday this year for our family party. He still likes the Car toys he has but the movie...not so much. I figure that 75-90 minutes of a movie is about the same as a person watching a show a day plus the news. Sunday's he's not allowed to watch any movies except one of the 2 church movies we have. We were only allowed to watch the Disney movie on Sunday's and that was it. We usually played after we came home. Sometimes we played church, sometimes it was store, or house or barbies. But the T.V. was off limits until 6pm when Disney came on. I remember sometimes, we would play hotel. It was so much fun! Being a kid really is fun! Too bad we all have to grow up...lol. My Mom and Dad would usually sleep while we played. I think they just actually rested. I don't know anyone that takes 6 hour naps. As kids, we were always careful to be quiet, though, because we really did think that they were sleeping. And when we played house, I was ALWAYS the mother. I never got to be the child. I guess it was good practice.
I guess I should stop telling ALL my childhood stories. I have to leave people wanting more, right?
Well, I hope this is a more enjoyable, lighter post. Until next time.

Opinions

I wanted to get peoples opinions and thoughts on a certain subject. The subject being nuts. As in peanuts, almonds...etc. What is your opinion or experiences about having a nut free school? We here in Raymond have a nut conscious school but it's not completely nut free. There was some discussion on the subject today and parented pre-school. My thoughts are that it can be stressful and or frustrating for a little child to understand why they can't take a peanut butter sandwich to school because there is another child in their class that is allergic (weather it be minor or severe allergies) to nuts. On the other hand I could understand that if that were my child I would appreciate the support. So what's the solution? Where is the middle ground on an issue like this? How do you not alienate other kids' choices because of a few other kids? Anyway, that's my question for today.

Storytime

I'm sure you are all getting sick of me by now, but I have a lot to say this week...okay I've had a lot to say since I was born but lately I have a lot to say. Maybe I blog more lately because Matt's been working late and it takes a day or two for us to "catch up" and this is an easier outlet because then I don't forget what I want to say.

Anyway, yesterday Tanner had a special music class that the parents were invited to participate in. It was a lot of fun. The thing is, when we were there and waiting for the music specialist to come in and the kids were playing, there were these 2 ladies that kept gawking at Tanner. And I don't over-exagerate that. The whole time, even during music time, they were staring and gawking at him. I felt like going over and staring at them. Honestly, who does that? I could understand a child staring/gawking but an adult? If you want to look at my son, at least do it in an unobvious way. Don't keep gawking and staring after you know that I've seen you do it. I would think that as adults, they would be a little less obvious, but NOOOOOO! I don't know why it bothered me so much. Maybe because people have never gawked at Tanner so much in his whole entire life. It made me feel uncomfortable for me and for Tanner. Tanner, of course, doesn't notice this kind of stuff going on.

Maybe for me, because this is my normal life, it's easier if I have questions, I just ask them. If people don't want to take the time to ask questions then they don't have a right to be staring and gawking at my son. Don't people know it's not nice to stare?

Anyways, today was the first time that Tanner got to ride on the bus to school. He was so excited. It comes at 8:10 which is great because he's up by then. I was worried that it would come super early like 7:55. He took his dinosaur to help him out a bit. He was so excited about the bus that he forgot the dinosaur at school coming home on the bus. So when he got home, I had to go back and get it. Okay, okay, I didn't HAVE to go back, I chose to go back. I didn't particularly want a melt down today. It's not as if the school is so far away. It's only a 45 second drive or 10 minute walk. If Tanner walks, it's about 20...ha ha.

As I was thinking last night, I really admire the woman in my life that have worked so hard their life and still continue to work tirelessly to give service. It really exemplifies the word Charity in my mind. For example, my Aunty Elaine who I am named after (my middle name) is amazing!!!! She never ever stops. She is always busy giving service or helping out someone. Even when she is so tired and just wants a break, she keeps going. She has been through a lot in her life but she never gives up and makes time for the people in her life. She spoils her husband (which I am ashamed to say, I do not...that's a whole other discussion) and gives to the people around her. She is very knowledgeable in a lot of different things. It amazes me that at her age, she is still going quite strong. She has worked hard her whole life. She recently purchased her first kitchen table and chairs. She was so excited. All her life, she had this old table of her mother's (I think it was her mother's, but it was old) and random, unmatching chairs. It really re-enforced to me about what's really important in life. I wish we could get a new couch (the one we have, my Mom got in '91 after my Dad died). It's still functional, but we have boards under the cushions to make it sturdy and so that you don't sink into the couch. The springs are all shot but it works. I can't tell you the number of people I know that it's important to have matching things or new things just because they don't like them anymore or because they have one minor scratch or break or whatever it may be, in it. In the long run, is it going to matter if things are matching or newer? For me, the answer is no. It's about being with my family and learning and making memories. Having nice furniture, or appliances, or the newest thing doesn't matter to us. I believe even if we had tons of money, we wouldn't be rushing out to get the latest and newest things. They're just things. What price are we willing to pay for love and friendship and unity in our families and or with our friends.
It's not always easy to keep things in perspective every day. Some days are better than others but it's nice to know that there are people in our lives to help us get that perspective back.

I think that's it for now.

Can someone please....

Can someone please explain this to me because I feel so confused about it. Why is it important to have a house of your own? Here's my "rant". I know that we have been told to work towards home ownership, but why? If we can never afford a house will that make us bad people or will that deny us things in the after life? My thoughts right now are that why would I get myself into a mortgage that might take years and years to pay off. I believe that having a mortgage is an allowable debt but what if we don't want to buy a house? What if we want to just rent for the rest of our lives? Is that bad? Are we bad for having that attitude? We are so close to being out of debt right now that I just don't see why we would get ourselves into a mortgage. To me, that's more debt that we will have to pay off. It's really frustrating for me right now. I am perfectly happy to rent but then other day's, I wish we had our own place. But for what? What is the purpose to owning your own home? Do I not get the same things out of renting? I have a garden of my own, we do our own yard work, we can beautify our place how we like. Isn't that the same as having your own place?

On another note, I had a very busy day making bread and buns and cinnamon rolls. I am feeling quite tired. It's good to work and do things like making bread and all that fun stuff. I love homemade bread. It's sooooo yummy.

Okay, well, I don't think that I have anything else to write. I think that's it for now.


***SO for those of you that responded, please click on my "comments" I have another question for you.

HALLOWEEN TAG!

I've been tagged! Halloween tagged, that is. So here goes:

P.S. Sorry I don't have cool pictures. I am scannerless...but Christmas is coming...hint hint!!

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE HALLOWEEN COSTUME AS A CHILD?

I've gone as many things. Clowns, dice, a baby, a pioneer, grapes...but I have to say that by far, my favorite was the dice. It was so cool!

WHAT WAS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE COSTUME AS A CHILD?

I don't really have a least favorite. I think maybe being a pioneer because no one knew what I was.

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE HALLOWEEN CANDY AS A KID? IS IT STILL YOUR FAVORITE?

I would have to say that Caramilk is my favorite and is still among my top 5 (my other 4 are reccess pieces, coffee crisp, oh henry and dairy milk)

HOW OLD WERE YOU WHEN YOU STOPPED TRICK-OR-TREATING? DO YOU MISS IT?

I believe that after grade 9 we weren't allowed to go. Well, not only that but we didn't get candy because everyone knew how old we were. We did get to dress up for school day on Halloween.

WHAT'S THE SCARIEST MOVIE YOU'VE EVER SEEN?

Ummmm...I was terrified after watching "Watcher in the Woods" when I was 12 at a Y.W. sleep over. But my latest scariest movie would probably be White Noise.

HAVE YOU EVER DRESSED UP IN MATCHING COSTUMES? WHAT WERE THEY?

I was a baby with Malauney and then in high school with Teisha. We were so cute! I can't count the number of times I dressed up as a baby. It's totally easy. Oh! And my sisters all went as clowns when we were younger. It was very cute.

So, now I tag Bobbi-Jo, Juliette, Tara, and Tiffany.

I am woman, hear me roar!

We had a pretty perfect day today. When I woke up today my plan was to get caught up with my reading (I seriously need to read about 8 more chapters) and started doing that when things changed a bit. We have a huge problem with loss of heat in our place. Being at least 28 years old with original everything, including windows, can cause a little difficulty sometimes. So my Mom bought us that shrink wrap you put on the windows to retain the heat. I decided since Matt didn't/wasn't working today (HOORAY HOORAY!!!!!), I'd get him to help me do that plus some other things around the house today. You can't even tell that the shrink wrap is on there it is so awesome! We took our time and made sure it was just right. It has already made a bit of difference. It doesn't help that our door doesn't hang properly and there is a 1/2 inch gap at the top that air comes through. I wanted to shrink wrap the door and just use the back door but Matt said he didn't think that it was a good idea. He might be surprised when he comes home this week if it gets colder and has to use the back door. I just want to be warm! I like the cold, but come on, seriously, cold air intentionally being blown into your house...no thank you!

Then I rearranged my room while cleaning the house from top to bottom. I love rearranging. It makes things fresh without money. I am avid about where I sleep in terms of what side of the bed and now that I rearranged the room, I have decided I am going against the grain. I ALWAYS sleep closest to the door. If we move the bed and my previous position on the bed makes me further away from the door, Matt and I switch sides. I don't know what it is. I think mentally I need to be closest to the door so it's easy access in case of an emergency and now more so closer to easy access to Tanner. We'll see how tonight goes. There aren't very many ways I can rearrange our room so hopefully I like this for a while.

We have been here for almost a year and it's amazing to realize that we have been gone for that long. It seems like we have been gone for less time. I'm sure it's different for my family. It probably seems like an eternity to them but for us, it doesn't. I know my family misses Tanner a lot. They probably don't miss me quite as much but that's fine by me. Once I had Tanner, I wasn't as important...ha ha ha (rolling my eyes).

We have always claimed that my Mom has favorites, which I know in my heart she doesn't, and when I had Tanner I went from #4 to #1 for a while and now I'm at #2. It's only because of Tanner. It has nothing to do with me or me doing something amazing for my Mom or giving her a million dollars. It's because I had the first grandchild/nephew. I know because I was such a problem teenager, I was #4 until I had Tanner. Well at least according to my sisters. I think it's totally silly to say that Mom has favorites. I don't know what it's like to love more than just one but hopefully one day I will. I do believe that you love all your differently. There's no way you can love your children all the same. It just doesn't seem realistic. I have been told from people with multiple children (that would actually be every person I know except me and my new friend "S") that they worried when they were pregnant with their second that they wouldn't be able to love the second one as much as the first. But then when they had the second one, they just did. I don't completely get it but I have the faith that it just happens. It's just like trying to explain how you feel about your first child to someone when they haven't experienced it. It's something you can't truly explain. There's not words adequate enough to express that.

I, personally, didn't bond instantly with Tanner when he was born. That's how they portray it in movies and I have had friends that had that experience, but not me. It was kind of...I don't really know how to explain it. It wasn't until I had gone to the NICU after everyone had left and I was holding him and talking to him and he looked up at me and smiled. Yes, he smiled. It wasn't even a grin but a smile. That's when I felt that bond instantly. It wasn't because of him smiling at me that we bonded but what I asked him just before and the response was the smile. It was a moment I will forever treasure. It makes me smile just to think of it : )
I guess as they say, the rest is history.

So back to my day...
After we put the shrink wrap on, and rearranged, and cleaned, I went back to catching up for about half an hour before Matt asked if I was going to make bread. I was planning on doing it on Monday but then I decided we needed it for tomorrow. Well, I discovered that I didn't have yeast. So we scratched that plan and made cookies. Chewy oatmeal. Plus we added some chocolate chips into them. Then as we were finishing baking the cookies, we made a yummy spaghetti dinner. We cooked up some mushrooms and fresh onions and added them to the sauce and it was sooooooo yummy! Then after we had supper, we played and sang on our mini karaoke machine that Matt's friend gave us. Tanner and I sang Primary songs for about an hour until I had gone through all the songs I knew. Which surprising enough were about half, if not a little more. Tanner enjoyed it and so did I. It makes me realize....okay not realize, but reinforces my knowledge about how important it is to teach Tanner correct principles and help him to do the best he can. And not only help him, but to be a good example myself. If I do or don't do something that I don't or do want Tanner to do or say, I should be modelling that behavior for him. If I don't want him to say shut up or other negative words (which we are very careful about saying. It's really takes a lot of effort not to say those words sometimes...like stupid or dumb) Matt and I have to be the example and watch what we say. I am very much more aware of those kinds of things in movies now, too. I am shocked at how many movies, even Disney, use words like that. I know it takes a lot of effort and I am not perfect at it, but I know we are so much better at it than even a year ago. It helps us to control our words and it has really opened our eyes at how much we use to say those words. Not that they are swear words, but we just feel like we should try to use better, more positive words in our home. Tanner will actually say "That's not a nice word" if he hears someone else say it or hears it on a movie. So I guess that's a good sign.

The other think that I have thought about is how much of a chore it use to be to read the scriptures. I didn't understand it and it was really hard to follow the story line. I guess that's not true about understanding it as a whole. I just didn't understand the story lines and that bugs me sometimes. I like to be able to read something and know what has happened before that and what got that person/prophet to a particular place and who was before them. I have this great study guide that has really helped my out a lot. Plus I write A LOT of notes and questions and quotations in the margins to get me thinking and to remember the story line. The last few days, I have actually felt like I was reading a novel because I was understanding what was going on. I understand the principles, well a lot of them, not every single one, that is talked about but I was frustrated at the story line. I am grateful that I am able to understand it better now. I already have decided that next year when I read it, I am going to mark it up. I'm going to color code all the verses with what they are talking about or teaching. I have this great book called "Color coding your scriptures" and it's so great! I started to do the color coding but then I got too into what was going on. So next year, that's what I'm going to do. I'm kind of excited.

Well, I think that's it for now. OH WAIT! There's a few of us that are having a Halloween party next week and I am soooo excited for that! There will be super good food and even better friends/company to be with. I love parties! Especially ones that you can bring your kids to. I do have to admit that it's nice to have an adult night out sometimes, or even a girls night. But I think kids parties are so much fun! I love watching kids' reaction to things and them getting excited over little things. Plus I love kids food. The little bite size portions and the fun finger food they always have. It's like being a kid again, yourself. I miss being a kid sometimes. Anyways, I do believe that's it for now. Until next time, fare thee well my friends!

Thank you

I just wanted to say thank you to all of you you check out my blog and comment on my posts. I really appreciate everyone taking time to look at my blog. It's nice to know that the writing isn't in vain.

What's in a name?

I really should be either going to bed or reading my scriptures right now but I have had this thinking evening while Tanner napped that I knew I didn't want to forget.
I was thinking about names. Specifically a persons last given name and what it means. What does a person's last name mean to them? I feel that it is a really important thing about who a person is. When you're younger, I don't think that a lot of us understand or think about our last name. It's just a name...right? Wrong! Your last name has a lot to do with, weather you want to believe it or not, what other people think of you or treat you. Like if you were a Hilton, you could be expected to be treated in such a way because of your money. For me, it's about having a good, honorable, honest, faithful upbringing. People who know my family expect or hope that because my Dad and brother's and their parents made a name for themselves by being a certain type/kind of people, the offspring of that name will be similar. If my Dad, or let's say even us as children, were rebellious and proud and did bad things then we wouldn't have a very good reputation. And if you want other's to look at you or hear a certain name, you hope they think or say good things about you and your family. I, personally, didn't understand it why I felt expected to uphold a certain reputation when I was a child or especially a teenager. But now I do. Here I am, 20 years later and I get it. Sometimes things like that just click or it's like a lightswitch went on. I love when that happens. I hope I am making sense in what I am posting about. Sometimes you do feel like you are being watched or judged but at least you know that people care enough about weather or not you do good things. It is sometimes hard to feel like your life is like living like a fish in a glass bowl. But on the flip side, people want to know who they can trust. I feel bad for the way that I acted as a teenager because I know that it didn't bring honor or truth to my family's name. I want to be able to live a life so that people hear my name and they know that I am honest and trustworthy. It's the same with being children of the Lord. We should be living a life so that we are not disgracing His name. We need to be living with honor and dignity and honesty and everything that goes along with those qualities.
Anyway, I just wanted to get that out there. Night time is when I do my most thinking and then when I go to write about it the next day, I forget what it was that I wanted to write about. So, I think that's it for now.