Slow, slow, slow!

Ever have one of those moments that you really feel stupid? Well, today I had one of those moments that I just felt SLOW. As the three of you who read regularly know, I have been trying to run. I am getting stronger. I can do 2 miles without misery, some days I can even do 3 miles. I thought I was doing so well. Then I noticed him. An older gentleman. He speed walks, runs, walks. I noticed that his speed walking is almost the speed of my running. That is embarassing! Well, today, he was coming in the same time as I was so we started talking. HE IS 80 years OLD! An 80 year old man can walk almost as fast as I can run, and when he is actually running he is faster than me. I decided that I better ask a few more questions. Yes, he has been a runner his whole life. He was a sprinter at Utah State. That made me feel a tad better, but he is 80 years old, more than twice my age. Okay, I am going to go and feel sorry for my slow self!

Answered Prayers

This quote came from this month's visiting teaching message(women visiting women). I was very touched by it. My dear friend and I have had a conversation this week about this very subject. Do we listen when we are prompted to stop and visit a friend? When a old friend comes to mind do we ignore it to later find out that something significant was going on in their lives. I am trying to be more aware of my little feelings I have about other people. Trying to know when to share or when to drop a note. In this modern day there isn't anything much more thrilling than getting a note the old fashioned way! Hand written also!!
So, I make a challenge to myself and anyone else who would like--look for opportunities to help and do something. Something as small as a note, taking someones mail in. Noticing a glance, let's pay attention.

Bonnie Parkin:
"The Lord has touched my spirit time and again, and more often than not, His touch has reached me through the hand of a friend. . . . Perhaps [we] would feel more of His love if [we] looked for His hand in the actions of those who care for [us]. . . . God knows the needs of His children, and He often works through us, prompting us to help one another. When we act on such promptings, we tread on holy ground, for we are allowed the opportunity to serve as an agent of God in answering a prayer"

Sunday Blessings

Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest. Well, that is unless your husband is the Bishop of a Young Single Adult ward(18-30yrs old, LDS church congregation)! My little ones are young enough that they need to go to our own ward so that is three hours in the morning. I then drop the kids off(thank goodness some of them are a bit bigger!) and drive to Ogden and go to three more hours of meetings.
It sounds awful but really except that it is 6 hours it is actually really wonderful. Today a young man spoke and I just kept thinking about how his countenance radiated the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is just a really great guy and his spirit was so strong. I just want to find some cute gal that realizes how strong and valiant this young man is!

I am going to go and write down my blessings- I will share one. The closing hymn was Families are Forever. The couselors left the stand to go to the doors, the first counselor looked at his wife while we were singing the song and I could just feel the love that these two have for each other and for their family. I looked at his wife and she was crying because she felt it also! I was honored to have witnessed such a loving moment. (married 30+, 6 children, grandchildren). A blessing indeed!

New Habit-Blessings

It is Saturday again. Tomorrow is Sunday and we get to start anew! My friend Lara has been doing a thing called Smart Habit Saturday for a few weeks. I am not very good at really getting a new goal going but I am trying!
The first week I decided to keep my counter clean---well, that is much harder for me than I like to admit. I have done alright. There have been nights that I have gone to bed with it dirty. I hate waking up to a dirty kitchen. I am struggling with this. It will continue to be a habit that I work on.
I have been working on just keeping up-well, I have decided that that is a lifetime goal. Do any of you feel like you are caught up? I am trying to come to grips with the fact that caught up only happens at death. Life is for living so there will always be dishes, laundry and messes. I am going to try and embrace my imperfect life and try to find the tiny blessings that I fear I am overlooking. So my SHS goal for this week is to find hidden blessings in my everyday life, I am going to try and write down at least five blessings everyday.

Wish me luck!!

Ice Fishing 101

Ice Fishing 101

Go early-like 6:30 am early. Why? because it is super super cold and you won't relize you are frozen because your brain still thinks you are asleep!

Ok, I really have no other lessons for ice fishing. We went with Dave's ward this morning. It is the strangest sport in the world! Why do grown men like to sit on a bucket in the middle of a frozen lake, cut a hole with a very expensive ice cutter(ogger) and then stick their fishing pole in the ice, wait 10 seconds and have to scoop the slush out of the hole. They sit and do this for hours. Why? I do not understand!

Now, I understand the point of our activity! We are trying to get these young people to mingle with each other so that they will find someone to date!!! I really understand that, as did the 11 kids that were there! However, how do we get the other 185 ward members to realize that the event is not the point! We could be sitting on a bench wittling and the point would be the same! Come, there might be a guy or a girl that you might be interested in. You might be able to become friends! THAT IS THE POINT TO THESE ACTIVITIES!!

I have been informed that blogger was having issues so noone could post comments. Not that there are so many of you who do but you could try again!

Sick little pumpkin

My little Missy is sick today. She woke up in the night with a fever and screaming that her finger hurt! She actually cut it quite badly Sunday so I was worried that perhaps she had staph or something! She is resting comfortably and the finger hasn't fallen off.
It is so interesting when a change in my normal schedule happens that it seems to throw everything off a bit.

I am becoming more aware every day that I really don't have anything profound to say. My life is a normal wave of activity, dirty dishes, laundry, driving, schedules. Let's celebrate our ordinary lives. What do you do that is just so ordinary but it matters to someone else?
*I put all important dates into Dave's calendar
*I put all important dates into My calendar
*I paid lunch money
*I emailed my elderly Uncles
*I took one late girl to school
*I signed permission slips
*I changed little man's diapee! (ordinary but necessary)
*I poured many a glass of milk

All of these things are basically just normal, ordinary things that will never make it into any published magazine, however, they matter to my little family.

What if?

Do you ever wonder what you would be doing if you weren't doing what you are doing? Have you ever wondered what your life would have been like if you had married that one guy? Or what about that other guy? What if you had gone to college in a different state? If your parent hadn't died?
Ok, am I the only one out there who sometimes wonders what if? This sounds strange but I really don't think these things very often. I feel that I am so lucky to have found the man of my dreams. I am lucky that he knew immediately that he wanted to marry me. Four years later we did get married! I have never questioned that I made the right choice. However, sometimes I get that really sick feeling, what if I had married that other guy? Where would my life be? Would I have children? Would we still be married---it is a strange thing to think about!

Ok, wierd post!

Perspective

I was reading Nitty.Gritty.com blog. She has had many trials in her young life. She made a statement that I have thought almost word for word many times.
"The perspective that guides/shapes my parenting is this- When you begin to see the day to day as a delight, rather than a drudgery... When serving my children is seen as a privilege rather than a chore... Knowing that my actions are, slowly and through repetition, shaping them for the rest of their lives... then it becomes a task of enormous and lasting consequence. It becomes a 'higher calling' and the reality sinks in that demanding my best, giving it my all, and expressing love in everything I do, is the least I can offer to those who mean the most to me."
Those are my sentiments exactly. Now to be able to do this. To look past the messes and be grateful that they are healthy enough to make them. To be grateful that I am able to have them. Grateful and blessed.

Germany!!! Here I come!

It is now Tuesday and I seem to have the same messes that I had on Thursday, Friday etc. etc. So, I won't bore you with that! It is freezing cold here. We haven't had the snow that some places have had. We need snow! Skiing is lousy because it is mostly ice!
Exciting news! I am going to Germany in April! My best friend Tina's Mom lives in Germany and we are going to stay with her! I am so excited. We are going to have so much fun!
If you have any suggestions let me know!

Blessings

Do you ever feel like you are running alongside a merry-go-round and everyone else seems to be on and all buckled up but you just can't seem to get your footing to jump on? That is how I am feeling! Not a new feeling but a feeling just the same!
I have been looking at the same messes for an entire week. I am trying to make progress, and some of it has been put away but it is still there!
How does one get to the point that we realize and truly understand that these things are blessings?

New Habit

What a cold weekend! Yes, I realize that it is now Tuesday, however, being gone for the weekend, through Monday-it messed my week up! Ok, what to start for a new goal? I haven't even mastered last weeks goal of cleaning my counter every single night. It is getting better, so I am going to continue that. I am also going to continue my running. I am trying to make it a part of my routine. The new habit I am really going to work on this week is to control the sugar in my diet. There is just so much sugar in everything. White bread, rice, cereal, treats. I really feel better when I control the amount of sugar. With the holidays I didn't watch too carefully. I have finally gotten to where I don't crave bread type products, so that is a huge step. My friend Larahttp://www.laragallagher.com/blog/ has been cutting sugar for awhilenow, perhaps I will get some tips from her.

Moments to treasure

Last night was no different than most nights around my house. Homework, dishes, more dishes, piano practice. Bedtimes that are slow.

This is what I walked in on, and didn't mind so much that they weren't in their beds!

Junk Collector

January--it is typically the month that we make resolutions. Often they consist of losing weight and getting organized. Well, I am no different. After the beautiful messes of Christmas are put away snug in the beds it is time to look at our other messes that seem to have mutated and multiplied over the holidays. Am I alone in this nightmare?

Do you have a place (or two or four) that are just hotspots for stuff? Perhaps a chair by the door, your counter? Well, I have numerous but one that makes me crazy is my utility room. I use the term ROOM loosely. My utility "walkway" is the most poorly designed room ever! I didn't know it when we built the house-I was naive! It is directly hooked to the garage and the kitchen, sounds great except that you have to go through it to get to the garage or kitchen. It isn't a room of its own. So, it is a dumping ground.

This is a picture of what I think the top of a dryer should look like.

This is the picture of all the stuff that was on top of the dryer.(I should have taken a picture first, I am learning)

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to keep a surface from becoming a catchall?

*I did get my counter cleaned off again! Numerous times actually. It is another family hotspot!

Are you Sweaty?

Just a strange bit of information. Are any of you out there excessive sweaters? Okay, I know that is not something that any of us like to talk about. I am! I have been since I was a teenager. It has nothing to do with being hot. I did some research on it and it actually has a name. Hyperhydrosis. Now don't you feel better knowing that it isn't just you. It is actually a documented problem?

Well, I was listening to the radio and heard about a product that you can buy at your pharmacy or sometimes in places like Walmart or Target. If it isn't in the normal deodorant section ask the pharmacist, sometimes it is behind the counter. It is not a prescription however.

It is call Certain. It has made a huge difference in my life. Those of you that are not sweaters just stop reading. Those that are you understand. Everyday you have to look at your clothes and decide if the sweat will show. If you are going to be in a situation that you know it will be worse,(nerves are the main cause) you have to think about a jacket or a color. You have to change your clothes. It really does control much of your life.

Try this stuff! You put it on at night. It is not an antipersperant in the normal sense. It is more of a medication. It actually shrinks the overactive sweat pores. I noticed a change the very next day. Not solved but better. 4 weeks later and it is amazing! I am starting to not worry about my problem!

Okay, a weird post but I just thought I would share--I have bought a bottle for my brother. He understands the nightmare!

Just for information-hyperhydrosis can affect people in different places, not just the armpits. People that have really sweaty palms, foreheads, even crotch area are also suffering from this problem. This antipersperant is only for armpits. There are other products available online that work the same way that are designed for these other areas.

A clean counter

A clean counter. Is that too much to ask? I am trying to decide a habit that I want to work on. I have more than enough for the rest of my life, so many that I can't decide where to begin.

Kitchen counter--is yours always covered? Mine is! I am going to try and have it completely cleaned off before I go to bed. I hate waking up to yesterdays dishes and messes. It makes me feel like I am already behind and the day has just started!

Why is my counter always messy? Well, it is the center, the hub, grand central station! It is where many meals are eaten, homework done, mail dropped, everything is dropped(what doesn't hit the floor). I am going to try and look at my counter as a BLESSING. Why a blessing? We have food to eat, children to eat the food, children that are healthy enough to do homework, we are blessed to have a reason to have a messy counter! Ok, please help me remember my blessings when I start complaining again about my messy counter!

I will take a picture, sometime!

(edited-I took the pictures!)

Still thinking!

My friend Lara has been encouraging us to start some new habits. The truth is I just don't want to! I feel like I am swimming in a sea of crazyness and I don't even know where to begin!

I did actually get up and make my kids a healthy breakfast and then go to the gym. I almost talked myself out of it. Then I went one step further and took my stuff to shower and get ready before I came home. If I wait and do it at home it takes me HOURS to actually get back to showering. I feel like I wasted my entire day, even if I have been busy.

While at the gym I forced myself to run 3 entire miles! I was ready to stop at 1/2 so I feel pretty good about that. I just want to get where it is easier. Does that happen?

I have decided that basically I am a really lazy person. I do not like to push myself. Comfortable is fine. Well, I just don't think that we really grow and change if we don't push ourselves out of our comfort zone, whatever that zone is. Status quo---that is not a growing place to be.

So, my new habit has to be something involving pushing myself to do things that I would normally do but just enough, not the extra that I am capable of.

What should my new habit be?

Habits? Should I commit to some good ones? It makes sense but I can't seem to make sense. My blogging has been quite challenged lately. I hope that I will get back into business. If you have any suggestions about motivating oneself let me know!

Welcome 2007

2007! Wow! It is strange to say, it sounds so futuristic. I sent my babies back to school today and the little baby is still sleeping. Not sure if he is just worn out from all the playing or if he is under the weather. I chose to let him sleep.

We need to get back into a routine. I love having time off with the kids, they need it. However, our routine gets shot to pieces. I am not that great at routines anyway so to have none starts to wear on me.

What does a New Year mean to you? I like the feeling that we get to have a new slate. We can start again with things we want to try, things we want to improve upon. I have never been one to sit down and make a list of resolutions. However, I do think that it is good to think of things that i would like to work on. Goals are so powerful, most of us do not use them to their advantage. If we are working towards a positive goal we are improving. Isn't that the point of this life? Improving daily. I had an interview once with a wise man, I was struggling with my role of mother. He told me that we keep going. We try to be better today than yesterday, better tomorrow than today. We keep trying. Isn't that what is so exciting about a New Year? WE get license to really think about what we are going to work on.

I am trying to really think about some goals that I want to work on. I know that the same ones are always there. Work on my spirituality, read my scriptures more, be more patient. These are standard goals. However, I know that to truly make much of a difference I have to actually set a program to establish those goals. How am I going to meet these goals?

I also want to continue my exercise program. I actually ran 3 miles last Saturday! I didn't even die! I want to be able to run a 3K and then move on. I am not sure why I have decided that I want to run. I don't think that I really love it yet--just going with it. I do feel like it was the change that I needed in my exercise program. Anyone want to run with me? My sweet hubby bought me an ipod so now I can listen to music and also conference talks. A rolled her eyes when I told her I had almost 8 hours of talks on my player! Now to get those shoes on and get moving!

What are your goals for this 2007?