I confess

OK, so I usually don't watch any TV shows on a regular basis. But now that I have DVR (which I love) I can record shows, and then watch them whenever I want!!

So, here is the confession: I love Dancing with the Stars. I know, you think I'm crazy. I first started watching it when we were in Germany. Matt was gone on the weekends, and to keep me from losing my mind being at home by myself with two small children, we would watch it, and I would dance around our living room with my kids. The best part of it was that by the time it got to AFN (armed forces network, the only TV we had in Germany unless we paid an arm and a leg for cable) it was Saturday night, and I could watch both shows, one after the other. None of this waiting until the next night business. Last year, we moved in the middle of it, and I only got to see bits and pieces. This year, I missed the first few, but I'm catching up now.

Another part of my confession: my mom never put me into any type of dance class. Shocked?? Surprised?? Or maybe you know me and my total lack of coordination. Having an inseam of 36 inches makes for really long legs, and difficulty getting them anywhere terribly fast. (although I can out walk many people.....) So, since I discovered ballroom type dancing, I have loved it. As a kid, I would watch my parents dance at wedding receptions, and see how much fun they would have. They would dance at my dad's work parties (we didn't get to go). My dad had to chaperon some of our youth dances at church, and I would go and get him to dance with instead of dance with some dumb 17 year old that would step on my feet (hard to miss them, they are pretty big) and not have any idea what he was doing. My dad would just fling me around, and I loved it. In a perfect world, Matt would have time to take a ballroom dancing class with me, and we would have a babysitter for it every week. And we would practice. I keep hoping that someday that will happen. My husband could do it, too. I have seen him dance on stage when he would perform in Germany.

Tonight on the show, a very good dancer was voted off. Kind of sad. Marie Osmond is still there. A little shocking to me, because her dance last night was a little odd to me. I could tell that she tried though. And Jane Seymour is still on it too. Her jive was a little odd too. I have to say that I love Mel B, the Spice Girl, and I really like Jennie Garth. Maybe because I feel like I know her having watched Beverly Hills 90210 as a teenager. Anyway, even if you don't care about the voting or who wins or loses, it is a way fun show to watch. The music is good, and they have gotten some pretty great performers to star on the results show. Tonight was Barry Manilow. I grew up listening to his music. His closeups look odd. He should have more wrinkles, and less Botox. But he still sounds pretty good.

I was tagged by Jen, but this tag requires some thought. So hopefully tomorrow night I will have something more for you rather than this shallow post..

Sleep

Matt usually goes to bed before I do. When he goes to bed, I go in and lay down with him and we talk a bit, and he rubs my feet, and I rub his back. Usually after that, I get up and go out to the living room to have some quiet time for me to be on the computer, or cross stitch, or whatever. Last night it didn't happen. I fell asleep at 10pm, something that hasn't happened for a very long time. When Andrew woke up again coughing at 6am, all the lights were on, AND the candle I had lit was still going. AH!! Guess I need to start getting more sleep.

Our time

I read this article in the Newsweek I picked up at the store today. This is usually one of my favorite parts of Newsweek. I love the My Turn stories.

I had an experience kind of like that when Andrew was an infant. I was flying to Georgia to see Matt while he was in AIT at Fort Gordon. I was in the stroller/handicapped lane for security. If you don't already know this, when you fly with an infant, you have to take them out of their infant seat, take that out of the stroller, take and blankets or coats off of your infant, and put everything else in the x-ray machine (including shoes which is another fun thing to do) and then finally walk through the gate with your baby. It was taking me a little bit of time, and a man behind me asked the security guy if he could go past me. He told the man behind me no, and then looked at me and said very nicely, "you take your time ma'am". That man could have helped me instead of being rude. That would have made me go a bit faster. I am guilty of this too. The commissary is one busy store. I have never seen another grocery store as busy as a commissary on a Saturday. I try to be patient. If you have time, read more of the My turn articles. I haven't read one that I don't like.

Six things that you don't already know about me

Rules (cause we love rules):

1. The player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves - try to find 6 you haven't already posted about!

2. At the end of the post, the player tags 6 people and posts their names, and then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment, letting them know they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog for the rules.



1-The best way to get me to do something is to tell me not to do it. I think this is something left over from my childhood. Or the stubborness that runs in my dads side of the family....



2-I grew up watching Top Gun and Grease. My dad loved those movies. When Matt and I were dating we went to the local college to see a performance of Grease, and he said that he had never seen it. I thought, "what is wrong with this guy? who hasn't seen Grease???" Still married him....



3-I am a firm believer that you don't have to be friends with everyone in your church or all your neighbors or people that you knew when you were in elementary school. Just because you knew them way back when doesn't mean you want to know them now. That is a big reason why I'm always nervous when I go back to my parents house. I just pray that I don't run into crazy people from my past. I've been pretty good so far.

4-I don't care much for Harry Potter. I am just not too much into that sort of thing. I prefer real life stories. Fantasy and Science Fiction are too much for me.

5-I love riding bikes. I even rode one when I was 7 months pregnant with Lucy. I think I rode 10 miles. It didn't bother me at all.

6-I'm always worried about natural disasters because we never have very much food storage. It's a little hard to do when we move so often. I've started buying MRE's for ours. Those move easily. We can get them at the commissary. They might be expensive, but one or two a month isn't going to kill our paycheck. And it helps me to feel better about any sort of natural disaster.

OK, so I don't even think 6 people read my blog. So, LeeElle and Lanie and Nestle, I'm tagging you.

Some new music for you

I went through and tried to remember all of my favorite classical type pieces. This is only some of what I could remember. And if you can't figure it out, I just love Henry Mancini. LOVE!!! Enjoy this new music. Sorry Will. No more Wannabe. Shell, I can tell you where to find it though if you're desperate!!! (this is so great to have the computer to myself!!!! now I just need to get some stuff done in my house.....)

He forgot, I think

Andrew has had some bad nights recently. With the weather changing, his allergies are giving him a hard time. And the allergy medicine that we have already isn't doing anything. So, I got little sleep last night. Matt had a PT test this morning at 0445, so he was able to come home and be here until almost 0800. I think Matt forgot the computer. He's only been gone for half an hour. Since it isn't ever home, I didn't even look to see if it was here. I got up to go and do dishes before they turn off our water this morning, and there it was, just sitting there begging me to check my blog and my email. I hope he doesn't come back and get it. Seriously, this is a huge treat for me!! Look for an interesting post later. My brain isn't used to doing this so early.

My new favorite smelling stuff

Have any of you been to Victoria's Secret lately??? They have this new fabulous stuff called Beauty Rush. My favorite scent is Slice of Heaven. After I get out of the shower I spray it on, and several times a day afterward. If I could bathe in it, I would. They didn't have the shower gel and the other lotion stuff the last time I was in the store. This is the best smell ever. Next time you're in the mall or near a VS store, go in and smell it. It is a little expensive, but with a smell like that, I'm willing to pay it!!!!

What the??

Yesterday it was really warm. Of course it was, we live in Texas. This morning I woke up to rain and lots of wind. It was cool enough today to wear a sweater when we went outside. And pants. I haven't worn jeans all day for months. There had to have been a temperature drop of at least 15 degrees. But I'm no meteorologist....

It did clear up and was really sunny later in the day. I wasn't sure if I was going to have water today or not, so I was kind of keeping my day open just in case we had to go somewhere where they had working toilets. Called housing and now our water will be possibly shut off on Wednesday and Thursday. At least this time I know it in advance.

I know I have posted about GoodyBlog before, but I wanted to let you all know that they are having this huge toy giveaway. They have a cool new toy every day that you can enter to win. They are for all ages, and they usually say what age the toy is for. Anyway, if you have little ones, you should check it out. And they have great information and other fun stuff. So, head over there and do a little bit of reading....

Skills

My neighbor rang my bell tonight. When I went to the door, he said he needed some help. With his washer. He didn't know where to put anything or what to do and he needed to wash clothes. So, I went over and helped him with that. (He has an amazing washer/dryer. They are computerized, so that's why he was a little clueless.) Then, I had to teach this 22 year old man how to make macaroni and cheese. Seriously. I have met his mom, and she is a nice lady, but she did a huge disservice to her son by not teaching about this stuff!! I wouldn't do anything for him, I just told him what to do and when. He has some tuna helper stuff, and also some pancake mix. I don't know how you could mess this stuff up unless you totally disregard the packaging. But, I don't know if he was ever taught this stuff!! My favorite part was him saying "how do you do this stuff??" as in doing laundry and making food was hard work. Of course, he has to do it with a leg that he would like to have amputated. His leg was blown up, and he can only bend it to about 60 degrees. So, its a little hard to bend over to get things in and out of a washer and dryer.... It kind of made me feel good about the things that I take for granted. And also reminded me that I need to really make sure that I teach my kids these skills. I forget that they are skills. Sometimes I think it is pure drudgery, but this could help me have a better attitude toward housework....that its a skill.

This week is just kicking my butt

This has been one of the most overwhelming weeks. I was very frustrated about it. My sister reminded me that "frustration is just unmet expectations". And that if I just expect people to be, well, not very smart, then I won't be frustrated. And sad as that may seem, she is right. I need to expect these things to happen.

-First, helping a family with getting food from our storehouse. We go there, and the wife is sporting acrylic nails and the son is watching the cartoon network. And they can't afford food....

-I got a phone call from a woman who had just had a baby and asked if we could provide meals for her, her husband, and her mother in law until the 26th. Um, are all of you bedridden??? No one can cook??? No way we are sending in 9 meals when there are able bodied people there, and they aren't wanting in the food area. I gave her a choice of having 3 meals now, or 3 meals when her MIL leaves on the 26th. She chose to have the meals now. What I don't get is this "entitled" attitude. We bring meals to women and their families when they have babies because we want to, not because anyone is entitled to it. I guess if she had gone about it in a different way.....and maybe because I had already dealt with the above mentioned situation I wouldn't have been so irritated with it.

-The situation with my friend. Still working out what I want to do, and how to go about it. I've already looked up a few things online.

-I was at a friends house from church this morning, and the phone rang. It was a woman whose son was at our hospital here. She wanted to know if some of the men could come and give her son a blessing. I asked what his injuries were. First of all, this boy is 19. He has lost both of his legs, one arm, and the hand of the other arm. He has burns over 50% of the body that he has left. He is fighting pneumonia. The doctors are amazed he has survived as long as he has. This boy is also married. I have not been able to get this out of my mind since I heard about this. I was holding my son today, wondering where he will be at the same age. I pray he is on a mission and not fighting a war. But someone has to do it..... I cannot imagine what this mother and young wife have been going through. And I couldn't just send anyone over to give a blessing. This had to be someone in the medical field, that would be able to handle whatever they saw when they gave him the blessing. My heart just aches and aches for this family.

-And finally, someone called me today to tell me that there was a family that was going to get kicked out of their place because they were short on the rent. And the rent was due tomorrow. Well, how come the family hasn't called the bishop or I?? And reality is that we couldn't do anything to help them by tomorrow anyway. I had no idea what to do with this. I tried to call them and tell them a few things the bishop had suggested, but no one answered. I should probably try again....

I am hoping that tomorrow and Sunday do not bring anymore of these sort of things my way.
Also, if any of you have any ideas on what our ward (church congregation) could do to help these families at the hospital, please let me know. Most are on orders and are financially taken care of, and can get transportation when needed, but I just wish I could do something more for them. Since we are a military ward, we will have to deal with this often, and I want to have something prepared, something that we can do for these families that are here supporting these soldiers that are fighting to keep limbs on, and fighting to stay alive....

We did have a beautiful day today. They sky was blue, the humidity wasn't too bad, and it wasn't too terribly hot. Something positive.......

My husband took the kid swimming, so now I have to go and clean up the living room and do dishes. It's much nicer to do all of that with on one around.

Bonne week-end!!

New toys

Would you buy these for your kids????? I would just because I think they are way funny. But I don't know if we would call them the same names......

I am so angry

I have a friend. She was the first person that I met when I moved to Germany. She was a great friend the entire time I was there. Her husband is an @#$. I won't even go into the things that went on. My husband worked with both of them, and he told me that if it were me married to him that I would have divorced him a long time ago. He also refuses to go to counseling, and told my friend that if they couldn't work it out themselves that they should just get a divorce. (inside I think HOORAY!! but for some crazy reason she is still with this jerk)

We do have a little bit of a history between us. My friend came to my house after her jerk husband put her out of the apartment. He called after she had been there for a little while, and asked to talk to her. I asked if she wanted to talk to him, and she said no. So I told him that she didn't want to talk to him, and then hung up the phone. It was 11pm. He then kept calling and calling. I didn't answer the phone and just let it go to our machine. But he wasn't stopping. She finally answered and told him that he needed to stop because my son was sleeping. Oh, if he had woken up Andrew, I would have gone over to his place myself and kicked him......
He was mad at me because I wouldn't let him talk to her. I'm not going to force her to talk to someone she doesn't want to talk to.

My friend also happens to be LDS, or Mormon. He is not. He thought that I didn't like him because of the religion thing. Obviously he doesn't know me at all. I didn't like him because he was an ass. Plain and simple. (sorry for that word, but it has been dying to come out)

We left Germany about 3 weeks before they did. I had no way of contacting her at all for months. I finally got a number of someone that was still in Germany and got some info from her. I called her, and her husband told me that she wanted all of her correspondence from friends to be through email. Fine. Give me her email. I emailed and emailed, and never a response. Finally I tried to call her again and I got this as a text: Please communicate via email only. That is not something my friend would have said. It was totally this jerk of a husband. (please note I use jerk to replace any other lovely word that you can come up with.) So, I was pretty angry. I emailed some pretty angry emails asking her what was going on, did she just not want to communicate with me anymore? Finally called her again months later, and spoke to her. She had no idea about the email thing, and she told me that they didn't even have Internet at the house, and she wasn't able to get to the library. OK, obviously he totally lied to me.

As my previous posts says, I am working on my Christmas cards. I called her last week and left a message saying that I would like to get their address so that I could mail them a card, and I would love to talk to her. And that we were going to Fort Bragg. I said that if I didn't hear back I would call back next week sometime. So, earlier tonight, I called and left a message. Half an hour later, I got a text message to my home phone (with a robot voice talking) and it said something to the effect that she was aware of my messages and that she would contact me if she needs to or wants to. Something like that. I wish it had come to my cell so that I could quote it word for word.

I am so angry. Why can he not allow her to contact me? I have unlimited long distance on my land line phone, so I am happy to call people because it doesn't cost me anything extra. I have no idea if she even can call me. The cell phone number that I have says that the voice mail box is full, so I can't even leave her a message on that. The only thing that I can think of is that she has no idea that I've even called, and he is just trying to get me to stop calling.

I looked up where they are living (I hope the address is right). They live only about an hour from Fort Bragg. When I get there, I'm ready to drive out there, and sit outside until I see her and ask her what the hell is going on. I almost want to call them everyday and hope that she picks up.

I'm scared for her. I have no idea what is going on. I'm worried for her. I know she really wants this marriage to work. I have no idea what to do. But maybe next week I'll call again. He cannot control me, not will I allow him to dictate to me when and how often I can call my friend. That is up to her.

(I'm not looking for advice, just needed a place to get this all out of my system. I type much faster than I write, so rather than the journal, it ends up on my blog. If you do have some thoughts, you are welcome to comment. Just want to make sure ya'll understand why I'm posting this. And yes, I've already talked to Matt about it. He suggested that I do a stake out in front of her house. Which is pretty much what I described above. Maybe I shouldn't do anything......)

Cards

I like to make cards. Usually just Christmas cards. I'm not organized enough to get it together for birthdays or things like that. I like to make a ton of one thing. Makes it easier. Anyway, last year, since I knew that I was moving, I had my Christmas cards made about 3 months in advance. Not only that, they were great looking cards...:) Anyway, I am finally done figuring out what I'm going to do for my cards. It has taken me forever!!! I get most of my stuff through StampinUp. While I was in Germany, I had a very good friend who sold it. And I taught her son piano lessons, so we bartered. It was great!! (Hi Anne, if you're reading this) We had a little group of us that would get together and make things. I loved it. Since I've been here, I've only found one other person that is really into that sort of thing. The problem I've been having, is that I spent too much money while on my trip to CA and AZ. So, I've had to adjust what I want to do, and use as much stuff as I already have. And today I went to Michael's and to Office Depot, and found what I needed (well, mostly) for cheaper than what I could get it at StampinUp. I'm only going to be spending about $20 for the rest of the stuff I need from StampinUp. I'm pretty excited as I will finally be using the ribbon left over from our wedding invitations, and the envelopes that I bought do not need to be licked. I hate licking envelopes. I do have an envelope moistener for that nasty job, but it just takes less time. Hopefully tonight I will make a prototype for my card. The only part of card making that I don't like. I prefer to have someone just tell me what to do. Makes it easier. Do you guys mail out cards? Do you put in pictures? I'm hoping to get our picture taken at the Alamo for this years pictures. Last year we were up at the Heidelberg Castle. (sigh....I miss Germany) When I finish my card, I'll take a picture for all of you to enjoy. I'm no pro, but its fun......

I think about what I want to post about all day while I don't have the computer. When I finally get to sit down and start to type, I come up with nothing. So, this is what you're going to get today. I had a very busy yet very random day. I also wanted to post a picture, but blogger is having some issues with that tonight. One thing I found out today is that something that I have been dealing with is completely normal, and that I'm not as strange as I thought I was. Another thing that I learned today is that even though some people need help to feed their family, and need someone to take them to get that food, the wife is sporting acrylic nails, they have cable, and she is willing to drive their car that has expired plates for over a year, to run to Target to run some errands while her husband gets a ride to get the food to feed their family. Also that there is a new (to me) female detective on the original Law and Order. I kind of like her. I also like Sam Waterston. I also forgot to call and get a doctors appointment for me as I have had a physical ailment for over a week that isn't getting better. I hate going to the doctor. And with my luck, by the time I get in, it won't be happening anymore.

Hopefully tomorrow I won't be so busy so that when my computer comes home from school and is done studying, I will have a brilliant, cohesive post (with pictures) to delight your eyes with. (I'm dazzling you with my amazing vocabulary to make up for the fact that this is a really lame post.)

And I have to say that I love when I click the spell check button, usually only the names come up yellow. I love words that are spelled correctly. Now, correctly constructing a sentence is sometimes too far out of my reach. Probably why I never would get A's on essays in high school......

First Job, Worst Job.......

My first job that I actually got a paycheck with taxes taken out was a hostess at a restaurant called Pinnacle Peak. I eventually worked my way up to cashier, and then server. And I did some other random things there too. My call name was Calamity Jane. I spent four years working there. My best friend and her boyfriend were also working there. I have to say that I really enjoyed being cashier and being a server. I've told Matt that if I had to get a job I would want to do that. It is great. I love to talk, and be social, and being a server allows me all of that, and I'm on my feet, so its good exercise. I learned a lot about meat at work as we were a steak restaurant. And I am always nice to our servers unless they are really really bad. And I try to talk to them too, and not just give them our order and be done with it. While I was in California, my best friend, her boys and husband and me and my kids all went out to dinner there. It was fun!! Our servers name was Calamity Jane. There wasn't anyone that still remembered us. We drove past the restaurant a few days later, and our old manager was still there, so we went in and said hello!! It was great to see her.

I've worked at a Hallmark store as a clerk there, and it was owned by members of our church. They were the worst people to work for. If you live in Glendora California, do not work at Ellsworths Stationers. Hopefully things have changed, but if not....just don't go there.

I worked as a secretary for an industrial supplies company. I was horrible at that job. I am just not anal and organized enough for that job. I think the owner felt sorry for me, and kept me on longer than he wanted. But it was a good learning experience.

I have also worked as personal assistant/nanny type of person for two Creative Memories Consultants. I would help with the business, and with their home. Everything from doing things on the computer to picking up kids from school or making their lunches. It was fun, and I got product at cost!! When I could afford it anyway....

Other than that I've taught piano quite a bit. I don't have a degree, but would like to get back to taking music classes. It has helped us financially. This is the first place that I haven't really taught. I only have one student right now, but we're moving soon, so it's not terribly permanent.

I'm now a Stay At Home Mom. This is the hardest job yet. I'm not organized. I'm cluttery in the house. I would rather cross stitch than clean a bathroom. But the positive thing is that I have gotten better over the years. I have little patience, I think I let them watch too much TV. (we got into a bad habit when we lived in a hotel for two months. couldn't go anywhere, didn't have many toys, so they jumped on the bed, took walks, and watch disneychannel like crazy) I hope that my progress keeps going.

For other jobs, go to Sunday Scribblings.

Becoming Gluten Free and Food Allergies

My husband has been doing a special diet recently. We heard about it from my sister. It is called Eat Right For Your Type. You eat a specific diet, tailored to each blood type. (positive or negative doesn't matter) My husband and my sister are both O blood types. For their specific diet, they are not to have any wheat. And to eat more red meat than chicken or turkey. The only problem with this is that I'm an A blood type, and under my type, my consumption of red meat is supposed to be kept to a minimum. (which is fine with me. other than my In-n-out hamburgers of course)

There are some other things, but my husband has been doing it for most of the summer. My sister had been doing it for much longer than that. My husband hasn't mentioned that he feels hugely different or anything like that. He did say before he started that he had been experiencing a little bit of heartburn/acid reflux type stuff. Since he's been on the diet, he hasn't said anything about it. (I would have heard about it if he was still experiencing it) My sister on the other was finally out of pain most of the time. For almost two years, she has been experiencing major acid reflux. To the point that she couldn't take care of her family. She has been to multiple doctors, GI specialists and others. They would just put her on medication, and not really mention too much about her diet other than to avoid acidic foods. (before this even started, she was into grains other than wheat, but really strove to feed her family whole grain and very healthy foods) So she found and started to strictly adhere to this blood type diet. She had a huge change. She had to eliminate most dairy (she could only eat mozzarella cheese), all wheat/gluten , and a few other things. She was finally out of pain, for the most part, and rarely had any issues. Well, recently she went and got an allergy test. She had been suffering from seasonal type allergies and wanted to find out what her problem was. Well, she found out that she was allergic to dust and dust mites. But also to wheat and oatmeal!!!! And tomatoes. No wonder she was in so much pain. She had been eating oatmeal for breakfast and ate sandwiches on whole wheat bread. She has eliminated both of those from her diet, and can now eat dairy. What I find interesting about that is that I used to feed Andrew oatmeal for breakfast, and while I was cleaning him up noticed that around his mouth where the oatmeal had touched, was a little red. And his diapers were always horrible and for the first few years of his life, I was constantly battling horrible diaper rashes. I stopped feeding him oatmeal regularly, and his bottom cleared, his diapers were no longer so horrible. With Lucy, I would feed her sweet potatoes, and she would get hives on a very small area of her body. They wouldn't ever stay in the same place, but would jump around on her body. I stopped feeding her sweet potatoes, and never saw the hives again. Food allergies have never really run in our family, but all of this makes me question a lot of what we ate growing up, and about my grandparents stomach issues.

My best friend has two boys. The oldest has always been on the very small side. In fact, he is 3 1/2, but isn't any bigger than his little brother who just turned 2. He has always had a hard time sleeping through the night, and eating. They recently moved to Southern California for her husbands job, and before their insurance ran out, she took them to the doctor for a well baby check up. They ran a blood test on her oldest, and there were some interesting things that came out of that. They recently had a biopsy done on his intestines, and this poor little guy has Celiac Disease. He cannot have any wheat/gluten at all. As I was talking to her yesterday she was going through her cupboards and looking at all the ingredients of everything, with specific directions on what has wheat/gluten in it and what doesn't. She almost felt like she needed to go back and take an organic chemistry class. The names were really confusing. Anyway, they are going gluten free as soon as possible.

There is a company called Bobs Red Mill that makes many many things that are gluten free. And also has many different grains like Amaranth, Quinoa (pronounced Keen-wa), and Spelt. There are many many other companies that sell gluten free cookies, bread, cereal......

We ate the Bobs Red Mill gluten free pancakes this morning, and they are good!! They fluff up and taste just as good as any other pancake I've ever had.

My sister was telling me about a friend of hers that has a little boy that can only eat 6 different things. There are others in the world that cannot eat anything, but have to have a feeding tube going directly into their intestines.

After all of this, I am really wondering about food allergies. And the food that is in our grocery stores. I would love to get my husband and I tested to see if we have any. And in a few years, the kids. They can grow out of some allergies, but I still hesitate to give Andrew oatmeal. And not long ago, we ate some baked sweet potatoes, and we gave some to Lucy since she hadn't had any in at least a year. Her diaper was horrible. So, no more sweet potatoes for her. Acid Reflux issues just may be that you're allergic to a specific food, rather than stomach acid issues.

Why am I posting about this?? Because I think it is interesting, and eating some of these different grains sure can't hurt us. And maybe you have stomach issues and this will get you to the doctor to get an allergy test.....

My favorite store

H&M is my favorite store ever. When we lived in Germany, and I would go downtown, I would go there every time. They have clothes for everyone there. (but not my size of shoes...)

I love their kids clothes. I would get amazing deals at our H&M in Heidelberg.

Here in Texas, H&M does not exist. It is so very sad, as Texans would benefit from having an H&M nearby. While I was in California, I had made the goal of going to one while I was there. The closest ones are at the Santa Anita Mall, and then on Colorado Blvd in Pasadena. The only problem is that neither one of them carried the children's clothing. So, I checked to see which ones carried the kids stuff, and then mapquested it to see how far it was from my parents house. Believe it or not, the closest one was at the Beverly Center in Beverly Hills. So, I dropped my kids with my Grandma, who lives near Beverly Hills. Then we went to the Beverly Center. Couldn't believe the kinds of stores in there. But, I found my H&M, and spent more than $100, but got a ton of stuff. Mostly for the kids, but I got me a few things. I know they have several on the East Coast. So when we are settled in NC, I'll have to take a road trip up to DC to visit a friend there, and make my trip to H&M.

Downtown and the Alamo

These are some pictures that I took when Camille and I went to the Alamo and the Riverwalk.

I just liked this plant. And I really like the zoom on my new camera!!

Some kind of plant at the Alamo
The Alamo
Some cool looking stairs down at the Riverwalk
Random squirrel at the Alamo

More pictures

The picture below is me with my sister at Time Out (as you can tell on the jumbo tron thingy behind us). We had a great time at this. I came away with some books on CD, a music CD, and I ended up buying the book called Strangling Your Husband is not an Option by Merilee Boyak. I bought more than that, but that can be saved for another post.

My sister looks related, but not very sisterly in regards to our physical appearance. She is 5'10", just two inches shorter than I am, but is really skinny, but that is because she has had some health stuff going on.

Here is my other sister. Again, she is only 5'7", by far the shortest in our family other than my mom. She looks related, but not terribly sisterly. This was taken while she was visiting us in August.

Here is my cousin. She is a few years younger than me. Our dads are brothers. At one point, we even had glasses that were similar. We look more related than I do with my sisters. (Now that I can see this picture on the computer, there is something going on with my eyes. In my defense, it was really bright out, but the sun is behind me. oh well.) This was taken in my parents backyard at Andrew's birthday party last month while I was in California.

I know, kind of random, but it is just so interesting how my blood sisters are so light and I am so dark. Yet my cousin looks like my sister. Crazy genes....

Look!! Pictures finally!!

I am no photographer by any means. These are actually some of the last pictures I took. They are at a rest stop somewhere between my sisters house and Las Cruces NM. It was a good place for the kids to play for a few minutes before we got back in the car. We almost left Lucy's shoe there too, but the nice people next to us let me know her shoe had fallen out while the door was open. I just loaded all my pictures that were on my camera onto the computer. 214 pictures!!! I have a lot to catch up on. I will post pictures of our trip as I can. But they won't be chronological as that would take way to much effort on my part... I'm lucky to even post these ones tonight!

Lack of motivation

Does anyone else out there hate doing housework?

I am finding that housework is very overwhelming for my poor little brain. I see the millions of things that need to be picked up, cleaned, organized.... and my brain goes into over load and I shut down and end up accomplishing nothing. I have heard of Flylady and the Queen of Clean and that sort of stuff. And I actually have two books that are just on getting and keeping your house organized and clean. I've read a little in each of them, but nothing substantial.

I try to focus on one task, and sometimes I am able to do it. But then I have so many things to do that it is hard to know what to do next. And of course any job is made more difficult when there are two kids on your heels. So, are you just a super organized person? Or do you struggle with these same things? What are your suggestions? What works for you? I am beginning to think that I am just lazy. But my house isn't "dirty" its just cluttered, and things don't have places. I'm suspecting that the smallness of our house and lack of storage space has something to do with it. Along with two little kids and everything that goes along with that. Combined with a husband that is in school all day and studies every afternoon and evening that he's home, not to mention all day on the weekends....I have a hard time keeping up with my own stuff, let alone three other peoples things.

I have currently make a little graph and stuck it up on my cupboards with four tasks/goals on it, and the date. Then if I do it, I get to put up a smiley face. So far, its not going well, but I'm trying. I'm going to try and put on a smiley face tonight after I clean off the counters in my kitchen.

My goal is to start small, so I don't get overwhelmed, and just work my way up to being like the rest of you out there. (OK, so I'm sure not all of you are like that, but you can't be any worse than I am.) So, HELP!! I need a little direction and advice to try. What I'm doing just isn't working. This "hate" of cleaning comes from my childhood when I would clean something and it wasn't EXACTLY like my mom would want it, and I would have to go back and do it again. Or how much she focused on us doing this or that rather than on leaving it up to us to do it. Just pushing and pushing so much that cleaning was the last thing that I ever wanted to do. (I'm a little obstinate and stubborn. Tell me not to do something and I will just because you told me not too......Andrew does the same thing, I wonder why......) So I have got to overcome this problem because I am determined that our next house will absolutely not look like this one. I also need some advice on how to get your spouse more involved in the upkeep of the home. I know he's in school, but HELLO, he can put his own trash into the trash can five feet away from him. That is not my job.

I await your advice and your genius. And you have all day tomorrow to post a comment because I won't have my computer until about 4 or 5 in the afternoon.....you would think without my computer to distract me my house would be cleaner.......

Conference Chatter

Sister Julie Becks' talk on Sunday morning of General Conference has been sparking a lot of discussion online. And while I listened to it only partly (its impossible to hear everything with two little kids building blocks right in front of you) I thought it very interesting. There are many places that have some good thoughts and some that do not have good thoughts. I need to go and re listen to the talk, maybe while my kids are sleeping, and take notes. You can go to byu.tv, choose Sunday morning session and go about 55 minutes in to listen to it again.

Some of what I have read have been at Daring Young Mom, Feminist Mormon Housewives, and Times and Seasons. They also have other posts on other parts of conference. Before I say anything about anything, I will need to watch or read the talks again. It is sometimes hard to hear everything that is said with two kids playing around you. If any of you have any thoughts about conference I would love to hear them. As a kid it was pure torture, and I had no idea that there was even Saturday sessions. Now I enjoy them, and when I was on my mission it was pure heaven to go and listen to conference.

Warning

On my drive back home, I got brave, set my control issues, my paranoia, and my anxiety aside and used the cruise control in my van. At the time I was in the completely boring/barren part of Texas between El Paso and San Antonio. The speed limit during the day was 80 (there's a different limit at night in Texas) and so I set the cruise control to 85. I figured I would be just fine. Partly because I just wanted to get home!!! It is such a long drive, and I figured the extra five miles would get me there just a bit sooner. After I had been flying along, I see lights in my rear view mirror. Great. This is only the second time I have ever been pulled over in my entire life. (The first time was because I didn't have my sticker on my plates. I always forget to send in a copy of insurance with my registration, so it takes forever to get my sticker. After he pulled me over and I went home, I found my sticker in the mail that day.....) I pull over, and he comes over to my passenger window and says to me "Ma'am, I clocked you going at 85". My response is "I know. That is what I have my cruise control set to". At the same time, he is seeing the inside of my van, which at that point, probably looked like we lived in it. Not to mention the two little kids in the back. He asked where we were coming from and where we were going, and I told him. I think he felt sorry for me because he knew just how long of a drive it was. He let me off with a warning. Needless to say I set my cruise control for just at 80 this time.

Hmmmm

I was talking to someone the other day. She is on "house rest" where she isn't supposed to be doing a whole lot, but isn't on bed rest. She is about 4 weeks or so from her due date. And as women do, I started asking what her plans were for delivery and that sort of thing. Well, she wants to have her baby at home, with a midwife.

When I heard that, I thought "this woman is crazy". But I kept my mouth shut, and just asked a few more questions about it. I tried as hard as I could to not say that she was (in my opinion) taking a huge huge risk in that choice.

I understand peoples desires to give birth without the epidural or other pain medication. I can see the benefit in not putting drugs into your body. I can understand wanting a midwife, and not a doctor. I struggle with the fact that she will be a few miles away from a hospital that is equipped to take care of her needs if there is something that goes wrong.

Yes, women have been delivering babies for thousands of years without pain medication, without doctors and all of those things. And many many of them died in the process. Now we have the knowledge and technology to keep these mothers and children alive. I believe it is a gift that we have. Yes, we need to use it correctly, and not just hand out the pain meds. I know 2 other mothers that would not be with us today if we did not have the technology and medication that we have now. One gets so sick that she loses weight throughout her entire pregnancy, and has had many many IVs and even a feeding tube that bypassed her stomach and went straight to her intestines. Another one who had a little boy 8 weeks early after being on bed rest for more than 6 months and he was delivered Cesarean, and was in the hospital for many many weeks. So many other women who's lives were saved because of the knowledge that we have now. 70 years ago, these women and their children would never had made it. I would be without a sister and a best friend. I have had to have two emergency c-sections because of a breech baby, and then because of my previous c-section (and the fact that there wasn't any lax left on the umbilical cord because she did gymnastics in my uterus) I had to have another one after 4 hours of pushing and not progressing. How I wanted to be like other women and deliver a baby how we were made to do it. But it wasn't to be.

So, in some ways I understand why this woman would have these desires. But at the same time, I feel like she is taking a huge risk with her life and her baby's life.

We are lucky that we live in this time where we have these options and choices. And that is wonderful! I just have to learn to not judge, keep my mouth shut, and then pray that both mother and baby are healthy. But there isn't a person on this earth that could convince me that it is better to deliver at home, without a doctor close by, without professionals that know how to take care of those newly born babies, without an anesthesiologist, without the IVs, without having all that is needed there and ready just in case. When my life is on the line, and my child's, the place where all of those things are available is where I need to be.

Have any of you encountered this before? Have any of you had home births? Even if we don't agree about what is the "right" way, at least I can have a better understanding. Maybe next time someone tells me that they are choosing to have their baby at home I won't have such a crazy gut reaction to it. Maybe I'll be less judgemental and more respectful of their choice.

A little bit of art

I saw the above picture at Deseret Book last week when I was there with my sister. It had a horribly ugly frame around it that was gold, but it was 20% off. I had to buy it. It didn't end up being that much. I cannot wait until I am in a place long enough to know what other frame I want it in and then actually hang it up. I similarities between this picture and my mission were amazing. It rained all the time on my mission, and we were often on streets that looked just like this. Although we did not wear matching white shirts and black skirts....but I still love this picture.

At Time Out for Women, they handed us a little bag when we walked in. It had a small book with empty pages to write on, a bookmark, a small holder of tissue, and a few catalogs. One was this company called Impressions Everlasting. The first time I thumbed through the pages, I wasn't impressed. I put it back in the bag, and forgot about it. I looked through it again, and noticed the above picture. I wish I had enough money to own this one. We were married in the Los Angeles Temple. I love the hills in the background, the palm trees, the sunset. The cheapest ones of these are $850, so there is no way we will ever own this. Unless somehow they decide to make more.

I never really know how to decorate my home, or what I even like. But these pictures would (and will) go up every time. I cannot wait for the day that we are in one place long enough to hang pictures on the walls.

Just something quick

I just finished watching the 6th installment of the PBS show called The War. I had read about it in Newsweek when I had first gotten to California. I thought that it would be interesting to watch. I cannot remember when the first one was shown, and last week I was on the road quite a bit. But now I'm wishing that I had had Matt program them to be recorded so that I could watch them. Tonight's show was about the Battle of the Bulge, Iwo Jima, the fire bombing of many cities in Germany (which was so hard to hear as I had been to and knew where several of these cities were), and the liberation of a prison camp in Manilla as told by a 12 year old girl that was there with her family.

The only thing going through my mind as I was watching this was the pain and suffering of so many on both sides. When they talked about the bombing of Dresden, I remembered being there and seeing the postcards of the destruction that our bombs had made. And seeing a building still in ruins as a reminder. And of the story of the time and effort the city made in rebuilding all of its beautiful old buildings by painstakingly going through the rubble and using as many stones as possible to rebuild the churches, the opera house, and other buildings there. (it was worth it. I wish I could have spent more time there)

I would love to watch the whole thing, but the DVD set is $130, and that is just a little too much for some DVDs. I'll have to watch ebay in a few months to see if I can get it for cheaper. If you have the time, watch the next one. I have no idea when it is, but go to PBS for your local listings.

I think one of the first things that I'm going to do when (if ever) I go back to school is to take some world history classes, and learn a little bit more about this. Hopefully that day will come.....

sidenote: I have many pictures and things to talk about from my trip, but my husband has the computer at school with him all day during the week, and I only get it in the evenings. I don't even know what program for photos this computer has. I will work on it......I'm sure you're all dying for pictures of Andrew's birthday party, pictures of us at the LA County Fair, and other riveting subjects. Don't critique my photo taking skills. You try getting a two year old to sit still while you take a pictures....or to even look at you when there are pigs and cows to look at instead.....