All Hallow's Eve

I have a confession.

I hate Halloween.

Okay, so hate is a strong word, but I really don't like the ugly, scary decorations, I don't care for scary movies, I really don't like the greedy candy grubbing teenagers who think it's still okay to trick-or-treat, and I resent the very act of trick-or-treating, especially considering the fact that my kids have been eating sugar nonstop (okay, me too since we had lots of leftovers) for days.  Why make up a holiday based upon exploiting the generosity of your neighbors?  Can't we just dress up for some kind of Fall Festival that doesn't look like it was endorsed by the Devil himself?  Call me old fashioned, but I'd rather have the Johnny Appleseed kind of get together, and forget the whole Sleepy Hollow scene.

So this year, we practically boycotted Halloween.  We did dress up in last year's costumes for a ward trunk or treat on Friday and got all the candy anyone could possibly need (not enough chocolate though), but that was it.  No decorations, no scary movies (okay we did watch Arsenic and Old Lace if that counts), and no pumpkins.  Yes, not even pumpkins.

This year I was the Halloween equivalent of Scrooge.

It hasn't always been like this.   I went all out the year after my first child was born, excited to see what new and creative way I could dress up my little one.

"Ducky Balboa, our Prize Biter"
Don't ask what I was dressed up as.  I was going to wrap a curling iron cord around my neck, but decided that was a little too macabre for me.  It turned into just an excuse for a facial.

That year (2007) we even won first place in the apartment decorating contest our complex held.

And even though my husband --and my children for that matter-- hate the feel of pumpkin innards, I made them do it every year, secretly reveling in the sliminess of it myself, and recalling the words that we as kids used to chant: "Greasy, grimy gopher guts!"

See that disgusted look on his face. (2008)

Even I had fun getting in on the act a few times,

Here's me, letting people know I was pregnant. (2008)

and I do like dressing up my kids.

(2009) 

(2010)

I guess I just wasn't feeling it this year.

Perhaps it won't be like this in 2012, but right now, I am so glad for Halloween to be over and I am looking for some nice Thanksgiving decorations to put up.  (Is anyone else bothered by the fact that Christmas stuff is already taking over the stores?  What about poor little old Thanksgiving?)

P.S. Today's date is so cool!  I almost had fun paying my bills just because I could write that date on the checks.  I can't wait 'til the 11th!

Spiritual BMI: a Metaphor for Life.

Have you ever wondered what your spirit looks like?  I'd like to think it is the perfect version of us: unscarred, and unaffected by the wear and tear of mortality.  However, does that mean my spirit wouldn't have freckles?  Or my brother wouldn't have his characteristic broken nose? --or for that matter that my cousins would have the beaks they were born with before their nose jobs? (I'm sorry that wasn't very nice, they're beautiful girls inside and out).
 I know, it doesn't really matter in the eternal scheme of things, but it's kinda fun to speculate.

But what if it did matter?  What if our spirit bodies reflected our spiritual lives?  For example, I've often thought about the phrase, "feast upon the words of Christ."  I know it's talking about a spiritual feasting, and that you gain spiritual nourishment, so does that mean that if you don't "feast" on the word, or even reject it --the equivalent of going on a hunger strike-- when you get to heaven you'll find that your spirit is gaunt and emaciated? On the other hand, what about those who have feasted upon the word (i.e. have been a member all their lives, read the scriptures, gone faithfully to church each week, or even studied endlessly on a certain principle --or in other words had a gospel hobby), but haven't really bothered to gain their own testimony --or maybe they have and just haven't shared it with others, and generally haven't exercised faith?  When they get to heaven do they find their spirits fat and flabby --storing away all that spiritual nourishment in their spiritual body, yet never expending the effort to strengthen it?  (I suppose the general authorities would all look like body builders in that case. ha ha.)

So maybe when we leave this world we find ourselves stuck with a spirit that not only reflects how we prioritized the spiritual things in life, but also the physical limitations of such a body.  I mean, what if the Celestial kingdom resides on the top of a mountain, with the different degrees of glory being found at their respective altitudes, and with this spiritual body of ours we must climb up as far as our spiritual stamina will allow?  How far would you make it?
Luckily we've got Christ there, hauling each of us up, Fezzik-style, a little higher than we could have done on our own if we'll just let Him.

This is just a silly rumination of my own, and perhaps a simpler way of thinking of my own spiritual progress, but it helps me to rethink how I spend my life, and refocus on what's really important.

Hope you enjoyed it.

Buhmadoes

You know how we're supposed to teach our kids how to speak our language?  It seems like I'm learning their language instead.  Not only am I the one person in the universe who understands what they are saying sometimes, but I'm afraid that it is rubbing off on me. For example, my oldest will say, "I don't like buhmadoes," and I will find myself saying something like, "Well, give your buhmadoes to your brother."
Does this happen to anyone else?

Speaking of vegetables... we took the kids to a doctors appointment yesterday for a routine checkup.  As the doctor quizzed my oldest on his numbers and colors and such I felt like I was on trial.  After all, those questions are really to see how much you have taught them right?  Anyway, when the question came up, "What's your favorite food?" my four year old responded, "Carrots! But my brother, he likes buhmadoes."   

Ha ha, score for me!  I promise I didn't teach him to say that.

Awesome!

So, you know when you think you have a good idea that's so unique and then you find that a million other people had that same idea way before you...

Well, when I wrote the post Happy Thoughts I really started thinking about expanding it.  I thought maybe some explanations would be cool, and I thought up a bunch of other things I could add, but then I found this book called The Book of Awesome, and got the wind blown out of my sails.  Now don't get me wrong, I loved the book, but it made my little list seem mediocre at best, and I'm not nearly as funny.  It's exactly the thing I would love to write (except without some of the entries that I have no experience with, like about drinking or guy things) to make people focus on the brighter side of life.
It's just a book about the awesome things of daily life, like finding money in the pocket of an old coat, or putting on underwear straight out of the dryer.  It started as a blog that the author decided to turn into a book (and apparently a calendar) but the blog is ongoing.  I bet it has altered the way he sees life now, going around day to day looking for something positive to write about and add to his blog. It definitely brightens my day when I try it.  So check it out.  (Just ignore all the advertising though, I think the success went to his head)

Oh yeah, and if you check the "Top 1000" in the side bar and you want to add your comment, realize that there are over 3,000 comments and it takes a long time to get to the newest ones.  I didn't realize this and started commenting on other people's comments before I realized they were written way back in 2009!  It was probably weird for them if they suddenly got an email about something they wrote 2 years ago. Yeah, I'm awesome (in a sarcastic sense if you couldn't tell).


Speaking of Awesome... Check this out:  My husband found it by the side of the road.

As if it weren't cool enough to find $20 on the ground, how about $20 with a plant growing through it?
Maybe it's a money-tree seed, and if I plant it, it will grow, and the leaves will be 20 dollar bills!

Now that would be AWESOME.

DIY Corner Play Kitchen

So, we made this for the boys last Christmas, but it never really got the attention it deserved.  In fact, when I started this blog it was in storage in another state.  Right before we moved back to Idaho, to get the kids excited about the move, I mentioned all their toys that would come out of storage including their play kitchen (we didn't have the room for them in the one bedroom apartment we had in Wyoming over the summer-- and yes, I said one).  Well it worked, and every time the move came up in conversation, they went on and on about getting to play with their kitchen.  So here's its official debut to the rest of the world.

And if you're wondering why I would make a kitchen for boys, just remember that most of the great chefs in this world are men.  I made it as un-girly as I could with no frills or pink or anything, and I still think it's super cute.

I admit, I'm quite proud.  Although, I also have to admit that although I came up with the design and did all the thrifting, my Dad, brother-in-law, and my husband did all the wood work and assembling.  Oh yeah, I painted the shelves.

I don't have all the DIY steps pictured --in fact I'm not sure I even remember them --it's been a while.  but we started with finding a basic furniture piece that we could repurpose. I searched forever for some little nightstand or something but when I saw this, I thought "Why not?" It would fit perfectly in a corner an take up less room by filling that awkward space.

It's an old appliance garage taken from someone's renovation/demolition and donated to Habitat for Humanity.  It was 12 bucks.  (The scroll door is still there, it just stays up all the time).
I also scored a piece of green laminate for the countertop, a small faucet, a handles for the drawer and oven, and a small hand towel rod or something (I'm actually not sure what it was supposed to be used for) to hang the dishes from. Total spent: about 8 bucks.

The corner shelf was designed by me and custom made by my dad in his workshop out of MDF scraps that he had around.

We added top and bottom boards to cover the missing part of the counter top and to enclose the base and make it sturdier, then we added an oven door on hinges (also MDF scraps and extra hinges my dad had lying around) which my brother in law cut a hole in for the "window." We intended to cover it with plexiglass, but never did, and probably won't. We also added a little wooden trim that you can only see in the picture of the entire thing at the top,

I thrifted a little rack and some other small cake pans and cookie sheets and my grandmother sent me some mini cupcake pans for use in the oven.  Every once in a while when I'm baking I'll save a little extra batter to cook something in these pans and we'll have a tea party.  (Don't worry, no one wears dresses, hats, or gloves to our tea parties, and there are no lace doilies. In fact, there's usually a lot of grunting and feet on the table --although I do try to use these tea parties to teach manners.)

I have three boys, so no flowers for us. That is why we use a gravy separator for a teapot.
Now that's a MAN's teapot! 

I wanted a drawer for some kid utensils we already had from ikea, and found an old cigar box or something at savers and incorporated it into the shelves (we actually use the ikea silverware to eat with and replaced them with plastic ones for the play kitchen).

Isn't that the cutest handle?

I also found this great old-school hand mixer that the kids love using to make pudding.  I'm not sure what the wooden box was for, but I decided to use it to hold utensils for now. 

 As for dishes, my mother bought the kids a "green toys" dish set on Amazon from this company that makes their toys out of recycled milk cartons, since they were the most unisex colors we could find and super sturdy. I found the rack for the dishes  at the DI, and although I have no idea what it is really used for, it worked perfect for the cups and saucers.  

Also from Ikea was the stainless steel pots and pans and utensils pictured.  They were actually the inspiration for this project --they were so cute, and sturdy and could probably be used cook real food if I wanted to! 

We had a lot more mini food items on the shelves before including those tiny cans of V8 and apple juice.
The kids loved it.

I tried finding a silver bowl for  the sink, but found that the shape of a large silver dog dish worked much better.  5 bucks.

I also added the "hot" and "cold" by hand with some paper and diamond epoxy for jewelry on top.

Now for my favorite part:  Drumroll please.....

The flat-top stove! Yeah, I could have made it really easy on myself and just glued some coasters on there, but where's the fun in that?  I'm all for interaction.  So I designed and hand crafted out of an old black three ring binder and some red vinyl a stove that you can turn "on" (red) and "off" (black) with little sliding buttons.

I used the same technology that many "pull the tab" books use, and it turned out great!  However, I suggest you use something a little stronger than hot-melt glue to attach the "stove" to the countertop --I ran out of time on Christmas Eve and didn't have anything better, so the stovetop was the first thing to fall victim to my (then) 20 month old.  Still, it'd didn't keep them from "cooking" things in the oven (including each other?  Maybe they were playing Hansel and Gretel?  It's a great hiding spot anyhow).

 Yeah, maybe they were a bit young for it at the time, but it keeps them busy anyhow, and they play more and more with it now that they're older.

So there you have it!

DIY play kitchen --30 bucks; 

Handmade, one-of-a-kind, heirloom playroom furnishing --priceless.

Back in the Saddle

So, my blogging life has been thrown to the wayside recently, but I'm determined to keep it up.  Even if no one ever looks at this stuff, it's good for me to get it out there.

Highlights since the last post:

We went fishing twice. The kids had more fun climbing trees and throwing rocks, and we didn't catch a thing, and forgot our camera, but that's to be expected. Here's some phone pictures.

You can actually see me in the middle of the light patch of grass on the left,
--dealing with a snag on that branch in the middle of the stream. I got my only bite right before that happened.

My 4 year old started Preschool.  I was torn about sending him off on his own, and then paying someone else to teach him things that I actually feel quite qualified to teach him myself (not to mention things he already knows --like his colors), but I decided that what I couldn't teach him would be the social aspect of things-- how to make friends, to get along with peers in a school setting, to stand up and talk in front of a group... etc.  I think it will be good for him since he'll be one of the younger ones going into kindergarten next year (Eeeek, next year!)  He's actually loving it, and I think he and his brother appreciate some time away from each other... I mean, they appreciate each other more when they're together. :)

I actually didn't get any pictures on his official first day of school, he had scabs all over his nose from falling down the stairs, although the true reason is that we were running late --as usual.

My baby was blessed.  The blessing his father gave him was beautiful, I wish I had written some of it down.  We had both sets of grandparents there, two sisters and a brother-in-law, and I didn't manage to get any pictures somehow.   I'm seeing a pattern of a lack of record keeping for this baby that I hope doesn't continue.  Poor thing.  This is the most recent still picture I have of him. It's actually the only one I have from the past 4 weeks and I didn't even take it. :(

I'm glad I didn't go get one of those fancy little suits to bless him in though since right after the thing he had a major blow-out.  I know, TMI.  Isn't he getting so chubby? 13 lbs 3.5 oz at his 2 month check up!

We bottled fruit!  We actually found the energy to can some fruit that my mother brought from Utah.  Bless her and my dad.  They checked both boxes on the plane to get it to us so we could have free fruit to preserve.  You might think that that would defeat the purpose of it being free, but no, they get free airfare since my sister works at an airport and you can check a package (or luggage) up to 45lbs. so they did!  And no, writing "Handle Carefully" all over the box doesn't do a thing.

Yay for home canning!

Of course, I prefer it this way...

Fresh peaches and cream!  YUM!

My kids do too, and I admit I had a hard time sharing.

Look at those puppy eyes.  How could anyone say no to that?

My husband turned 28!  So for a month or so, it'll look like we're only one year apart (on paper anyway),  but actually we're two.  Yeah, I know, I robbed the cradle.  (I'm turning the big 3-0 this year, and I'm sure you'll hear about it in a later post.)  Isn't he so accomplished for a 28 year old?  Has three kids, a master's degree, teaches college courses, and still looks like he's 19!

Homemade Hostess, Yum!  Complete with marshmallow creme filling (thanks for the idea Jen and Melissa) and chocolate ganache on top (which for some reason didn't really set, but it tasted good anyway).

So that was our last month and a half in a nutshell.

Sadly, I wanted to to a whole post about how much I love September and how Labor Day is my favorite holiday, but I guess I'll have another chance next year.  I will however post one thing (besides fresh peaches) that I love about September:

BLTs with fresh-from-the-garden tomatoes!  I ask you, were fresh, juicy, garden tomatoes made for anything else?  I can hardly bring myself to buy those waxy things you find at the store, and I refuse to have BLTs any other time of the year.

Oh yeah, I also LOVE corn on the cob, but I didn't get any pictures of that.  My husband prefer's corn off the cob, so this is what I bought him for his birthday:

Nothing says "I love you" like a corn cob cutter. ;)

Who Needs It Anyway?

Notice anything different about me?

I don't have a gall bladder!


Yeah, so as we were moving ... like on the way to our new home in Idaho, I started having another pain in my stomach area.  At first I thought it was just indigestion from the Wendy's I had eaten, but honestly, if that is what indigestion really felt like, the people who get it all the time would shoot themselves.  By 1:00 in the morning, I was in the E.R.

They sent me home.

After doing some tests, the doctor was sure he had found my problem --a raging UTI (raging was their word).

Now I may not be an anatomy major, but I think I know where my bladder is, and it is not up under my ribs where this pain was emanating from.

So, I took his pain prescription (some narcotics that made it unsafe to breastfeed my baby) and the doctor referrals (although they didn't do me much good since it was Sunday) and went home.

Well, the powerful pain meds didn't do much, and I spent the whole day writhing in agony.  We called around to the other doctors offices, and to my brother who's a doctor in Washington, and got the same answer.  Everything points to the gall bladder, and we should have had some imaging done -- an ultrasound or something.

So, we went back to the E.R. and demanded an ultrasound.

They admitted me for immediate surgery.

Although there was no infection, my gall bladder was terribly inflamed and there were several stones.

Great, more stones.  But at least I felt validated once again.

Can I just say to that E.R. doctor, "I TOLD YOU SO!"

So I just spent the last few days in the hospital again.

So now you ask, "What did you do with your three children while you were supposed to be moving in to a new home and your husband was supposed to be starting his first days of work?"

Well, that's where the blessings come in.

So, I know I was feeling a little whiny the last time I posted, I hope this doesn't come across as more of the same... but no, that housing never did go through.  We wasted $80 and a week of our lives together on that, but it didn't pan out.  I finally gave up and went back to a place we had found weeks before --luckily it was still available-- and within one day, it was ours.  My mother came and helped me pack and clean, my husband came home and we filled the moving truck, and we were off.

Well, if we had gotten that housing that we had been trying for, and moved on the 11th like we had planned, my mom wouldn't have been here when the gall bladder attack hit.  I honestly don't know what I would have done without her.  She was a Godsend, and I'll be forever thankful for all her hard work.  I mean, it was enough that she packed my things and scrubbed my walls and floors, but then she drove my car to Idaho, sat with me in the E.R. in the middle of the night ...twice... and while I was gone took care of my children and got up with the baby all through the nights to feed and change him. Oh, and she did my laundry and dishes the whole time she was here.

That was definitely a tender mercy of the Lord.  The fact that she could even come and stay for longer than planned, was truly a blessing.

We've had so many blessings.

We were more than lucky.  The attack could have happened earlier in the day on that long car ride to Idaho, and I would have been in misery the whole way. I was completely worthless the moment I got to our new place-- not being able to do much beyond lying on the floor in pain.

I don't know what we would have done without my husband's brother and his wife to help move boxes and furniture out of the moving truck, and to give us a wonderful dinner that lasted two days.

I'm so grateful for my sister-in-law who came to take my two older kids for a day so my husband could get things moved in and my mom could get a rest.

I'm also grateful for my in-laws who are coming this weekend to take care of us for a few days.  The kids love them, and it will be a welcome distraction.

There were so many little things too.  It just so happens that we live a block away from the hospital, which made it a lot easier to find.  I'm also so glad that the baby took a bottle and formula for the first time so well, since I had never tried before this weekend. People from our Church, who we've never even met, are already set up to help take the kids while my husband is at work as soon as the in-laws are gone too. What a blessing!

Someone might ask, "Why did all this have to happen right now, at the worst possible time?" and feel that I've been very picked on.  I admit, I might have thought something like that once or twice... but you know, difficult things just happen, and there is really no good time.

I'm just glad that He softened this difficult time with so many blessings.

Pod Mostem

On my mission in Poland, I lived in an apartment that was right next to a big bridge that went over a major river.  We were kind of below and to the side of it since it was raised up with small shops and parking lots underneath it, but the only way I could describe where we lived in the language was to say that we lived "pod mostem," or beneath the bridge.  Well, one day when I used this expression, some Polish people laughed at me.  They explained that to say you live "pod mostem" was to say you were homeless.  I don't think they could imagine an American being homeless, since all the Americans they knew were quite wealthy by their standards, not to mention that most of their knowledge about America came from Hollywood.

This is the actual bridge in Warsaw. This was practically the view from our front door.

I saw so many homeless people in Poland.  So many begging on the streets, or sleeping on cardboard boxes in the train stations.  It was a big eye opener, and really put things into perspective.  It made me more grateful for what I had, but it also made me really wonder why I had been so blessed.  Why had I been born in a free country, to a family who loved me, and had the blessing of the restored gospel?  I actually felt guilty sometimes.  I mean, what had I done to deserve it all?  I really have no reason to ever whine.

I've been feeling kinda sorry for myself lately.  I've been way stressed out because we were supposed to move this week, but the housing situation we are trying to get into is taking longer than we anticipated.  It's still not a sure thing, and time is running out.  If we do get it, we will be lucky if we can move in next weekend.  In the meantime, my husband is going to have to leave me here all alone, with two kids and a brand new baby, to pack up our house while he attends orientation meetings and such for his work.  He'll come back just in time to help us pack the moving truck and drive back there.  Honestly, just having a new baby and two toddlers is enough to overwhelm me, but to add all that on top of it? ...yeah.

So today, I am counting my blessings.

1. At least we have a home.  We're lucky to be able to stay here until the housing goes through ...and it's free!  What a blessing!
2. At least I have a husband.  Even though he'll be away, it's not a permanent thing --I couldn't ever imagine being a single parent.
3. We are so blessed to have family and friends nearby that can help out, whether it's a grandmother lending my husband a car so he can get where he needs to be and not leave me car-less, or a mother who can come and help me with the cleaning and packing, or neighbors who can watch the kids, or family to help us move in to our new house.  We are so blessed.
4. At least I have my health.  Now that the kidney stone and the pregnancy are over, I'm glad to be free of pain, and am starting to feel a little bit of my energy come back.  Sure, I'm tired all the time from lack of sleep, and still recovering, but overall I'm feeling good.
5. My kids are healthy too.  In fact, they're a little too rambunctious and energetic for me these days, but I wouldn't have it otherwise.

I could go on about money and freedom and the gospel etc., but this has served it's purpose.  Now I don't feel so sorry for myself.

Isn't it great what a little gratitude can do?

Oh yeah, one last thing.
6. At least I don't have to cook dinner tonight because it is being brought to us by members of our ward.  The Relief Society sisters have been bringing us dinner every other night for the last two weeks since the baby was born, and it's been wonderful!

I have to admit, I didn't have that with the last two babies, because 1- we moved right after our first was born and I don't think anyone knew about us, and 2- I was too stubborn and proud to allow people to help with the second.

I've learned my lesson though.  Bless and let bless.  I love making dinners for other people when they need it.  Why should I deny myself the blessings others would like to share, and why should I deny them the opportunity of blessing us, and receiving blessings themselves? --just so I can show everyone that I've got it together?  that I can handle what I've gotten myself into? that I can do it on my own?  That doesn't make any sense.

This time though, I don't pretend to have it all together, and I'm not exactly sure what I've gotten myself into, and I know I can't do it all on my own... but I do know that this is what the Lord intended for me, and He is helping and will help me to do it-- mostly through the service of others.

Not only am I not homeless, but I'm also not alone.

Why am I so blessed?

I am So in Love.

I love his little fingers and toes.

I love his alertness when he's awake.

I love the funny little sounds and faces he makes when he's asleep.

I love his soft warm head on my chest.

I love his "pooping" face, and how he has to hold onto something really tightly while doing his business.

I love the fact that he almost never spits up.

I love how when he's hungry, he tries eating anything that gets close to his mouth, and is quite ravenous about it.

I love feeling his strong yet peaceful spirit.

How could I not be absolutely in love?

His older brothers love him, and are so sweet around him.  

I mean, all my babies are beautiful...  but this one is especially beautiful because he's so good.  Honestly, couldn't ask for a more mild and peaceful baby.  

It may not always be this way, but right now, this is what I need. 

Welcome little one.

You have a family that loves you.