One Word Wednesday...

CORRECTING...

Technically deficient...

OK, so I wanted to update in '09 (yeah, it doesn't rhyme) and I decided to change my background and colors and stuff, and I shouldn't have done it because I screwed up my layout and I can't figure out how to fix it and I'm obssessing over it and I have too many other things to do and so I'm getting it off my chest and hopefully when Alyssa comes home tomorrow,

All
Will
Be
Corrected
And
Wonderful

(After a lecture from her about what am I going to do when she goes to college?)
I know, I know, I need to figure this stuff out on my own, but I have 7 1/2 more months until I ACTUALLY have to do it!!!

Resolutions, smesolutions...

I've never been very good at New Year's Resolutions. I'm just not the "resolutiony" type. Oh, I set goals, alright, but I just don't think that because it's a new year I should resolve to do anything more than I'm already doing!

EXAMPLES:

• I'm already eating oatmeal, almonds, and beans in an attempt to lower that dreaded cholesterol. Hope it's working, guess I need another blood test to determine that.

• I'm already getting up at the crack of the crack of dawn 5 days a week in hopes of staying sane throughout the day.

• I'm already setting goals each day, like, for example, to get to 12:00 and refrain from crying about last year's Kindergarten bliss. (I've accomplished that goal each school day - well - almost each school day.)

• I'm already trying out new recipes to give my family's eating a boost - or to at least make it interesting.

• I'm already contributing to our family's well being by helping out financially, emotionally, chauffeuringly, nurturingly, etc. (can't think of anymore words that end in "ly")

I guess you could say that I have resolutions all through the year and don't feel I need to announce them at the beginning of a new year, but, just so you don't think I think I'm perfect in any way, shape, or form, (heehee) I'll do something that I read about in a magazine:

simply state one word that will help me remember what I should be doing.

Here goes:

1. patience - with my kids, my class, my friends, my neighbors, that stupid driver in front of me, etc.

2. communicate - with my mom, my sisters, my far away friends way more often.

3. read - books that aren't written by Stephanie Meyer, the scriptures, the stack I have by my bed that normally don't get looked at very much until summer.

4. learn - from others, from experiences (both good and bad), from classes that I should be
taking.

5. clean - my house, my car, the baseboards, the home office way more often.

6. blog - whenever I feel like it and not feel bad for sitting at the computer when I should be doing 2, 3, 4, and 5...

7. pictures - take more, take Becky Higgins' challenge of a photo a day for project 365 even though I don't scrapbook anymore - at least on paper...

8. enjoy - my husband, my kids, my home, my life, all the little things way more often.

9. cherish - what it's like to have all 4 of my children under one roof - 'cuz in August it's all gonna change when baby #1 goes away to college *sigh* - wasn't she just born?

10. dance - learn Beyonce's single ladies dance...Oh, yeah - my kids will totally dig it when their mother dances like Beyonce!!! well, maybe that will have to wait until 2010...

Happy 2009!

Here's to doing what we normally do each day in order to make ourselves better human beings!

I Miss Her...

Come home, Alyssa!

I know you are having a blast with your posse in IF, but your posse in Boise miss you a lot. We are having a taste of what life will be like when you are at college next fall and we are not ready for it to happen.

So...

come home already!

Oh, and by the way, your dad is going to be in IF on Saturday so have a blast of unsupervised fun for the next few days when it comes to a screeching halt. Sorry.

Love, Mom

Carmel Chocolate Pretzels and a Swearing Jar...

Ever since last Christmas when my cute sister Teressa made and sent our family the most delicious carmel chocolate dipped pretzels (she made a thousand of them!), I've been drooling, dreaming, and deciding that those were the delicious little morsels I would make and take to neighbors, friends, colleagues, etc. for a little Christmas treat this year. I mean how hard could it be to dip thick pretzel sticks into carmel then into melted chocolate?

Ummm, Teressa, where'd you get the candy making gene?

Obviously, after 2 abysmal attempts, the first one resulting in such a sticky mess that a filling was almost yanked out of my mouth, it is clear that I still don't have the gene, and I don't think I ever will. Suffice it to say, that after my ranting and yelling over overflowing carmel on my stovetop, Kourtni felt we needed something to control her mother's harsh words, so she has made a "swearing jar". Yep, she said that, in addition to our "burping jar", we need to have a "swearing jar" and every time Mom says a "bad" word, one dollar from the mama needs to go into the jar. "Bad" words? More like well deserved words after sweating over a hot stove and watching your delicious confection bubble over the top of the pan like a science experiment.

Next year I'm giving out candy bars while singing this tune:
(You can sing it to yourself to the tune of Jingle Bells...)

Dashing from the mall
with groceries yet to buy,
Lessons, work, and housecleaning,
Life is so crazy, why?
Bells on our phone ring,
The machine will take the call,
We have no time for family or friends
It drives us up the wall.
Oh, how are you?
How's your life?
We'd really like to know. We'd love to chat and hear the news
But please don't talk too slow.
How are you? How's your life?
We'd really like to know. Are you ready for Christmas? Now maybe it will snow.
A day or two ago, we thought we'd make a treat.
A special homemade goody (carmel chocolate covered pretzels)
For all our friends to eat. Our intentions were top-notch,

But our schedule would not budge (well the schedule really had nothing to do with it, just dorkiness in the candy making department)
So here's this year's rendition of homemade Christmas fudge.

By the way, we all hope you had a very Merry Christmas and if you received any pretzels from us, please don't send us your dental bill.

The White Stuff

If you'd like to see snow through the eyes of a dog

click here.

If only I were this happy when it snows...

By the way: Do dogs have white knuckles, racing hearts, and anxiety when the white stuff falls? Just wondering.

Joy To Everyone

Do you have 4 minutes and 13 seconds to listen to a beautifully written and exquisitely performed

Christmas message?

Well, if you don't, I think you need to re-evaluate your stress level, remember the real reason for this wonderful time of year, focus on our Savior's birth, sit down, click on the link, and let the music move you to a better place this holiday season.

This is a beautiful video
that shows so many of Heavenly Father's children.
I Loved It!
I think you'll like it as well.
Enjoy!

Think pink

I took my girls and got their pictures taken the other day... no, not of Alyssa, Kourtni, or Lindsay -

I GOT A MAMMOGRAM!
(finally)

I knew several years ago that I should have gotten one when my sister's OB (who I happened to go to high school with) told her to tell me that it was time to get my first mammo because of our family's history. About 5 years have gone by, and I didn't think too much about it. However, after receiving a miserable score on my health profile that I completed a couple of weeks ago, I decided the time had come. I fought back the fear of squishing, flattening, pinching, and humiliation, and made the dreaded appointment.

It was easy really.
Call the number, talk to the nice lady, make an appointment, and fret for the next week until it's time to submit to the torturous feat. I think my anxiety reached its peak when I was told I wouldn't be able to use deodorant, perfume, or lotion...the 3 staples of my "morning routine". Hmmm, I thought, I just might stink as I being compressed into that cold, impersonal machine. Oh, well, serves the technician right, huh?

As it turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong!

The whole experience was not bad. The only painful part was the 8 minute DVD that included lots of different sizes and shapes of women's mammary glands, which demonstrated the "do's" and "don'ts" of self examination. I kept wishing someone else would have been with me to giggle and point...
Anyway, I didn't get squished, I didn't get flattened (but really, how much more flattened can I get???), I didn't get compressed, and I didn't get pinched! In fact, I was told how much muscle I had behind my important parts. hmmm. joy. (At least weights are helping in my digital mammogram picture...)

So, here's my advice:
Go get a mammogram, ladies! It's insightful, it's necessary for your health, it's the right thing to do for your husband and children, and you just might save your boobies!

Wordless Wednesday - Some of my class could use this...

Wordless (and hopefully, very soon, PAINLESS) Wednesday