searching for inspiration

I've thought of all sorts of random thoughts lately, but now I can't remember them. Like my brain, they have gone missing.

About six years ago, I had several talks on tape. They were all by Mary Ellen Edmunds. She is a great speaker. She is funny, truthful, inspiring, and down-to-Earth. She makes me laugh. I don't have any idea where those tapes are now since we've made two moves in six years and it really doesn't matter because I don't have a tape player anymore.

I was thinking recently how much I enjoyed her talks. So, I looked her up on the Internet. I found one of her talks I could listen to in the form of an MP3 and all her other talks were there and available for me to read. I've sure enjoyed catching up with her talks.

One story has stuck with me for many years. She told a story about a friend who was sitting in sacrament meeting and the young man doing one of the sacrament prayers kept messing up a big and he had to say it three or four times before he got it. The friend said how grateful she was to hear it that many times because she wasn't ready to listen the first two times it was said. I liked that idea. It isn't easy with small kids and I find myself most of the time doing my best to keep them quiet or still during the prayers. Still, every week I think of that story and if they kids cooperate, I work very hard to listen well the first time because I might not be lucky enough that week to hear it twice. I don't know if I've said anything that makes sense, but it works for me and I guess that is what is most important.

Another talk I enjoy listening to, because I have it on CD, is called "Teaching Your Children to Fly" and it's by Marilee Brown Boyack. It's another funny talk, but it is about the importance of teaching children skills and chores so they can grow up to be independent adults. I love this! In the immediate moment, it's good because I have helpers in cleaning and caring for the house - I'm teaching them house care, right? In the long term it is great because they will go out into the world and be prepared to care for themselves and not need me constantly. When you have the skills, you are much happier, even when the skill is laundry and clean clothes.

My boys don't believe me as I try to teach them table manners and body hygiene that this isn't for my benefit. While it makes me happy to have them use good manners and not stink, a day will come then they will try to be impressing a girl and these things will make her happy.

So, I search for inspiration. Searching for ways to make me a happy, better person and my children happy and better people. While I see the good in it, I'm having a hard time convincing my kids that it is good for them too... They scoff at the chore list and and get angry and moody about doing them, but I know that their cleaning the house is good for their future. :)

topsy turvy

I don't understand:
When the wife takes all the kids to visit family for a week and leaves hubby at home because he has to work that we (friends and neighbors) feel the need to make sure and check on the husband and make sure he is eating decent meals.

BUT
When the husband goes away for some business trip and leaves the wife behind with all the kids do we (friends and neighbors) not give it a single thought and usually end up saying, "Oh, your husband was gone for a week? I had no idea."

Same amount of time, wife alone with the kids in both scenarios, and hubby alone with himself and free. So, we take care of the poor man who is free of all parenting responsibilities and we feed him, but the wife with all the kids is completely forgotten.

Why is that?

life imitates art or is it the other way around?

You remember the 80's commercial:
The traffic (beep, beep), the boss (roar, rah, roar), the kids (whaaa!), the dog (woof, woof)! I can't take it anymore! Calgon, take me away!

I don't deal with traffic, bosses or dogs. Aren't kids enough of a reason for me to cry out to Calgon?

Summer traditions

What is summer without:
-Playing in water, it doesn't matter how, pool, rain, sprinkler, just play in the water!
-Popsicles
-staying up late to watch a movie
-sleeping in the next morning - ok, with my little ones, this isn't possible for me, but my older boys are getting into the spirit of sleeping in
-the Monkees - since I was about 11, I have watched Monkee reruns during the summer months. It's no different now. School gets out and I put on the Monkees!
-very hot outings
-at least one sunburn
-BBQ's with lots of hot dogs
-a bowl of ice cream
-a campout. It doesn't matter if it is in the backyard, the living room, or the great outdoors, just as long as you set up a tent and sleep in it.
-mosquito bites
-the knot in your stomach when you see the back-to-school sales at Wal-Mart
-playing outside until 8:30 at night
-a visit with the grandparents!

11 years ago

Eleven years ago, the Saturday before Father's Day, I was 39 weeks pregnant and we moved from an apartment to a basement. Early Sunday morning, I went to the hospital because baby decided he was ready, or maybe the move decided for him. We spent the entire Father's Day in the hospital. Nurses were congratulating dear Hubby for becoming a father on Father's Day. It was also the summer solstice. We waited all day long, but baby didn't want to come. Finally early Monday morning, just as the sun was rising over the mountains, our first child made his entrance into the world.

What a long three days those were! Now, eleven years later, we spent the Saturday cleaning and playing, Father's Day was spent hanging out with Hubby, going to church, and having one of Hubby's co-workers over for a BBQ and cheesecake. Today for son's birthday, we will go to the pool to swim and we'll play around the house. We'll light 11 candles for him on a cake.

Father's Day was nice this year. Hubby works with some really nice people, but one gentleman, who has lived a very exciting life due to his line of work, has no family around him here. Health issues bother him once in a while, as those things do, unfortunately, as we get older. We were thinking about him and decided he needed a little family on Father's Day, and we, not having any extended family close by, decided we needed him. As we went to church, we stopped by his house, invited him to dinner that evening and left directions on how to get to our house. It was a great dinner and Hubby enjoyed his co-worker's company. Mr. A, I will call him, has traveled the world in his career. He told us about various places he had visited and by the end, I was having an itch to travel. I must go see Norway now.

Other than the fighting with the kids to do a bit of cleaning on Saturday, it was a great weekend. We are looking forward to a great week. Some trips to the pool, a couple of day trips to see some local sights. Yes, a great week is waiting for us.

goings on

Summer is the best. It's really fun.

Things have been busy, but fun recently. My two boys got to go to cub scout day camp this past week. They really had fun. I got to go work there for one day and I really enjoyed myself, with a few exceptions.
Exception #1 - Sunburn! Yes, everyday I tell my boys, be sure to put on your sunblock, but do I remember? OH NO! The top of my head hurts so much, I can't brush it. I was told once that if you burn the top of your head too many times, hair will stop growing there. The skin is too damaged for hair to grow. Not a pretty thought, but if it's the gray hair that goes, it's OK.

Exception #2 - 10 year old soccer boy kicked a ball way to hard while playing kickball and the ball hit my right hand, twice! My wrist was swollen Thursday afternoon and all day yesterday. It is still sore today, but it isn't swollen anymore. (I can hear my sister laughing at me right now)

Other than those two things, it was great fun and I hope to volunteer again next year. Really, I do love it.

Church always keeps me busy. This week was Enrichment night and Cannery night. I really like going to the cannery.

Getting ready for hubby's business trip. I'm jealous, he is going to the city my sister lives in/next to. He will be getting to spend his evenings with my sister and her neat family. I want to go!!

Well, while he is gone, we are going to go swimming at the local pool (I'll put sunblock on) and we will probably take a day trip, head west and go see a ghost town! ooooo

Normal house stuff always going on. Well, I'm not sure what is normal anymore... :)

There has been no rain for several weeks now. And yet, the tumbleweeds grow. They grow fast and are a beautiful deep green. We did not invite them into our back yard. They rudely came in, uninvited, and have made themselves at home in between the rocks in the back yard. We pull them out and toss them as quick as we can, but they seem to have invited all their friends over. Hubby and I were talking about how great it would be if tomato plants were like that. If we could just take tomato sees, toss them carelessly into the rocky back yard, never water them, and have them grow like crazy. That would just be great, but oh no, the tomatoes are dieing in the desert sun and the tumbleweeds are just as happy as can be.

my girls

Last night as I was going to tuck my five year old in bed, I found her sitting on her bed with one of the Hooked on Phonics books in her lap. She was sounding out the words! I was so impressed. I had tried to teach her this in the past, but she wasn't catching on, but there she was sounding out "span". I was impressed that she knew the "sp" sound, but then adding the "a" and "n" made it for a three syllable word. It takes time to be able to put those sounds together into one word. I was amazed. This morning she was at it again, trying to figure out the word "shall", but "s"+"ha"+"a"+"l" made a long odd word.

My one year old, is smart too, but in a very mischeivious way. I had put in a Baby Einstein movie and she had been watching it, but I guess she got bored. She opened the DVD player, changed the movies, and started a new one. She made a mess of the DVDs, though. I really don't like it when she gets ahold of the DVDs.

climbing queen

Peanut is 14 months old now. She is the most mischievous of my kids. She really keeps me on my toes. Lately her favorite thing to do is climb up onto the table. If anyone is working there, or playing games there, she climbs on and terrorizes whatever is going on.

She also likes to sit or stand on the edge of the couch arm. This drives me nuts. We have hard concrete tiled floors. I worry about her. Of course, she thinks it is so funny and just laughs and laughs as she lives on the edge. I've gotten to where I keep pillows on the floor next the the arm that she likes to climb on. She has fallen off twice and it hasn't stopped her.

She also likes to take my wallet apart at every opportunity. She's a menace. Good thing she is so gosh-darn cute!

days

The summer days are going along. My boys spent several weeks with grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, animals and lots of dirt. They had a blast. It's nice having them home again. Things were quieter without them, but not as much laughter was being heard in the house.

Here in the city, free lunch is provided for all the children at various parks. We've tried to hit that as often as we can. The food is good and I don't have to cook or clean dishes! I wanted to do that today, but today was one of those days where you go, go, go and we just didn't make it.

I do a weekly email newsletter for the ladies at church. They really like it and I love doing it, but it does take an hour or two to put it together each week. I did that today.

My interest in looms and weaving is still going strong. I've made two creations on my inkle loom and I'm working on another one. I really like it, but I'm having a hard time making the edges look good. I just don't know what to do about that. I have lots of weaving I want to do, but time isn't always there....

Things have been busy, in a fun way. We are having some issues with our real estate person not getting our house on the market yet. We are also having some car issues with the dealer not honoring their warranty. Some troubles never end.

Oh well, during the day we try to have happy times and play around. Next week is scout camp! I'm going to help out one day. That will be fun. I worry about leaving the three little ones with a baby sitter all day, but I love day camps and I'm excited to go for the day.