life in my world

That's really just another way of saying that I have more miscellany to report, but since I already did a miscellaneous post on Monday, I had to switch it up a little. (I'm tricky that way.)


Eva and I made dinner today at 10:00 a.m. It's thrilling to me to have dinner taken care of in the morning! Yeah, I'm pretty easy to please. I have so much more energy mid-morning than I do in the late afternoon/evening, so I'm trying to make things work with my natural rhythms.

I found it funny that Eva was a great helper, even though she finds meat and sauce revolting and will in no way eat the lasagna that we made.

I went to the dentist to get my broken tooth checked out. Of course it needs a crown, and they can't fit me in until Monday. Bummer.

On the bright side, my dentist pretty much made Eva's day. He is the father of Ashleigh from So You Think You Can Dance, and has photos of Ashleigh and Ryan displayed in his office. Eva told him that she is taking dance lessons now, and that she wants to be on SYTYCD like Ashleigh. He was tickled that Eva knew who Ashleigh was and had seen her on TV. He got kind of teary when he told us that her dance performances over the years were his greatest parenting moments. Then he indulged Eva by watching some of her new moves, and encouraged her to stick with it and practice hard. So cute.

(A bit of interesting news for those of you who follow the show: he said that after the show ended, the dancers were so completely exhausted and weak from the grueling schedule that when they made an appearance on the Ellen Degeneres show, they had to have i.v.'s and vitamin shots. Seriously! Also that it took 4 weeks after they came home for their bodies to recover.

And apparently Ashleigh and Ryan are being heavily recruited for Dancing with the Stars. I don't watch that show, though.)

I went to Dollar Tree yesterday to see if they had any plastic dishpans to help with my organizing efforts. They did, and in black, to boot! Sweet. I am now ready to turn shelves into drawers.

How I wish I had taken a "before" picture of all of these stupid kid plastic cups! They have been driving me insane for a long time. Every time I would open the drawer, they would shift and fall over and generally just be a big mess. But now they are corralled in a bin and they will move no more! This made me so very happy. (And, come on, why didn't I think of that years ago?!)

Again, I really should have taken a "before" photo, with my tea towels stuffed into the cupboard every which way. I could not even believe how many I had when I took them all out! And I found some really cute ones in the way back that I had completely forgotten about and never used. I wish I would have counted them, it's kind of ridiculous how many I have.

Ta-da! Eva helped me sort and fold them all. We put holiday ones in one bin and the rest in another. (I discovered I have 7 Halloween tea towels. Really?) Now I can just pull out the bin and find what I want -- this is revolutionary for me.

These are the ones I'm tossing. I'm estimating around 20 of them. Do you think I have a tea towel problem?

I'm baby-stepping my way to being more organized and am finding it very satisfying. Told you I'm easy to please!

etc., etc.

* Eva has discovered the beauty that is building with blocks. The blocks seem to have found a permanent home in the living room, and she is constantly entreating me to keep Jack away so he doesn't knock them down (pretty near impossible). Here he is watching over all.

* I finally broke out my wheat grinder today! I did hard red wheat, hard white wheat, soft white wheat, and popcorn, all in fairly small quantities. I wanted to sample some different kinds before buying in bulk.

Man, was it ever loud. I knew it was supposed to be loud, so I waited until Eva was in preschool. It gave Jack quite a scare.

Did you even know you could grind popcorn? It's supposed to make the best cornmeal. I use cornmeal when I make certain breads and pizzas, and now I can't wait to make cornbread with it!

* On Friday night, we got 8-9" of snow in 3 hours. I ran out for Cafe Rio and when I got home at 7:30, the driveway was completely clear. We looked out the window at 10:30 to see a winter wonderland. Amazing.

* On Saturday, I took Eva and Max sledding (Lucas had a sleepover at Jill's). Eva has been talking about going sledding for a long time, so there was really no getting around it. She shocked us by being far braver than either of her brothers at that age -- she went down the big hill on my lap, then on Max's lap, then by herself! And she even walked back up the hill, dragging the sled behind her. We stayed for an hour, and only left because it started snowing again and her cheeks were bright red. Sadly, I took my camera to document the outing, but discovered I had left my memory card at home...

* After the big snow, our neighbors made a snow fort in their yard. More of an igloo, really. Lucas informed that 3 kids could fit comfortably inside and that they built a fire within. Ummmm... I don't know if I'm okay with that. At least they had a chimney and Lucas wasn't the one actually lighting the fire, but...

They came over today after school to help Lucas make a fort of his own. They got the shoveling, piling, and water packing done. Tomorrow, they begin the hollowing. It's good to have a project.

* This was the view out the back window this morning. Blue sky instead of gray! A great way to start the day.

* I got a near-migraine today. I took two consecutive doses of Excedrin and then had to lie down for a couple of hours. It finally went away. You know the best part? Even though it hit at 2:00 p.m., I didn't feel like my day was wasted, because, with my new day planning strategy, I had already accomplished all of the essential things plus a few extras! It felt like a major victory.

Sunday thoughts

Max and I went to a meeting tonight. The Young Men's presidency held something akin to a YW New Beginnings night, where they passed out calendars, talked about the Duty to God program and Scouting, told us about a new online tracking system, expressed their excitement about working with the boys, and just generally were super-organized and helpful. (And, they even served brownies afterward.) I was so impressed!

This new presidency was called while we were in Paris, so this was the first time I had heard some of them speak. I came away feeling like Max and all of our young men are in very capable hands. And that I have a lot of work to do at home to help him get and stay on top of everything. Good thing I am re-dedicating myself to planning!

Some highlights:

- Just because something is good is not sufficient reason for doing it. We need to seek out the best things to do with our time.

- We ought to provide spiritual experiences whenever possible.

- A good process will create good outcomes.

- We have a closing window of opportunity in being able to spend quality time with these teens.

- We do hard things in Scouts, because missions are hard. Parenthood is hard. Jobs are hard. Life is hard.

"Give me a young man who has kept himself morally clean and faithfully attended his Church meetings. Give me a young man who has magnified his priesthood and has earned the Duty to God Award and is an Eagle Scout. Give me a young man who is a seminary graduate and has a burning testimony of the Book of Mormon. Give me such a young man, and I will give you a young man who can perform miracles for the Lord in the mission field and throughout his life." -- Ezra Taft Benson

one little word 2010

In 2009, I chose to focus on the word progress:

"I think it will be good for me to focus on making progress. I still have a lot of areas I'd like to improve in, but I want to be able to applaud myself for every little movement I make in the right direction. I want to be pleased with what I accomplish, rather than upset with all that I have not yet accomplished. I want to learn to accept myself where I am, right now, be gentle with my efforts to improve, and appreciative of any and all growth. For a perfectionist like me, I think it will prove to be a real challenge."

Looking back, I wonder if this choice of word was a bit of a cop-out. Maybe I was disillusioned with my ability to fully embrace free (for 2 years!). I think maybe I was just overwhelmed and feeling the need to be kind to myself.

I find myself wondering if I never really got to the point of accepting "progress, not perfection", because now I am back to desiring real change. Actually, I think I did a great job at the acceptance part -- perhaps not as well as I could have at the progressing part. In any case, I still feel that progress was what I needed at the time. But now, I need something different.

After considering several words for the past week or so, I have narrowed my selection to:

PLAN

I had a bit of an epiphany when I realized that, for all of the things that I really want to accomplish this year, probably the biggest roadblock I would face would be a lack of planning. Could it really be that simple? That by having more frequent meetings with myself, as Jill says, I could put into action so many of the things that I want to have happen in my life? I think it could. In fact, I'm feeling really optimistic.

I did a quick search for some quotes, and now I am feeling even better about my choice:

Plan your work for today and every day, then work your plan. -- Norman Vincent Peale

Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan. -- Tom Landry

It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan. -- Eleanor Roosevelt

If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much. -- Jim Rohn

A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow. -- George S. Patton

Reduce your plan to writing. The moment you complete this, you will have definitely given concrete form to the intangible desire. -- Napoleon Hill

If you fail to plan, plan to fail. (unknown)

The Eleanor Roosevelt one is really resonating with me.

So if you're like me, and you are wondering how you can get more out of the experience of having a word for the year, here are some ideas:

1. Every time you make a list, write your word at the top of it, so it is always in front of you. I saw this in a comment on Ali Edwards' blog, and loved it. The act of repeatedly writing my word will, I think, keep it from becoming just another sign on the fridge that I don't see anymore. Heaven knows I make a lot of lists, so this may just be genius.

2. Make a wordle with quotes about your word or just your feelings about it. It's easy and fun!

3. Download this worksheet. Then fill it out! I'm planning to do this, I see it as a fleshing-out of my intentions and plans for the year.

Here's to a year of positive change in 2010!!