Here are a bunch of random thoughts that aren’t grand enough to be their own post but I wanted to share them anyway.

I try to wake up early on weekdays to get started on my day before the boys wake up.  We live in an old house that has creaky floors.  Whenever I tip-toe down the hall in the morning, trying to be quiet so I won’t wake anyone up, I think of Katniss Everdeen and how I’m sure she could walk down the hall and not make any noise at all.  There’s no way I could win the Hunger Games with all of the noise that I make.

Why is Jillian Michaels on The Doctors?  I’m pretty sure she is not a doctor.

Speaking of doctors, why is it when they give you a prescription for Amoxicillin it says to take it for 10 days but they only give you enough for 8?  Every time we’ve had Amoxicillin we’ve had the same problem.

Why are donuts considered a breakfast item?  Can you get more of a dessert than sugar loaded fried bread covered in frosting?  It just shouldn’t be for breakfast.

Should I be concerned when my son brings a note home from his teacher that says they’re going to have a “pyjama” party tomorrow?  It was spelled that way twice.  I guess it’s a good thing that teacher teaches French.  (I really like him by the way, I just think it’s funny when the people who are supposed to be teaching my child how to spell can’t spell.)

And now you know some of the things that go through my head.

My birthday is this week.  I turn 31.  Last year, when I turned 30, it didn’t really phase me.  I knew I would wake up at age 30 feeling just the same as I did at 29.  I was right.  I guess being married and a mom to three kids is what I would have guessed I’d be doing at 30 so the age didn’t freak me out.

Lately though I’ve had several experiences that have made me feel old.

The end of last summer I was invited to a bridal shower for my nephews fiance.  When I started thinking of a gift I didn’t know what to bring.  I’m the one who brought homemade, often edible, lingerie to all of my girlfriends showers.  Now I was the aunt.  You can’t bring lingerie to your nephews fiances shower.  I felt like I should bring bath towels or something.  I settled on a gift card.

The last two weekends I have attended events that didn’t start until 8:00 p.m.  As I was driving to the first one, alone in the car, trying to keep myself awake it all seemed so weird.  It was totally dark and felt like I should be going to bed not just going out for the night.  Yep, 8:00 is late.  How’s that for being old?

As we were driving home this weekend my husband and I were talking about the radio station we were listening to.  He said that he used to listed to it all the time in high school but now he’s moved onto KSL (local talk radio).  I realized I mostly listen to NPR.

The final thing, the one that pushed me over the edge and made me realize I’m definitely middle aged.  I looked at the Eddie Bauer catalog and thought the clothes were cute.

Today, for your viewing pleasure, two of my favorite images off of facebook this week.  They both made me laugh out loud.  Enjoy!

Thanks Polly and Lindsey

photo credit

“We spend so much time and energy comparing ourselves to others—usually comparing our weaknesses to their strengths. “

–Dieter F. Uchtdorf 

I heard this quote a few weeks ago at a church meeting and was amazed.  Amazed that even though it is such a truth and so simple, I hadn’t realized it before.  Amazed also at how it helped me to see what I had been doing to myself.  Do we ever compare strengths to strengths and weaknesses to weaknesses?  Not very often, if at all.

While my husband was in Iraq, my neighbor’s daughter went through a divorce and moved back in with her parents.  She has two kids about the same age as my older boys.  She is also beautiful, tall, skinny, and drove a Lexus.  She always looked good.  Even when I saw her on her way to/from the gym she looked great.  I never once saw her driving her daughter to school in her pajamas or her kids looking frumpy.

On the other hand, I drove my son to school in pj’s almost everyday, weigh more than I’d like to, have boys who chose their own clothes that are usually too small, and drive a Ford.  I felt less than her, like she was looking down on me.  Never did she ever in any way do anything to make me feel this way.  It was all my own insecurities and comparing my weaknesses to her strengths.  She has now gotten remarried and moved out of her parents house.  I still see her often and she is always as nice as ever.  I’ve gotten over some of my issues and I always talk to her as much as I can when I see her.  I’ve come to learn that we’re more alike than I ever could have imagined and that she is not nearly what I imagined her to be.

I think I missed a great opportunity to have a friend.  We were both single parents at the same time and we could have helped each other out.

I have another neighbor down the street.  She had 6 kids in 10 years, and wears “mom jeans”.  She kind of reminds me of Michelle Duggar.  I never would have admitted it and don’t think I consciously thought it, but deep down I thought I was better than her.  Then I was asked to work with her in Cub Scouts.  Turns out she is so organized, her house was always clean when I went there, and she did so much work behind the scenes.  We would have Cub Scout planning meetings and I would show up and she had already planned everything out and just made sure it was okay with me and gave me an assignment.  Her assignments she always had done a few days in advance and some of them took quite a bit of time.

I no longer feel like I’m better than her and I’m ashamed that I ever did.  She is so ahead of me in so many ways but I didn’t see that before.  I compared myself to what I saw, which was hardly any of what she has to offer.

I still struggle with comparing myself to others, maybe I always will.  I’m glad that now I know that I’m not playing fair.  I’m comparing strengths to weaknesses and now I realize what that does.  Hopefully this realization is the first step on the path to being comparison free.

*You can read the full text of the talk here.  I highly recommend it.

I’ve been reading blogs for a few years now.  I enjoy following other peoples lives and reading their thoughts.  I used to view my blog reading as a waste of time and some of it is.  Do I really need to know what someone I went to church with 7 years ago and didn’t talk to much then and haven’t been in contact with since is doing?  Not really, but yet I still read their blog once in a while.  Even though some blogs are a waste of time, I’ve come to realize lately how much I have actually learned from blogs.  I can honestly some blogs have changed the way I think on all sorts of levels.

There are a few blogs on my blog list that are definitely not a waste of time.  One of them is Money Saving Mom.  It is a deal blog but it is also so much more.  Crystal from MSM, is a blogger, homeschooling mother of 3 and very inspirational.  She is always trying to motivate and help others to become better.   Some of the things that I have learned from her are to set goals and write them down, how to be a better money manager, how to spend less on groceries (I’m not sure if she still does but at one point she was feeding her family of 5 for $40 a week!), easy ways to eat healthier, freezer cooking, all sorts of DIY ideas (sometimes things I had never thought that you could make yourself), and overall time management.

Now Crystal has written a book called The Money Saving Mom®’s Budget.  The following is the book description from Amazon.

Mommy-money blogger Crystal Paine distills her best financial advice and secrets from her blog MONEY SAVING MOM®, to help families get their finances in order. Based on The Money Saving Mom’s Seven Rules for Financial Success and written in a simple, straight-forward style, this book offers an easy plan for a complete financial makeover.

In the first few chapters, you’ll learn how to set big financial goals and actually follow through with them, how to organize your home and life so you can have more time to focus on getting your finances in order, and how to implement a realistic cash budget system that can transform your financial situation.

After laying the foundation for financial success in the first few chapters, Paine then teaches you step-by-step how to cut your grocery and household expenditures by 30% to 50%. You’ll learn both basic and advanced couponing techniques, 25 practical ways to save money on groceries without clipping coupons, how to buy prescription glasses for under $20, how to dress your children for free, and much more.

If you think living a frugal, simple and debt-free life means you can’t ever enjoy dining out, entertainment or vacations, guess again! From money-saving vacation ideas to secrets to dining out on a budget, this book shows you how to enjoy strategic splurging — and how to do it at half the price.

Sprinkled throughout the book are testimonies from people whose lives have been transformed through the principles Paine shares. You’ll be inspired, challenged and motivated to spend less, save more and make the most of what you have.

It comes out January 10 and I’m excited to read it as I’m sure I will learn something that will improve not only my finances but also my life.  If you’re interested in reading it you can pre-order it here.  I’m saving up my swagbucks to buy it since it won’t fit in our budget right now.  (I’m pretty sure Crystal would approve.)  Whether you read her book or not, check our her blog, but only if you want to improve yourself in some way.

This morning I was watching the Today Show as I finished exercising.  Big Boy loves the news and was watching with me.  The first three stories on the Today Show were 1. The Penn State sex abuse scandal, 2. Silvio Berlusconi stepping down as the Prime Minister of Italy and the fact that he has been involved in several sex scandals, and 3.  The Herman Cain sex abuse story and the fact that his wife is now campaigning with him.  Fifteen minutes of the news and it was all about sexual abuse in some form.  And my 7 year old is sitting there on the couch taking it all in.  I was thinking the whole time that I didn’t want him to be watching this, wondering what he was thinking, what questions he was going to be asking me.  Wishing that he could remain innocent longer.

Unfortunately, he lives in this world that is obsessed with sex.  It’s one of those things he’s going to hear about.  I’d rather he hear about it while I’m in the room with him so I know what is being said.  He hasn’t asked any questions yet but I know they’re coming.  He is getting to that age, the age when it needs to be talked about.

Then this afternoon on the radio there was a story about a gang who has switched from selling drugs to forced prostitution as a way to make money.  They force women and girls (as young as 12) into prostitution.  It said they charge $30-$50 a visit with 10-15 visits a day.  Those numbers make me sick.  15 times a day some poor girls is forced to give her body to someone.  15 times a day someone is paying for sex from someone who is forced to give it to them.  And that’s just one person, one day.

What is this world coming to?  It’s pretty sad when you can’t even let your kids watch the Today Show because you don’t know what they’re going to see.

December 1, 2001

I went out on my first date with Chris tonight.  It was okay.  We went to his Guard Christmas party.  We pretty much went and ate dinner then left.  We came back and watched the BYU game.  They beat Mississippi by a field goal in the last minute but Luke Staley broke his ankle.  Oh well.  Chris was bothering me during the game.  He just doesn’t watch football a lot so I knew more of what was going on which I don’t really like.  Plus he kept saying dumb comments.  After the game ended we played cards.  Then he didn’t bother me anymore.  I’m mad at myself a little though because we made out again tonight.  It was on the love couch to my make-out cd so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.  It wasn’t for too long though and we were actually talking about stuff but then Eve came home.  Anyway, he did say that he liked me a lot.  I asked if he liked me or if he liked to kiss me.  His answer was that he liked me.

 

*Post Edit – I kind of sound like a tramp, making out (again) on our first date.  Just for the record, we had been hanging out for two months at this point and were already “dating”, this was just the first actual date we went on.

Baby Boy has recently started coming to me whenever he gets hurt, wanting me to give him a quick hug or to kiss it better.  I love seeing him walking towards me, fake crying and sticking his hand or a finger out to be kissed.  Once the hurt has been kissed or a hug has been given the crying stops and he is off playing again.  All he needed was a little recognition.

It happens with the big boys too.  Most of the time when they get hurt they’ll come to me and stand there with their head hanging down or crying until I ask them what’s wrong.  Once they’ve told me their story and I recognize their pain, whether physical or emotional, they’re better and they can move on.

You read about it in parenting books all the time too; acknowledge your child’s feelings no matter how unimportant they may seem to you.

I don’t think we grow out of it.  All of us want our feelings to be recognized.   To have someone hear about our pains and tell us they’re sorry.

Recently one of my sister’s friends lost a child.  I was talking to my sister about it and the funeral which she was planning on attending the next day.  She was nervous, not knowing what to say.  I told her that it didn’t matter what she said as long as she didn’t say something stupid that made things worse.  There wasn’t anything she could say or do that would make anything better or the situation any different.  What matters is that she was there.  She was acknowledging their loss, recognizing their pain.

Unfortunately a kiss and a hug doesn’t dissolve grown up pains the way it does childhood ones but I think a little recognition can help make the pain easier to bare.

Recognition isn’t only for bad times either.  Aren’t we much happier when we have someone to share our happiness with?  Someone else who can be proud of our accomplishments and cheer us on in our successes.  I know I am.

photo credit

photo credit

Baby Boy was up at 5:30 this morning.  I know that with the time change it felt like 6:30 but it doesn’t matter.  When it says 5:30 on the clock it is entirely too early for anyone in my home under the age of 30 to be awake.  I tried to get him back to sleep or ignore his crying until 6:00 but it didn’t work.  You know what it did, wake up the other two.  So even though we all went to bed late last night, we all had an early morning.  I have a feeling it’s going to be a really fun afternoon/evening.  Luckily for me I get to handle it all by myself.  No reinforcements arriving at 5:15 pm to help.

The problem with Baby Boy waking up early, other than me having to wake up early, is that it throws off his whole sleep schedule for the day.  I have no idea when he’ll need a nap which means I can’t plan out my day.  It also means when I put him in his bed and he cries for an hour I don’t know if he’s crying because he isn’t ready for a nap and wants to get out or if he’s crying because he needs a nap but doesn’t want to take one.  What it all boils down to is a lot of crying.

You see, Baby Boy has learned recently that if he throws his binky on the floor and cries when it’s time to go to sleep Mom will come in his room and give it back to him.  If he cries long enough mom will get him out, rock him and maybe give him some warm milk.  If he can be really persistent with that crying mom might even get him out and let him stay up for awhile longer even though he is really tired.

I’m on to him.

You would think that with #3 I would have caught on much quicker.  He has always been a good sleeper though which makes me second guess when he cries when he’s put to bed.  Does he have a poopy diaper?  Is his arm or leg stuck in the crib?  Is he not feeling well?  All those thoughts that go through your head.  But now I know.

He just cried himself to sleep.   The silence never sounded better.

Mormons have been in the news lately.  It is interesting to listen to people make arguments for or against your faith.  Most of what I hear doesn’t bother me.  Sure we might fit the definition of a cult if you want to see things a certain way.  I’m not waiting for a space ship from behind the Hale-Bopp comet to rescue me nor am I locked up in my home surrounded with weapons so that I can fight off anyone who might disrupt my way of life.  As far as I see it, I’m not in a cult and if someone else thinks I am, I’m not going to let it bother me.

There is one thing that I’ve heard a few times that does bother me and that is that we worship Joseph Smith.  We don’t.  Never have.  We revere and respect Joseph Smith.  He was a prophet who restored (not founded) the gospel of Jesus Christ.  He translated the Book of Mormon which is our main book of scripture.  He suffered much in life and ultimately was martyred for his beliefs.  He was a great man and those of us in the church have sacred thoughts about him but we don’t worship him.  We also have sacred thoughts about Moses, Abraham, Noah, as well as many other men we consider to have been prophets.  We have a man today that we believe is a prophet, Thomas S. Monson.  We don’t worship him either.

We worship Jesus Christ.  We believe that he is our Savior and Redeemer and that he atoned for our sins.  The Book of Mormon‘s full title is The Book of Mormon; Another Testament of Jesus Christ.  We believe Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith and gave him directions on how to restore the church that Christ organized when he lived on this earth.  The name of our church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Here are some scriptures from the Book of Mormon:

And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ…that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.              2 Nephi 25:26

Be faithful in Christ…may Christ lift thee up, and may his sufferings and death,… and his mercy and long-suffering, and the hope of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your mind forever.                  Moroni 9:25

Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him…                          Moroni 10:32

There are many, many more that speak of Jesus Christ and his teachings.  The whole book really.

If you want more information you can go here and read the testimony of the leaders of the church on Jesus Christ or you can go here for one of my favorite talks of all time.  You can read it if you want but I recommend watching and listening to it.   You can also go here where there is all sorts of info on what we believe about Jesus Christ.  What ever you do, please don’t think we worship anyone but him.