Thankful Thursday

1. Snuggle time with Faith and Lauren. I love it when either of my girls ask me to lie down with them. They snuggle up next to me, and Lauren wraps her arm around me really tight. Then the other one usually needs a turn.

2. Prayer. I have horrible nightmares - the kind that make you not be able to sleep because you can't get those horrible images out of your head. But at 2:30 in the morning, you really want to sleep. I have found that prayer is a surefire way to get the pictures out of my head and get back to sleep. In fact, I couldn't tell you what my nightmares are about, because I don't remember. The images are truly gone.

3. Miss Sadie, Faith's pre-school teacher. I love that Faith is so excited every day for pre-school. I love that she always comes home with a cute craft or drawing and a big smile. I love that yesterday they had a Thanksgiving feast and presented a little program complete with fun songs and a play. I didn't think to bring my camera, unfortunately. I really wish I had taken some photos.

4. Michael. That boy is seriously such a blessing to me. He is a helpful, loving (usually) older brother. He is a good example to his sisters, and also to me. He helps me remember what a blessing it is to be a mom, and I try to tell him often that I am proud of him and that I am glad I am his mom.

5. Weber State's online classes. I've just started taking a series of digital photography classes. I'm learning a lot about my camera, and the class has made me delve into the overwhelming owner's manual. Don't worry - I'm not going to be starting my own business. I just want to take good photos of my kids and my cakes.

Orange belt

Notice anything different?

 Need a hint?

Yes, we had Lauren's ears pierced last night. She was so good. There were two ladies at the store, so they did both ears at once, which I thought would be better. But one of the ladies missed her dot - by a lot. It was high and through part of the cartilage in her left ear. So we had to take the earring out and pierce it again. I was NOT a happy momma with that one.

Thankful Thursday

Um, let's just say it's been a long time since I blogged, and move on, okay? Here's what I'm especially thankful for today:

1. Uncle Jerry's work. Okay, so this place is actually called TDS, but it will forever be "Uncle Jerry's work" to me, my siblings, and my kids. We have had not one, not two, but THREE flat tires in the last few days, and they have fixed all of them for free. I love that the people there talk to my kids and I love the free popcorn in the waiting room. (So do my girls.) I never feel like they're trying to scam me into doing some expensive service or repair. They tell me straight up, "You can probably wait on this a while," or, "I'd probably do this in the next couple of months."

2. Shutterfly. I'm trying to make some photobooks, and from the programs I've tried, this one seems to be the most user-friendly for the best cost (if you wait for a sale). Michael and Faith both have books I made them when they were little, but Lauren has never had one of her own. Recently she started asking, "Where's my book?" Well how do I answer that? So I'm making one for her for Christmas.

3. Blogs - specifically my own and my sister Callie's. In addition to the book for Lauren, I'm starting the overwhelming task of making a book for each year that Jeff and I have been married. My plan is to give a copy to each of the kids for each year they have been alive as well. This involves scanning in all of the art projects we've kept, as well as random school program flyers, etc., that I want to include. My own blog and Callie's have been so helpful in figuring out when different things happened so I can put the right dates on them. Also, it has been so fun to review my old posts and remember things that I had forgotten, like this conversation with Michael in 2008, when he was three:

Me: Look, Michael, an airplane!
Michael: Is somebody flying?
Me: Yes, somebody is flying.
Michael: Do they have shoes on?

Love it!

4. Inspiration. I have recently felt inspired to make certain changes in my life, specifically regarding the way I respond to my kids. This has been so helpful in making our home a more peaceful place where the Spirit can be felt more readily. Also, my kids are happier, and so am I.

5. Opportunities at Jeff's work. Jeff has been in a job he has hated for the last year or so. But starting next week he will be able to return to an area that he loved. The bad part is he will no longer be able to work from home. The good part (besides him enjoying the job more) is that he will be able to do a 4 10s schedule and be home every Friday. (The other good part is that I won't have to share my sewing room with his office anymore.)

For my dining pleasure

Well, Jeff is out of town again (he is currently on his second week of four in DC, although he does come home on weekends). And you all know what that means - PROJECTS!!! Last week I decided to paint the dining room. I've been debating it for a while, but Jeff wasn't too thrilled about the idea, as he says we get a lot of compliments on it. That's true, but it just felt too dark to me, and I'm pretty sure the compliments are more about the moulding/beadboard/etc. than about the color. So I went for it.

HUGE thanks to my friend Emily, who came over Monday night and helped me paint. I really hate to paint, and I was having a hard time getting motivated to do it. Having her come gave me just the push I needed. We got the previous dark red all primed over that night, and then over the next two days I put the color on. I also changed out the light fixture, installed shelves, and made a chalkboard to write the menu on (also inspired by Emily). Today, I finished it by taking the swivels out of our dining room chairs and just attaching the seat to the bottoms. I'm happy to have quieter meal times, since the kids won't be able to turn back and forth and bang their chairs on the table.

New light and new curtains (the flowers are from Jeff for Valentine's Day).

Do you think my table looks too dark to be in there? I'm considering painting it white. Actually, I want to paint the top of the table and the tops and backs of the chairs white, and then do the bottom of everything a fun color like turquoise (if I feel bold) - or maybe a more subtle color like gray. I'm still debating.

I kept my plates from Portugal.

 

New shelves with some fun thrift store finds (still adding to my collection, as you can see by the empty shelf), and the new chalkboard menu. I kept my FHE chart, but I need to figure out how to make the initials of our names stand out - I'm thinking something with Mod Podge and fabric scraps.

 

Can I just say, I am so in love with my dining room. I wish I had done this months and months ago. It feels a lot bigger, and I love having the color scheme match my kitchen.

Jeff still has the rest of this week plus two more weeks to be gone. Why is it that I'm so much more productive when he isn't around? Seriously, I stay caught up on laundry, dishes, and cleaning, PLUS I do things like this. I sure like having him around, but I guess it's good for my house to occasionally have him be away.

Next week? Who knows? I probably won't do anything this drastic again for a while (although I'm really starting to consider my floors....). I need to work on those dresses my cousin asked me to alter for her wedding. There will still be some big changes in our house though - this weekend someone is coming over to start putting a new shower into our basement bathroom. It will take several weeks, as he is only able to work on it on the weekends. But I am so glad to finally lose the 30x30 unsecured insert with no ceiling and insulation randomly falling down on me. Yeah, I won't miss it.

bedroom re-do

While Jeff was out of town for work the week before Christmas, I took it upon myself to re-do Michael's bedroom. We painted the ceiling and trim on Wednesday, then painted the walls on Thursday. After the paint was dry, we ripped out the carpet. The wood floors underneath were in really good shape, but still needed to be sanded, then stained and sealed to match the floors in the girls' room. By that time, I was done. It had been an incredibly busy week. I was also on the committee for the ward Christmas party, which had been on Tuesday - we had spent pretty much all of Monday and Tuesday at the church, all of Wednesday and Thursday painting, and I declared Friday a day of rest. And also, I didn't really want to tackle the sanding. So when Jeff came home, that became his project. He sanded and stained, and I put the polyurethane on. A week after I planned to be finished, we moved Michael into his new room.

He has new paint, new curtains, a new floor, a new bed, a new dresser, and a new shelf to put his stuff that he just can't part with. I am so happy with how it turned out.

Jeff is going out of town again in February. I'm already thinking what project I can get done....

New Years Resolutions

I'm a big fan of Christmas and New Years Day landing on Sundays. Christmas, for the obvious reason that it helps us to remember and celebrate what Christmas is really about. And New Years, because it helps me have a more spiritual perspective when I'm making my New Years resolutions.

Before church today, my resolutions were:
1. Make my bed every day except Sunday.
2. Go to the gym three times a week.
3. Read my scriptures every day.
4. Take the Advanced Gumpaste class.
5. Finish my pile of unfinished projects.

But our lesson in Sunday School was on the Book of Mormon, since that is what we'll be studying all year. We read the scripture in Matthew, in the Parable of the Sower, specifically Matthew 13:22, which says,

"He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful."

I'm afraid I'm becoming "unfruitful." I know I have too many worldly cares, and I know I've certainly been "deceived by riches." I mean, who hasn't? I feel like I generally have the guidance of the Spirit in my life, but I don't feel like I've really been progressing.

This was a good lesson for me today.

So I've changed my list of resolutions to just one: Strengthen my relationship with my Savior.

Because no burden is too heavy if He is helping to lift it. And no pain is too great when He shares it. I know those things. I've experienced them. As someone in church said today, "You're bound to win if one of you is God." I feel like I've been playing for my own team of one a little too much lately, and not seeking out the counsel of my Heavenly Father.

If at the end of 2012, I can look back and say that my relationship with Christ has improved, and that I know Him better and that He is a more important part of my life, I'll consider that a greater accomplishment than making my bed every day and learning to make realistic orchids and Easter lilies from gumpaste.

But I still plan to do that, too.