My Journal

I was printing out the pages of my "journal" tonight and I thought I would share what I have done to make journaling easier for me!! I write an email to my husband every night - no matter what; even if I only write a couple of sentences, I always write. He loves getting them and it keeps him up to date on what is happening with us. Sometimes I include pictures, but they are mostly just a run down of what we did that day, what I was able to accomplish or cute things the kids have done or said. Well, before I send the email off, I copy it to a word document and occasionally (like tonight) I print off all of my entries and take them upstairs to my three ring binder/ journal and there I go!!! Killing two birds with one stone has never felt so good!!
It is really fun to read back through all the entries. Who doesn't like looking back at stuff you've written!? I started a journal when I was 8 years old and it has been a sporadic life goal of mine to be consistent with my journaling. I have never been consistent. I do a little here and there, but it is sooooo much fun to read what I wrote at age 8 or at age 14. I wish that I would have written MORE!! Since I became a mother (ten years ago!!! WOW!) I have been a little better at writing in my journal; at least yearly! This is, by far, my most steady progression to journaling greatness. I have written every day since the 29th of December, 2006. Wow. I would encourage you all to write, or at least collect your writings, and print them out and keep them for your future enjoyment! It's great entertainment for cold February nights!

Look what I found!!

So, I was lazily cruising through my favorite blogs this afternoon.... Jilli put herself down for a nap and I'm between laundry loads... and I found THE most adorable blog. You must take a peek! I don't know that I'll ever actually make any of her delicious delights, (NOT figure friendly!!) but WOW!! Can you just say YUMMY!?! Check it out here: http://bakerella.blogspot.com/ I was definitely drooling!! Good thing pictures are fat free!! Hee hee!!

Saturday

I like Saturday. It is a great day. I always seem to get a lot accomplished on Saturday. Today was no exception. I was able to get the entire house cleaned and organize Jess' room! Hooray! I love sitting in a quiet, clean house. It makes me feel so peaceful.
I'm burning a sweet little candle right now that is filling my kitchen with the greatest aroma - Lavender and Lemons! It smells clean and fresh. Very nice. I love Yankee candles. They have some of the sweetest scents. (Plus we can get them cheaper at the PX! Love that!)
I have been reading some blogs and emails while I've been sitting here in my peaceful kitchen. I must say that my friends have the most beautiful babies!!! Gorgeous! Babies are such fun! I'd have another, if I didn't have to go through the pregnancy and delivery!!! Ugh! I read a blog today from the funniest woman! She shared some great stories and then down a little further, she was talking about inner beauty. I loved what she had to say! She quoted some prophets and made a really good point - “You must do everything you can to make your appearance pleasing, but the minute you walk out the door, forget yourself and start concentrating on others.” She said that her mother had taught her that. I just loved that saying!!! You've really got to read the whole post on her blog... http://accordingtolei.blogspot.com/ It is down a ways, under "On Inner Beauty". Seriously, check it out. Good stuff.
So, one of my long time friends and customers has dropped out of my stamp club! She has a lot going on in her life right at the moment and she felt she needed to let some things go. I really admire her for being able to do that! Sometimes it is so hard for us to let things go! She was so worried that I would be upset with her... uh NO!... for wanting to drop out, but I told her not to worry! I love selling Stampin' Up! but it is really just a way to support my own personal stamping habit... I just feel so honored that there are people that like it as much as I do and actually want to come out and participate with me once a month! It is such a bonus to have women come out and play with me!!! I am just really not a salesperson... I show them the stuff and if they want it GREAT and if they don't GREAT! No worries! It works for me and keeps me happy. Isn't that what life is all about?? Finding happiness!?!
My children made me quite happy tonight. We went out bowling together with some of our friends. They were so well behaved! We waited for our food from the snack bar for over an hour!! Then we had to wait for our lanes... They were just so good! My friend told me several times how impressed she was by them. It made me all warm and fuzzy inside. I love my kids. They also bowl amazingly. Very fun to watch!
I am sorry that this post seems to be somewhat of a ramble through my current thoughts.... I shall try harder next time to keep them more organized! Hee hee.

Visual

I guess I am a very visual person. I have always been like this. In school, if I had seen something, I could picture it in my mind with near perfect recall. I guess you could call it a bit of photographic memory... although it has not stuck with me much. I think it requires some regular usage to stay active... but I am going to attempt to leave a post in my blog that does not have any pictures!!!
I was reading a couple of blogs today that didn't have any pictures and they had such wonderful thoughts that came flowing out into their cyber journals. I wanted this to happen on mine. Now that I want it to happen. It won't.
Back to the photographic memory thing. The more I think about it, I think that I do use that little talent of mine quite a bit as a mother. For instance, when the kids say, "Mom, have you seen the little gray truck with the big black tires that I got from Burger King?" or " Mom, I can't find the shirt to my Polly Pocket doll." I can always say, "It is in your room, under the purple purse in the bottom of your toy drawer." or "Under the third pillow on the couch." This has got to mean that at some point I saw the object in question in precisely that location and can recall it from my memory when asked. What a great talent. See! I do have some talents that don't involve any sort of creativity! Yay!
I was telling the kids the other day that I was a Nerd. Yep. Full-blown, glasses and braces, straight A's, preppy clothes, Nerd. They didn't believe me. Guess it's time to pull out the old photo albums and give them a lovely picture of me to keep in their not so photographic memories! I guess that it's not a trait that one can pass on to their posterity. Darn it. OR maybe it's something that they get when they become parents. Guess I'll wait and see!

My Hair!!

Today has been the best day!! I finally went and got my hair done! It was long overdue. (As you can see from the before photo!!) The last time I had anything done was in July on my visit to Utah with my personal stylist... Miss Emily - LOVE HER!!
I have been asking around and trying to find a great hair place for a month or so. I got the name of a great little salon on Raeford from one of my good friends. She takes all her teenage daughters there and they just love her. The friend who gave me the referral watched my children so I could go and be pampered. She is such an angel! My children are so happy in her home and I know they are well taken care of! I had the stylist go really dark... because I don't want it to fade out as much as it did before. I like my hair more brown than red. It was so nice to go in and talk with an adult, get my head massaged and my self esteem boosted! Who doesn't come out of a salon feeling like a million bucks!!?? I also had my eyebrows waxed... wooo! Isn't it great being a woman? I am just on cloud 9 today... So if you need a hair boost and live by me... call Cynthia at Kim's Hair and Nails on Raeford. AWESOME!

Before

After

We had the best time tonight at our Ward party!! Our Activities committee is awesome!! They had planned a little "drive-in" movie night for us and it was a blast! The kids were all encouraged to make cars from cardboard boxes and my kids really enjoyed making their cars! I let them decide colors and themes... I just helped with the logos (love Google!!). Miah's is a Mustang - with racing stripes (very important!). Jessica's is a VW bug (minus the curvy aspects...) and Jillian's was Dora themed (her favorite!) They served grilled hot dogs and popcorn and handed out tickets to kids who were caught behaving during the show! Afterwards, they got to turn in their tickets for a full sized candy bar!!! My kids are great anyways... but they were extra motivated to be their best. The show was "Snow Buddies" and was a very cute doggie movie that I believe just came out this week, so none of us had seen it! It was perfect. The best part was that each family was encouraged to bring canned food in as their admission price!! The local food bank will love that! I think we have the best Activities committee in the church!! Way to go guys!!

Playing at the playground!

We had so much fun this afternoon playing at the playground! It was very warm and felt like spring - perfect weather! We were waiting for Jessi to come out of her tutoring and what better way to pass the time with a two year old than to hit a nearby playground!?! Jilli is a monkey! Literally!! She climbed everything with NO FEAR!! My friend tells me it is because she is the third child... but it scared me to death!! I was getting all sweaty and anxious just watching her go! It was a nice break for all of us. Jeremiah loved the attention and got to show me all the neat tricks he's been working on at recesses for weeks. I love watching my kids enjoying themselves. I need to let them be kids more often... play away!!

Check out my lovely home!

Here are some pictures of my lovely home. I wrote a whole bunch about them below, in the actual post, but I couldn't get it to put in more than 5 pictures, so here are the rest! Enjoy!

My Decorating Prowess

I would not call my self a "decorator" per say... but I REALLY enjoy making my house feel homey! If that makes me a decorator... than I am! I love stars and I love sunflowers. They are both really happy things. I am a persistent pessimist and I MUST surround myself with happy things to keep my balance. I was talking to my inspiration today (no, dear, not you! Although you do inspire me!). My dear sister, Rebecca, inspires me! She sent me a package today for my birthday full of the most adorable things! You wouldn't believe it! (Or maybe you would if you know her!) Her home is the most picture perfect place. She knows just where to put things and keeps her decor simple and sweet. Her color scheme is perfect... I could go on and on! I'd like to just move right in! It would be nice to have an actual "home" to live in and decorate... but I do love absolutely everything about my home! I think it all meshes well together and I wouldn't give up a single piece of our old, worn, handed down furniture!! It's all full of memories, history and stories! I personally care a great deal for the couch that my parents gave us! I have pictures of me on that couch when I was a tiny infant. It has been with me my whole life. I know Chris would like to chuck it out the door - mostly because he is really good at stubbing his toes on it - but I won't let him! It is just AWESOME! Now, don't get me wrong... I would love some new furniture... (and I absolutely LOVE the new bed Chris gave me for Christmas!!) but I think that couch will have to stay with us for as long as it will. Hopefully forever. Ok. I guess I should have called this post "Ode to a Couch". It is getting late... I can only get this dumb thing to post 5 pictures... I'm so not good at this. The first one is of my lovely couch! Then I took some pictures of my favorite walls. I took some of my sunflower stuff, but I will have to post them later... maybe below or above this post - however it works. Then I took some pictures of what Rebecca sent me... the CUTEST little "LOVE" board and the most adorable clip board/ memo station... She ROCKS!!! She also sent me some chocolate which I was indeed "dying" for this afternoon! Perfect timing Beck! I was busy all day organizing stuff. I got a little bee in my bonnet and had to get rid of some stuff and make everything fit in totes... I still have a lot to go through tomorrow. It is so fun for me though! I just wish it wasn't so time consuming! It seems that my whole day (meaning the time that my older two are at school) is gone before I even finish the game closet and the linen closet!!! ARGH! No worries. I did take a break at 1:00 today to catch the LDS church news conference where they announced that Thomas S. Monson is our new prophet! He will have Elders Eyring and Uchtdorf for his counselors and they are going to be a fantastic first presidency! Change is exciting. As much as we will miss our dear President Hinckley, we look forward to the things that are ahead. The gospel is a glorious thing! Well, I must go prep for bed... my prince will be calling soon! Ta for now!