Wednesday, March 27, 2024

It’s Officially Spring (and ten other random facts)

Fact #1: I have big news - I got a new laptop today. I’m not blogging from it, though. Instead I’m posting in bed from my phone, which is always a pain, and I don’t know why I do it. 

Oh wait, yes I do. It’s because I’m too lazy to turn on a laptop and sit up to use it.

Fact #2: I realized recently that I have recurring dreams about doing the dishes at my grandma’s house. I’m always loading her dishwasher or scrubbing dishes in her sink, and I’m stressed about the amount of dishes. I have no idea why I have these dreams. I don’t have any weird memories of doing dishes at my grandma’s house. My grandma was always in the kitchen, but that’s the closest tie I have to her sink and dishwasher. 

Sometimes you just need to slap some dino nuggies on bread and call it dinner

Fact #3: Tomorrow is my day off. I haven’t really figured out how to manage my time on days I don’t work. There is always so much I want to do and so much I need to do. Right now I’m really behind on things at home. I’ve been wearing Scotty’s socks for three weeks because I’m behind on laundry, and I don’t know where my clothes have gone. Scotty has been doing a lot of the laundry lately, so maybe he’s hiding stuff. 

Fact #4: Even though I’m behind on things at home, I’m really enjoying working. I started with 12 hours a week, and then I increased to 18 (ish). I really like my job, and I’m strangely sad on days I don’t get to go to work. But I need that time to get home and family stuff done. 

Fact #5: We are already wrapped up in all of the end of the school year things. We’ve had a lot of performances and events to attend this past week, and it’s pretty much our lifestyle from now until school gets out in June. 

Daisy is going through a Michael Jackson thing since seeing MJ the Musical last month

Fact #6: For the past couple of months, Daisy has stayed after school for play practice. Now that the play is done, and she’s coming home right after school, I feel like I’ve lost daycare services.

The poor theatre teacher probably feels like he was running a daycare. He hasn’t come to school since the play ended. I told Daisy today that he might not ever come back.

Fact #7: This week I’m feeling very lovey dovey toward my friends. I have moments where I realize how many wonderful people I have in my life and how I am not fully embracing the relationships I have. I look around and wonder “Why are they still here? Why do they stand by me even when they’ve seen some of the worst of me?” And well… I guess I just feel very blessed. 

Nicky’s potter piece in the school art show (hopefully you recognize it as Delicate Arch and not a wonky pair of pants)

Fact #8: This morning our water heater pooped out. Luckily Scotty was able to get it working again this afternoon. When I asked him what was wrong with it, he used words I don’t know, so I zoned out. All I know is that he cleaned a part, and that seems to have done the trick. Yay for hot water! It’s definitely a luxury we take for granted until it’s not there. Then we realize how frail we truly are. 

Fact #9: The other day I had to fill out some paperwork for a school event for Nicky, and after I turned it in, it dawned on me that I dated everything 2025. I think I might have been doing this all year. I think I’ve been living a year ahead. Now I’m trying to get back into 2024, and I swear we already did this year.

Fact #10: I didn’t have any relevant photos to include in this post, so I decided to throw in whatever I could find. I hope you enjoyed the journey!

My brother’s dog



Sunday, March 24, 2024

Thoughts at the End of a Weekend

It’s late Sunday night, and I’m not quite ready to go to sleep (I’m the last one awake in my house… I think… my big kids might still be up, but I don’t know). A lot of times at night I think I’m wide awake, so I start reading a book or writing a blog post, and within a few minutes I pass out. I get a false burst of energy right before I fall asleep sometimes. I say that because I start a lot of blog posts and never finish them, and that could be happening right now. I think I’m not tired, but my eyelids might betray me at any moment. I think I sometimes read in my sleep, but I’ve never blogged… that I know of (suddenly spends three hours combing through archives).

Anyway, I just thought I’d write a few thoughts at the end of a busy weekend. We had a lot of events and commitments over the last week. 

On Monday we helped move a set from our high school to a nearby high school for the region theatre competition. That was at 6:30 a.m. Then I went to work for a few hours and left early to go watch Nicky’s performance. That afternoon we moved the set back.

On Tuesday I was in charge of dinner for 40 theatre kids at the second day of region. I had a crew of helpers, luckily. Tuesday was also maturation for Zoe at school. We let our kids choose if they want to attend or not, and Zoe is the first one who wanted to go, so I left work early to go with her. 

On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, Daisy had her school’s production of Footloose in which she had the lead role!

You guys! My daughter surprised the heck out of me. I never imagined her getting up in front of everyone and singing solos on stage! 

Who is this kid??? 

It was so much fun to go to the musical every night and see the kids do their thing. There are some fun personalities in this group of kids. 

One of the best parts was seeing 5’7” Daisy (Ariel) with 4’11” Kyle (Ren). With Footloose, you’re supposed to be Team Ren, but I gotta admit, I was Team Chuck. His mom and I have wedding plans for him and Daisy. It’s gonna be a long seven years for us mothers-in-law.

Ariel and Ren
(Is there anything more “junior high?)

Ariel and Chuck 

On Saturday we went to Lagoon for opening day! I bought season passports without telling Scotty. Tee hee. I can’t believe I’m a Lagoon junkie. I have rules though. I only go first thing in the morning for about two hours, and then I get the heck outta there. 

Love the rides. Hate the crowds.

We were there from about 10:00-noon. Then we came home and did our chores before Game Night at 4:00. Chad and Carlie came over, and we played Ark Nova, Viticulture, Take 5, and Quixx. We had chimichangas for dinner and brownies and Rice Krispie treats for dessert. 

This morning (Sunday) I woke up early and made two desserts for a family party (one pan of lemon lush and one pan of pistachio lush because I know you want to know). We went to church, and it was my turn to teach Relief Society. When we started attending our new ward, I was very disappointed to find that our ancient building (that predates Noah’s flood) has chalkboards still. I asked the bishop at then end of last year about getting a white board in the Relief Society room, and he said he thought we could do that. It got installed this week, and I was the first to get to use it! That was more exciting than anything else that went on. The lesson was fine, but the white board was beautiful!

After church I had to go to a stake camp meeting. Then we had an Easter party at my mom’s house. Then we went to an Easter devotional. 

Today was kind of insane, and I spent the morning on the brink of a breakdown. I was overwhelmed, but we got through it, and now we get to wake up tomorrow and do it all over again!

Thursday, March 21, 2024

Things the Kids Say: Episode 30

“Why are we allowed to have a stop sign in our yard but not a horse?”

-Zoe

—————

“Look how happy those grandmas are!”

-Eva referring to two ladies my age

—————

Car alarm outside: Beep! Beep! Beep!

Eva: Is that my car?

—————-

“Taylor Swift is so twelve years ago!”

-Zoe, who is 11

—————

“Our lives are going to change forever because Dad is a YouTuber now, but he’s not the kind that says ‘Oh my God!’”

-Eva after Scotty posted one video on YouTube

—————

Zoe: Occasionally I like big butts.

Me: Occasionally?

Zoe: Well, I don’t really know what that means.

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

The Bear Necessity

My friend Lynsie and I sometimes buy each other beautiful offerings from the thrift store and leave them on one another’s porches. In 2014, I found a ceramic bear on my porch holding a bag of lemon bars from Schmidt’s Pastries. 

Zoe was just under two years old, and she fell in love with that bear. 

She carried it around like a stuffed animal, and that thing got dragged all over the house for a few years. At some point, the bear broke, but we don’t remember how it happened. We just know it was devastating.

Last year, I was in my neighbor’s basement, and I saw this:

It was the same bear!

I took a picture and sent it to Lynsie, telling her I found a replacement bear, and I was gonna steal it!

(I’m a big talker. I didn’t steal the bear).

Sadly, my neighbor and long-time friend is now moving. On Saturday, she was having a yard sale, and at 7:00 that morning, I suddenly remembered the bear in her basement. I texted her the photo of her bear and asked if she was selling it. I don’t know if it was included in her original yard sale plans, but she said she would sell it to me! I promised to explain to her why I wanted to buy her bear and why I had a photo of it (creepy). 

Later that morning, we walked over to the yard sale to get the bear. Not only did she save the bear for me, she saved his friend! So I bought two coordinating, ceramic bears and brought them home along with a wagon, a beach tent, and a set of dominoes that I snagged before Papa G across the street could. 

My girls were so excited about the bears. Zoe remembered her love for “Beary,” our former bear of note, and she recognized the likeness of new guy right away. Eva named the other bear Harry, so now we have Beary and Harry, and they live in a cardboard apartment.

This probably wasn’t what my friend envisioned when I asked to buy her bear, but I’m glad she went along with it! I promise they will be loved and cherished for a long time!

Sunday, March 17, 2024

Things I Don’t Need to Write About

I usually keep a list on my phone of ideas for blog posts. Some of them never get written because, when it comes down to it, I think, “I don’t really need to write about that.” One thing about me is I can go on and on in great detail about very uninteresting things. Just ask my friend Shannon - I sent her a lengthy Marco Polo the other day about the colors of the spray bottles at the car wash, and how I can’t tell if the yellowish/greenish one is glass cleaner because it’s not labeled. I probably didn’t need to tell her that. 

(If you like hearing about topics such as this, please sign up for my weekly newsletter).

(I don’t actually have a weekly newsletter). 

(This morning I went ahead and used the yellowish/greenish bottle as glass cleaner). 

(I think it worked).

(I let Shannon know).

Today as I was reviewing my list of blogging ideas, I eliminated the things I really don’t need to blog about.

For example, I don’t need to write a tribute to the green bathrobe I’m throwing away.

I also don’t need to blog about how I pierced my own ear the other day (but if I die, please tell them that I used a disposable ear gun from China that I purchased for $2.50 on Amazon. I’m sure they’ll figure it out in the autopsy, but you might be able to save them some time by pointing them in that direction).

I’m not going to write a post about how I waited over an hour for an order of fries from Wingstop on Friday night.

And I’m not going to write about me being the only person in my family who likes Chex Mix and how that makes me feel very lonely sometimes.

Or a detailed description of why I load the dishwasher the way I do.

Or an elaborate commentary about how the pharmacy tech where I get my meds won’t hand me my receipt, and instead says, “Don’t forget your receipt!” as she walks away, and I have to remove it from the register myself.

And I’m most certainly not going to blog about the weather. Instead I’ll show you this photo of me channeling spring:


That’s a whole lotta things crossed off my list, so I’m going to need to come up with some new material.


Saturday, March 16, 2024

The Post I Gave Up On

There’s no school today (I started this post on Friday), so we are all having our tech time. Me included. So how about a Q&A from my writing prompts board on Pinterest? Yes, yes. Then I don’t have to be responsible for coming up with a topic to blog about (though I do have a note on my phone with ideas for another day when I have more brain power) (I just woke up from a really long, much needed nap. I can’t brain yet). Here’s what I can offer: 

Are you happy? Why or why not?

Overall, I have a pretty happy life, especially if I go by my chosen definition for happiness which comes from a sociologist named Ruut Veenhoven and is “an overall appreciation for life as a whole.” 

In fact, this morning before I got out of bed, I scrolled back through my past year of Instagram posts and kept thinking “look at what a good life I have!” So either it is really a good and happy life despite its imperfections and struggles or social media is so deceptive that I’ve even fooled myself into believing my life is happy and great!

What challenges are you currently facing?

Parenting - all the decisions I have to make for my kids and not always knowing what the right choice is and how it will affect them. Discipline. Technology. Teaching them everything they need to know to get through life. Communicating love to them but also not putting up with crap. Raising them with values without imposing beliefs on them or making them resentful. The list is long.

I was going to list some more challenges I’m facing in sloppy, incomplete sentences, but that last paragraph fatigued me on this topic.

Do you have a solid, consistent routine? Do you like it?

Every day is a little different, but there are points in most days that are routine. Mornings on school days are pretty consistent with getting everyone ready and out the door. I have some variations in work days vs days off. Evenings vary based on the schedule, but we have a pretty normal dinner routine and bedtime routine. There are things I like and things I dislike about the routines in our household. We can always improve and make things more meaningful.

What changes do you want to make in your life right now?

I need to implement some healthier practices with food, money, exercise, technology, and relationships/communication. I just don’t feel like it right now.

What keeps you up at night?

Oh! A variety of things! But mostly stress and worrying about my kids. 

What is your favorite hobby?

Reading. It’s my most frequent hobby and the least messy. 

What’s the first thing you think when you wake up?

What time is it? And then what day is it? Then I assess whether I need to be awake.

Do you still maintain a lot of relationships from your childhood?

I have a fair amount of friends I’m still in touch with from childhood. I confess, social media is mostly responsible for that, but it also helps when you marry into the same family. 

———-

I ended up bailing on this post, so I’m just going to turn it in as is and take partial credit.

And for the sake of including a photo, here’s my BeReal from today:

I call it “Walking Home From Tarolyn’s House,” and it has no significance to this post whatsoever.