A TRIBUTE TO EVERYONE EVERYWHERE

Not related to our weekend, but what a cute boy I have!

This weekend was tiring.  It was great, but tiring.  Two of our nephews, ages 16 and 18, came to stay with us from Friday evening to Sunday evening.  It is really great having them here.  They help Byron around the house in ways that I can't (meaning we FINALLY got our Christmas lights taken down right before St. Patrick's Day) and they play with Mason.  Mason ADORES his big cousins.  And they are so good with him.  They help him get dressed, make sure he eats, and are patient with him (and share their iPads) way beyond what you would expect from high school boys.

But back to my weekend.  Friday night wasn't so bad.  The boys came, we grabbed Subway for dinner, and just chilled.  I started in on some usual weekend chores, like dishes, tidying up, etc., but nothing was too stressful.  Saturday is where I started to get tired.  Have you ever felt like you work and work and work all day long and just don't have much to show for it?  That was Saturday.  It started waking early with Mason while everyone else slept.  This is not unusual, and in fact I prefer early mornings - my favorite part of the day.  We got up, and I started the coffee.  Then I washed dishes (this would be the first of many times), folded laundry, and went to the grocery store.  When I got home from the grocery store, Byron went to get his dad's ladder, I started making lunch, and when Byron got back the boys helped him take the lights down. We ate lunch.  Lunch created a LOT of dishes, probably the only downside of cooking at home.  So we washed dishes.  I helped Byron hang a light fixture (beautiful by the way...I have to take pictures and show it!!!).  We fought Mason to get him down for a nap.  I ran an errand to pick up TurboTax (finally) and started doing our taxes.  Then I started making dinner.  We invited my parents to join us, and we ate like kings.  It was awesome.  There were a TON of dishes.  So we did dishes again. And eventually, fought with Mason to get him to bed.  I was already so tired, and the weekend was only half over, that I'm pretty sure I just handed him my phone with Curious George pulled up on it and said "Watch some Georges, mama's going to sleep" and proceeded to fall asleep right next to him.  I later woke at 1:05 AM and said a quick prayer "Lord I hope he has been asleep for awhile..."

Then Sunday came.  Again, I woke up early with Mason.  All five of us got ready for church, and there was even a pancake breakfast so score, no dishes for that meal.  We came home.  We folded laundry.  We fought Mason for a nap again.  I paid bills.  I mailed some important documents.  I organized our files after getting our taxes done.  I started making an Easter basket for Mason (also going to be awesome and I hope to share!).  I made dinner.  There were MORE dishes.  And eventually the boys went home, Papa came over for a bit, and we all collapsed into bed.

Now, before you think this is just a massive complaint about how hard my life is, that is not the point (plus I know it is not hard compared to some). Somewhere between Saturday night and Sunday morning, when I realized that after I got a ton accomplished, I really had barely hit the tip of the iceberg, that it came to me.  Running a family is hard.  Quite honestly, just being an adult is hard.  Not only are there bills, taxes, chores, errands, etc. that are required to keep a house running, but there is this other (huge) part about investing in people's lives.  Yes, I need to pay bills in order for Mason to live in a moderately functioning house, but I also want to spend intentional time with him where I foster his development so that he will turn into an awesome young man.  I want my husband to take down our Christmas lights and hang my new light fixture, but I also want to just spend some time talking with him.  These are ALL necessary things.  Ultimately we have to choose how to spend our time.  There are moments of crossing off tasks and moments of making memories, and we are lucky to get to do them all.  But sometimes, we have to choose, and what we choose is not always fun.  And so, my friends, my realization is this.  If you are alive, and if your family is alive, then you are doing something right.  I am so thankful for my situation - a great husband who helps around the house, good jobs that allow us to do so many things, and family close by who we can do life with.  I realize there are so many different families out there, with so many things going on.  I admire you all.  You are all amazing.  From the bottom of my heart, congratulations on a job well done.

With my mental to-do list *slightly* shorter after this weekend, it seems that I can let a bit of my anxiety go.  And although those chores will always be waiting for me, I have a special little boy and a special big boy that I will remember to keep at the top of my list.

A THANKSGIVING TO REMEMBER

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  This year, we spent most of our Thanksgiving holiday in an unexpected place - the ER.  Yes, a few days prior to Thanksgiving, Mason had developed a little cold, and it progressed worse to the point that he was having severely labored breathing, vomiting, and our nebulizer at home couldn't provide him enough relief.  I spoke to the on call doctor around 11, and she said if things didn't pick up after one more breathing treatment to go ahead and bring him in.  To the ER.  Ugh.  We gave him the treatment and it just didn't last, so in to the hospital we went.  The ironic thing is that Byron had decided that we should eat at noon this year, when we are normally 2-3 pm type of people, so at least we got a good meal in before the real adventure started.
Fortunately, my dad, Mason's BFF, went with us.  They checked us in fairly quickly and the doctor was able to treat Mason with steroids and stronger breathing treatments.  He perked up pretty well, but they still kept us around for almost six hours before finally letting us go home.

Look how cute he was!  Thankfully the ER had a Thomas video and some toys for us to play with.  Keeping this normally very active toddler corralled in a hospital bed was pretty challenging, especially when connected to a toe monitor.  Grandpa was a huge help to us and we are very thankful he gave up some of his relaxation time to be with us. Fortunately, they let us go home that evening.  We did have to do round the clock breathing treatments, so those middle of the night alarms and the fact that Mason stayed up from 3:30 am were a bit of a challenge, but I am very grateful that we weren't in the ER for anything worse!

PUMPKIN PATCH

Taking the family to the pumpkin patch is now an annual tradition, because it has happened two years in a row.  On a whim, we went to the pumpkin patch this morning after church let out.  We are weird and actually like to go to a really early service, so we were able to get to the farm not too long after it opened.  We literally had the best time, and we got the absolute best pictures to prove it.  We were there for about an hour, and I snapped nearly 600 pictures.  I apparently am THAT mom.  I was able to narrow them down to my favorites, so don't worry, you won't have to view all 600!
Like last year, Mason fell asleep on the way, so the first few minutes were pretty groggy for him.  We wandered around the land to see what we wanted to tackle first while letting him snap back to reality.

We started off feeding the goats.  Mason didn't really grasp the concept of holding the goat food in his open palm for the goats to eat, but he still enjoyed watching them eat out of Byron's hand.  Then we put Mason on one of the tire swings.  I think this one might have been shaped like a horse.  He loves swings, but since this one didn't have much of a handle for him to hold onto, we didn't swing too high.  But consider this your foreshadowing for later.  We also jumped right up on the big antique tractor, and Mason took the wheel.

One of the highlights of the morning was the pony ride.  I felt a little iffy putting my 15-month-old on a pony, especially because we saw two kids who were clearly older than Mason start crying and refuse to ride, but Mason was a champ.  He did such a great job, and I'm so glad that we put him on.  It was a great memory to make, and even if Mason doesn't remember this, I always will.

We did some of the typical pumpkin patch activities, too.  We looked at all the pumpkins. Uncle Matt and Aunt Bebe would be proud, I think Mason enjoyed "drumming" on the pumpkins.  We have almost the exact same picture of Byron and Mason at the measuring stick last year.  I think this year's Mason could have eaten last year's Mason for a snack. He's gotten so big!  I just love the last picture because it looks like Mason's finger is up the pig's nose.  We found these animal statues a couple of different places on the farm, and Mason really liked them.  He knows how to make a pig noise.  It sort of sounds like uh uh. He even said it to this pig.
The last photos I'll show you are my absolute favorites.  I can envision one of these blown up extra-large on canvas or maybe just framed hanging in our living room.  But that would require me being able to make up my mind as to just which one is my favorite!

Man, that face is the best.  I can't help it.  I'm obsessed with my kid.

PERSONAL DAY

For health reasons, I ended up with an unexpected day off from work.  I decided that it would be a day where I get my life organized and tie up as many loose ends as possible. So far, I've been writing thank you cards (only a month overdue), I trimmed up the quilt I'm making for Mason, I put away the laundry that had been folded in laundry baskets for three days, and I shredded the stack of papers that had been accumulating on the shredder.  For the rest of the day, I plan to check off as many tasks on my to do list as possible, as well as take some much needed time for myself.
Another quick thing I managed to do today was to go outside and snip some zinnias from my garden for a little added freshness for the house.  I put them in my favorite jar for added happiness.

The zinnias were actually sort of a surprise.  My mom and I had planted them from seeds, but then later my husband, without knowing we had done it, planted some other plants in the same spot.  I really thought the zinnias were goners, but sure enough, after forgetting about them for two months, there is a whole bush of them, pink as can be.

The sign in the background is a little something that I found in Michigan and surprised Byron with for our Fathers Day on the road.  I may have teared up when I gave it to him. Apparently I was a bit emotional.  And he may have teared up when I gave it to him, so apparently he was a bit emotional as well!

DATE NIGHT

Since Mason was born 9 months ago, Byron and I had only been on one date.  It's pretty sad, I know.  So I planned a secret date for him.  I bought tickets to a show and arranged for a babysitter weeks in advance, and then just anxiously awaited for the big day to arrive.  It wasn't until the babysitters (our niece & nephew) that I arrived that I told him our plans.  He really thought I was messing with him.  I just like to think I was the wife of the year.
So off we went to a downtown restaurant called Americana.  I had only been once and Byron had never been, and he really liked it.  The only thing that didn't go 100% according to plan was that we ran out of time for dessert!  Oh well.
When dinner was over we zipped to the other side of downtown to catch a show called Memphis.  Oh man, it was so good!  At the end of the first act, I had tears streaming down my face, which is a good sign that I'm into the show.  And then at the end of the second act, I was doing what I like to call listening with my body.  I was pretty much dancing along with the cast from my seat.  I can't help it.  Although we both stayed up way past our bedtimes, it was totally worth it.  I hope that we have another one sometime in the next 4.5 months!

AND...SHE'S BACK

So, hey.  I took a little break from blogging.  I didn't mean for the break to be quite this long.  I didn't even really intend to take a break, but it just happened.  And the main reason is, motherhood is hard.  I found that my time was the most precious thing I had, and I wanted to use it spending time with my family, rather than uploading photos and sitting in front of a computer.  I wanted to live our life, not just write about it.
But eventually, life wasn't so stressful.  Although Mason has only slept through the night once in the past six months, I'm slowly finding balance.  So here I am.

The little rascal that has been distracting me these past few months.

And believe it or not, every once in awhile I find the time to do little projects.  And make little changes to my home.  And go on adventures with my family.  And I do plan to share them here.  I just can't promise how often.  But without further ado, a little project that I whipped up for a special little lady who made her debut earlier this year.

These may look familiar.  When time is scarce, taking on a name is much more achievable than the entire alphabet.  Lesson learned.  It was so much fun to choose the girly color palette.  I love this as a gift, but I really should think about making these for my own child. Anyway, that's just one of the projects that I accomplished on my hiatus!

#16

Confession - this one was technically completed in January, and further completed (is that such a thing?) about three weeks ago.  I have quit not only one part time job, but two!  Can I get an amen?  Haha.
So at the time I wrote the list, I was kind of hoping that a baby would soon follow.  I knew that when we brought kids into our family, they would be my priority and I didn't want to spend every night away.  After working various part time jobs for the past four years, I was ready for some free time back.
As I said, the first quit happened in January.  This was the job I had for the past two years working for the Catholic high school in town coaching their colorguard.  I have to admit, it was really hard to leave the kids I worked with, but this job was a lot of work.  The good part about it was that it was only a heavy time commitment through the fall, but there was planning required during the rest of the year.  Although I was technically done in January, I still had a few things that I needed to do to get the new coach up and running.  I would say I officially cut ties in April.  Fortunately she is amazing and the kids are going to be very lucky to have her.
The second quit was a little harder.  I had worked for the Civic Center, which is a theatre that brings in, among other things, Broadway shows to Des Moines, for the past four seasons.  It was a great job that had the occasional perk of free tickets, and just an overall great staff.  When I first found out I was pregnant, Byron asked me to change my availability to weekends only, which was needed with how tired I became.  Even so, this job occupied pretty much all of my weekends in some way.  The first weekend in May was the closeout of the Broadway season, so I just chose that as a good quitting time.  And although I miss my former coworkers, I have really enjoyed some commitment free weekends. I have approximately 7 more before a new commitment fills all our free time!
So that's it.  I'm down to one full time job, and an *occasional* side job that I do for my church.  Emphasis is really on occasional.  I don't even consider it a job.  I'm practically a normal person!
I know my list needs a lot more attention as time will surely get away from me fast.  I hope to keep checking things off one at a time this summer and into the fall, getting as close to complete as I can before winter sets in and my energy level goes down.  Oh, and did I mention there is a baby coming?  Yeah...I hope I wasn't too ambitious and I can still complete my list.

#11

source

Another item checked off my list.  I went the entire month of February without shopping.  Although I technically have roughly 7+ odd hours until the month is officially over, most stores will be closed in about 4, and quite honestly, I will likely be asleep in about 3.5, I'm going to call this one officially complete.


Of course, there were a couple of things that I did differently than I expected, but since I make the rules around here, I decided that was okay.  First, I came to the conclusion that food didn't count as shopping.  Seriously?  What was I thinking.  And so I did go to the cafeteria for the occasional breakfast sandwich (why do I love them so?), I also thought twice before I went and got one.  Second, I cheated...sort of.  I was invited to two baby showers in February, and just because I was doing a month of no shopping didn't mean that I could show up to the showers empty handed.  So although it would be nice to go an entire month without spending ANY money, truthfully, this was about not spending money on myself.  And that is what I did.


One thing that surprised me was that I wasn't tempted to spend - even a gift card.  And I even went to the mall and to Target at various times during the month (where bargains usually trip me up).  Overall I felt like the month was pretty easy, and although at this time I don't plan to extend one month into two, I could definitely see challenging myself with this again.
You may remember that Byron offered to do this challenge with me.  He barely lasted a day.  No offense honey, but you just didn't share my convictions, and I knew that would be the case.  It's okay - I still love him.


Ultimately, there was a big lesson that I learned.  And that is to question what I really think I need.  It really isn't that much.  So between the no shopping month, the purging that continues, and the resolution to get more organized, I'm hoping that these are all ways I am training myself to simplify.  And THAT is something I truly desire...for the long term!

February is the month of...

Remember my 30 before 30 list?  I think I only have one item crossed off so far (hey - several more are in progress!), and this month I turn 29.  So...basically time is ticking away and I need to start making progress.  So here goes one.  February is the month of NO SHOPPING!
What this means to each person could be different, so here is what it means to me.  Expenses like gas, groceries, bills, and other necessities are not included.  I need to live people.  Although we say we are going "grocery shopping" it is not quite the same as a Target run, just to pick up a few things...then you end up with 20 in your cart.  Can anyone relate?  One thing I will try to do this month is to focus on real, healthy food, and not some of those extras we don't need but sometimes come home with.  What else does no shopping mean to me?  No breakfast runs to the cafeteria at work or mid-afternoon runs to the vending machine.  And absolutely no spending at the mall, the craft store, the home improvement store, etc.  I will admit, I haven't exactly figured out if this means no going out to eat.  If it were just me, I would say that absolutely is out, but my that means my poor husband is stuck at home for an entire month.  So we'll see.  I also have a few gift cards from Christmas, and I haven't decided if those are off limits, either.  I am leaning toward just not going there.  Although I wouldn't be spending real money, I would still be shopping, so those will likely stay tucked in my wallet for at least another month.
Another question I ask myself when doing this is what am I trying to accomplish?  Well, I guess I have two main reasons.  The first is an issue of discipline.  I just want to tell myself that I can do it, and then prove to myself that I was right.  The second reason is that I'm already a pretty frugal person in general.  But I love to talk about budgeting and saving money.  Sometimes I read articles and books for fun about how to save for the future or get out of debt, and the strategies are usually talking about cutting expenses that I don't generally have.  So I just want to use this as an exercise to see where the excess is in my life, and if I had to cut something out, I would know that I could.
That seemed like a long explanation.  So far, I am 5 days in, and although the smell of a breakfast sandwich tempts me every morning, I am surviving the challenge.  I have just over 3 weeks left.  Sometimes that seems like eternity, and sometimes it is no big deal.  I will check back in when the month is over to report on how I did.  Until then, wish me luck!

Note:  I know that money and spending habits are extremely personal and I am in no way trying to impose my beliefs and habits on anyone else.  Please read this with a grain of salt and know that this is just something I wanted to do for myself.

A little bit of nothing...

Monday night I came home from work tired.  Tuesday night I came home from work exhausted.  Tonight I came home from work and I feel totally spent.  I have been trying to muster up some energy, picking up a few things here and there, loading the dishwasher, but I'm not really doing much.  I got a little frustrated with my lack of energy that I was bound and determined to complete one of the projects that I had been putting off - hanging a picture.  I have done that before many times, but tonight it was a total fail.  To start with, the frame was 18 inches square, but the picture inside is only around 4 inches square.  So the frame is a lot of wood.  In the back, there is a little part carved out and a cleat for hanging.  Apparently the normal type of hook that is usually our fall back won't fit with the cleat.  Too bad we didn't know that ahead of time.  Now I am just left with my picture sitting on the floor and a hole in the wall.  Lovely.  Project = not tackled.
I have just been feeling like that lately.  I am tired, which makes me feel worthless.  And I don't really have any projects that I am working on at home, so I don't feel like I'm accomplishing anything.
I don't know if I shared this, but a few weeks ago Byron and I went to IKEA.  On our list to get were cabinet handles for the kitchen.  Mission accomplished.  We got these.  But now they have been sitting on the table for three weeks because I am too scared to start attaching them.  Since when have I been intimidated by a DIY project?  I just feel so overwhelmed.
I know that seasons like this happen in life.  And I know it won't last forever.  I will rally.  And I will conquer the kitchen handles.  So I guess this was a little bit of me giving you one part getting things off my chest and one part apologizing for the boredom around here.  For now, though, I'm off to take a nap!

I Hate the Animal Planet

Let me give you a quick status update.  I finished 16 of the 24 flag that needed to be done by last night, so I still have 8 to go by next Friday.  I owe a huge thank you to my friend Lindsey who came over and saved me.  I woke up really early this morning (6:00 am on a SATURDAY!  Okay, so that's only 30 minutes early for me...I'm being dramatic) to take the guard to their first competition, only to find out 15 minutes later that it was cancelled due to the rain.  I'm a little disappointed, a little relieved.
So since I was up anyway, I just started in on my regular Saturday morning routine - pick up the kitchen, watch some of the HGTV episodes on the DVR, and just generally move slowly.  I had just finished watching an episode of Income Property, and instead of picking a new episode to watch I just let the TV resume on the channel that it was on.  Big mistake.
It was an animal show called Rebel Monkeys.  Little baby monkey TJ was climbing up on a power line looking for his mother when he accidentally climbed on the live wire and got electrocuted and fell to the ground.  He was just laying there in a pile of trash limp and in pain and I even think he was crying.  He laid there all night.  So of course, I immediately start crying.  Sobbing.  Bawling.  It was a bit much but my heart was and still is broken.  Fortunately a man wrapped him up in a blanket and took him to the animal hospital, but the streets of India were so crowded that the narrator of the show wasn't sure if they could make it in time.  Then they switched to a new scene where some monkeys were about to gang up on each other in a street fight when I couldn't take it anymore and changed the channel.
So there I sat on the couch, hating all animal shows.  They are the only things that give me nightmares, by the way.  Byron walked into the room.  I was still sobbing.  He asked what was wrong, and as I agonizingly cried through the recap to him, I a) felt like an idiot for getting so upset at ANIMAL SHOWS and b) could not stop crying.
There is still a good portion of the day ahead of me.  I am going to try to move past this.  And I am going to add the Animal Planet (and Net Geo Wild, etc.) to the "blocked channels" on my TV.

A Few More Disney Pictures

Day 1

I awoke early (starving) to register for the conference.  By 8:00 am I had registered and got my conference materials, handy backpack, and geektag nametag, and I was ready.  One problem, there was no food to be seen.  So before I hit my first session, I went to the Garden Grove for some breakfast.  Bonus for me, it was a weekend morning, and the characters were out and about, greeting all of the restaurant patrons.  Check us out!  I even asked Pluto what he thought of my conference agenda.  I think he was probably overwhelmed.

We Up and Went to Florida

We just spent the last week in Florida - me attending a conference for work and Byron to work on his tan.  It was such a great week.  Sparing you the conference details (I do work in IT after all), here are just a few moments we captured.

This is us in front of our hotel, the Walt Disney World Dolphin.  Even though it's called the Dolphin, there are fish statues everywhere.  Hey Disney, those fish aren't actually fooling us!  Notice the especially white legs in this picture.  This is a picture from the beginning of our trip.

This is the view from our hotel room.  Here you can see four out of five pools.  We spent the majority of our time in the far pool in this picture.  It was really long and ranged between 3-5 feet deep.  In the center, there was a waterfall and a grotto.  Very cool.  Very relaxing.  I think Byron had a permanent spot out there while I was attending the conference.

Finally, this is another view from our hotel room.  The big building on the left is actually the Tower of Terror at Disney's Hollywood Studios.  Later in the week I got the opportunity to ride that...twice.  It was awesome and I could have ridden it 20 more times and screamed just as loud each time.  The big blue magician's hat in the center is where the fireworks show is launched from.  You can't really see anything else of note in this picture.

I hope to post more about our trip soon, and also finish up my experience in quilt binding for those of you so anxiously awaiting that!  (I know you are out there...mom!)

My Week in Pictures

I Dreamed a Dream

picture found here

Last night I had a dream that people were actually reading my blog.  And leaving comments.  It was really strange.  I guess most people would argue that the point of having a blog would be so that other people could read my thoughts and opinions on different topics, or maybe see the projects I have completed, or even just to see the general happenings of my life.  Well, that would be fine, but that would also assume that I have told more than 4 people that I actually HAVE this blog.  Which I haven't.  I'm a little bit private and scared when it comes to the internet.  Maybe someday I will get good at this and I will stop being shy and someday I will get a comment.  And it won't make me feel weird.  It will just make me feel *FAMOUS* (which, honestly, even though in my dream there were only like 8 comments, is how I felt).

Tonight I have another interesting experience ahead of my.  My husband and I are going to be prom chaperones. I still have my prom dress from 10 years ago.  Do you think it would be appropriate to wear it?  Yeah, I don't think so.  But, since it is prom tonight, I have to go get fancy.  So shower and shave, uh-huh.