Confession #27 I Actually Liked High School

Or at least I thought I did.

The other night, my husband and I had a great conversation about what we were like as teenagers. I decided that had we met in high school, nothing would have happened between us. We were SO different. We each had to do a lot of growing before it would work out between us.

In high school, I wasn't the most social person in our school, and I prefered to hang out with my family on the weekends mostly. I had a great group of friends, though. We didn't do much on the weekends, but we went to lunch together almost every day (we had an open campus) either at some fun place or at one of our houses. We talked a lot and we were involved in mostly the same extra curricular activities. As far as sporting events, I went to the football games, but that was because I was in the band. My "groupies" were not in the band. I never felt like high school was terrible...I had no enemies, I had friends, and I had fun. I still keep in touch with many of my high school friends, although, as with most high school friends, not to the extent I thought I would. And, I also got decent grades. Okay...very good grades. I seemed to have it all. Saying all that...I have NEVER wanted to go back to high school.

My husband, on the other hand, had very different experience. He was, self-admittedly, a nerd in high school. He had only a couple of friends and their idea of fun was to do their calculus homework together. He doesn't keep in touch with any of them. Peter was also not involved in many extra curricular activities. I think he was in the chess club for one semester and in one of their school plays as a chorus person. He quit both of those because they infringed on his study time.

As we were talking about our experiences in high school, I realized that despite the fact that I had fun in high school and I thought I liked who I was back then, I knew absolutely nothing. I was your typical self-absorbed teenager who thought only of herself. I felt like I deserved everything just for being me. I was mouthy to my parents. I told a few "white lies" that I shouldn't have. I thought I knew exactly what I wanted in life.

During this conversation, I realized that high school was not as great as I thought it was. I have learned so much since then. I have found parts of me that I never knew existed. For example, I never knew that I had such and intense love for cooking back then. I never knew that I had the ability to be friends with others who walked such different paths than I did. I never knew that I had a place in my heart for abused women and children and that it could take up so much space in my heart. I did always know that more than anything, I wanted to be a mom, but I never knew what joy could fill your heart just watching your two little boys giggle together over some private joke. I never knew that I was attractive to someone. I never knew that I enjoyed doing things that "Holly Homemaker" would do...cooking, cleaning, organizing, baking bread, quilting, card making, etc.

So, did I like high school? Yes I did. Was it wonderful? No it wasn't. Would I go back? Nope. Am I glad to be where I am today? Yup. Do I hope to know even more about myself 10, 20, 30, or even 50 years down the road? Sure thing. But as with high school, while I'm living it, I can like it!

Go class of 1996!

What to Blog About?

Today is an odd day.

First, I had an early doctor's appointment. I was done by 8:15am. But when I got home, it felt like I had been awake for hours.

Then I was supposed to switch babysitting with a friend and she never brought her kids over...or called. Which is actually okay with me because I could go return some things and run to the bank.

But then I was so tired I put a movie on for my kids and took a nap. But I think Piglet changed the clock in my room (which he does often) because when I woke up, I thought I had slept for two hours! It was only one.

I rushed downstairs thinking that the kids would be starving and that it was way past lunch time. Then I looked at the clock. I stopped rushing around.

Now the oddest part of all. I find that I have time to blog, but nothing to blog about.

So you ask about the baby. Doing fine so far. Pretty typical. Around 32 weeks it gets dicey. I find out next week if it's a boy or a girl.

I recently went to a baby shower for a baby girl. I absolutely loved the clothes. It made me want a girl. Which is strange. Actually, wanting a girl is not strange. Wanting a girl so I can dress her up and make her cute is strange. I am not quite a tom boy, but I'm certainly not a girly girl either. I don't like dressing up. I don't enjoy spending hours doing my hair and makeup. I hate the color pink. Yet, I want a little girl so I can put ribbons in her hair and pink cute dresses on her. And goodness gracious...I want the baby girl shoes. I want to make her look dainty.

And now that I've written it down, I'll be getting a boy...Just wait and see.

We Have A Visitor

We put out one of these:

Loaded it up with this:

And look who came to visit!

Check out that amazing gymnastic feat. Could you do that and not fall off?!?!

Pseudo-Spring

Here in the northwest, we have, what I have dubbed Pseudo-Spring. It's not quite spring and it's not quite winter still. We have a few tantalizing days of sun and then WHAMM-O! Rain and overcast skies, again! Some of you are sitting there saying to yourself, "Well, duh! It's the northwest!" And you may have a point there.

It's just on the edge of spring and I'm waiting, rather unpatiently, for it to be full blown spring. While we were in Utah, we had a couple of days that were warm enough for short sleeves. During the drive home, I had envisioned a warm, sunny spring time just waiting for me and my kids to get out there and do something. Alas...I'm home and have been for a week. No such luck. No sunny skies. No warm afternoons. Mostly cold, windy, and sometimes rainy days. Bleck.

My kids are both growing so fast. It's time to pull out the clothes that are one size bigger. I'm putting it off until the last minute. I refuse to pull out the clothes that are long sleeves. So I'm waiting until it's warm enough to pull out the shorts and t-shirts. I might have to wait awhile. And in the mean time, we suffer from what every household with little boys (and girls, for that matter) suffers from...holes in the knees of all the pants. It seems like every time I do laundry there is ANOTHER pair with holes worn right through. Spring, please get here! You can't wear holes through the knees of shorts!

Confession #26 I Don't Really Do Spring Cleaning

I'm an organizing junkie. I love watching the organizing shows. I love purchasing containers of any sort. I love being able to divide things into categories...even if it is a "Miscellaneous" category. I love my label maker. I love having things color coordinated. I don't have to do this kind of stuff just in the spring, either.

I'll admit that the nicer weather gets me more motivated to get moving, but I would rather be outside than inside cleaning! I like to think that I can do my cleaning all winter. Except I don't really. There are a few things that I can keep up with really well...the kitchen, the laundry, and generally everything has it's own place and is usually in it. There are a few that I'm not so good at. These are the things that many people would consider their Spring Cleaning.

Dusting is terrible here. I can't even count the number of cobwebs that I have seen lately. The thought, "Just get a duster and get rid of it!" crosses my mind every time I see one. But do I actually go and get the duster. Nope. The duster is never close enough to me. It's always downstairs in the laundry room. And when I see a cobweb, I generally am doing something else and don't have the time to stop RIGHT NOW and get it.

Another one that is terrible here is my mini blinds. Every day when I open my blinds I notice how dusty they are. But I never manage to take the time to set a day aside and clean them. I've heard of putting them in your bathtub to clean them, but I guess I'm just not smart enough to figure out how to get them down. The ones in the kitchen right behind the sink are the worst.

The other one that I don't manage to do is to shampoo my carpets. Sure, I get out the carpet cleaner when there are obvious stains. But they never get really clean. I'm too cheap to pay for it...and good grief. I'M RENTING! (But we've lived here for 4 years and the carpets haven't been cleaned yet.)

So now I'm curious. Are you guys into Spring Cleaning? And do you really get some of the nitty gritty stuff done or is it mostly dejunking (which I do all the time)?

Confession #25 Answering the Phone is not Always a Priority

I'm not one of those people that screen every phone call I get. We are extremely poor right now while Peter is in school and therefore, no caller ID. I couldn't screen them even if I wanted to. But I have to admit, sometimes I just don't want to get off my butt to answer the phone.

Most of the time it is even someone I don't mind talking to. We have our number on the Do Not Call list and it seems to be working fairly well. Usually the people calling me are friends from the ward, family members, or my husband. All of those are fine people to talk to. It just so happens that these people have this knack for calling only a few minutes after I have sat down for the first time that day to watch The Rachael Ray show. It's one of the few shows I get to watch regularly and I guess I'm just selfish about it. I don't want to talk to anyone during that time. Tigger is down for his nap and Piglet loves watching the show just as much as I do. So often, I just don't answer the phone.

I wish that today I hadn't answered the phone. I suppose it was nothing too terrible, but it was something that I wanted to put off as long as possible. This time, it was the doctor's office calling. If you remember a previous post about all the things I hate about being pregnant, this was one of those things. The doctor's office called to remind me to do my 12 hour urine collection. I don't know how many of you have ever had to do this, but it stinks...literally. You have to collect all your urine and refrigerate it in an orange jug the size of a milk carton. First of all, the thought of having that in my refrigerator next to my food revolts me. Second of all, it is terribly embarrassing to walk into the doctor's office carrying this huge orange jug carrying all of my pee. Good grief. Let's be a bit conspicuous, shall we?!?!

If you are wondering why they do it, I'll tell you. My pregnancies are high risk because I'm extremely hypertensive during pregnancy. One of the first signs of pre-eclampsia is that your kidneys stop working. When this happens, you get proteins in your urine that aren't supposed to be there. This is why they collect it. To make sure my kidneys are working correctly. I should be grateful that modern medicine has made it possible for me to have babies because had I lived 100 years ago, or even crossed the plains, I would be dead from complications with my first.

So, now I'm off to the doctor's office to get the huge orange jug to go in my refrigerator. What fun!




P.S. I'm just glad I don't have the job of running the tests on all my urine!

This Just In...

Contrary to public belief, Holly Homemaker is not quitting her blog.

I have just returned back into town after a bit of a trip for a vacation. I wish I could say that it was all great, but like most trips, there were parts that I wish hadn't happened. Overall though, it was a great outing.

We stopped first at my in-laws where my kids love to stay. The next morning we headed off to Salt Lake. This was the bulk of our travel...10 hours. The kids were champion travelers and we only used the portable DVD player for one movie during that long stretch!

We got to my brother's house and the kids were excited to see their only cousins. Not much playing could be done because early the next morning we had to be at the temple to see my brother get sealed to his beautiful bride. The kids stayed with my unendowed sisters on the temple grounds while we were inside. They don't know their aunts very well, so they were a bit leery of us leaving them. I'm happy to say that by the end of the trip, they knew their aunts quite well.

The wedding day was beautiful and I wish that I had some fabulous pics to share. I only managed to get a couple and even those weren't so good because one was blurry and another had someone else's hand in it. Oh well. As long as they have pictures of their day! For the luncheon, the kids went with Peter's sister and played at the park and even fed the ducks. They had dinosaur mac and cheese which, apparently is okay to eat, because they don't eat mac and cheese when I make it. That night the reception was beautiful and the kids were even pretty well behaved...after a bit of a nap in the car.

The rest of the trip we visited various relatives...more aunts and uncles, grandparents, great grand parents. Many of the other activities blurred together, but we had lots of fun. We played baseball, had picnics, played more baseball, went to story time at the library, went to the Bean Museum at BYU, and played more baseball.

I knew it was all too good to be true. The night before our 10 hour drive back to the in-laws, Tigger got sick. Vomiting sick. We went ahead with the drive. Piglet soon joined him. We were catching vomit in any container that we could. We finally made it to the in-laws. Piglet got over it quickly. Tigger kept up with the vomit, diarrhea, and listlessness for about 4 days total. We are so glad that's over!

It was a great trip, but I'm glad it's over. That was one of my big stresses from the last few weeks. I would like to think it's all going to tone down and get a bit easier now, but I know better. Thanks for sticking with the blog even though they seem to be few and far in between now!