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!

An Add on to Yesterday

I may HATE being pregnant, but there isn't anyone in the world who can tell me it's not worth it. Isn't that part of being a mother? Somehow all the painful, hard, disgusting, and draining parts disappear, or at least lessen, when we see the child that comes out. And often times, the reward is so great, we sign up to do it all over again.

My mom sent me the following in an email. My mom and I have never had the best relationship. I was a hard teenager for her and we are only now starting to grow together the way I think we both want. I think it's happening mostly because my dad died and I can't imagine what it must be like to be in her shoes right about now. This email meant so much to me because of our somewhat rocky relationship. Read it, and weep like I did.

Being a Mom...

We are sitting at lunch one day when my daughter casually mentions that she and her husband are thinking of starting a family. 'We're taking a survey,' she says half-joking. 'Do you think I should have a baby?' 'It will change your life,' I say, carefully keeping my tone neutral. 'I know,' she says, 'no more sleeping in on weekends, no more spontaneous vacations.'

But that is not what I meant at all. I look at my daughter, trying to decide what to tell her. I want her to know what she will never learn in childbirth classes. I want to tell her that the physical wounds of child bearing will heal, but becoming a mother will leave her with an emotional wound so raw that she will forever be vulnerable. I consider warning her that she will never again read a newspaper without asking, 'What if that had been MY child?' That every plane crash and every house fire will haunt her. That when she sees pictures of starving children, she will wonder if anything could be worse than watching your child die.

I look at her carefully manicured nails and stylish suit and think that no matter how sophisticated she is, becoming a mother will reduce her to the primitive level of a bear protecting her cub. That an urgent call of 'Mom!' will cause her to drop a soufflé or her best crystal without a moments hesitation. I feel that I should warn her that no matter how many years she has invested in her career, she will be professionally derailed by motherhood.

I want my daughter to know that every day decisions will no longer be routine. That a five year old boy's desire to go to the men's room rather than the women's at McDonald's will become a major dilemma. That right there, in the midst of clattering trays and screaming children, issues of independence and gender identity will be weighed against the prospect that a child molester may be lurking in that rest-room. However decisive she may be at the office, she will second-guess herself constantly as a mother. Looking at my attractive daughter, I want to assure her that eventually she will shed the pounds of pregnancy, but she will never feel the same about herself.

That her life, now so important, will be of less value to her once she has a child. That she would give herself up in a moment to save her offspring, but will also begin to hope for more years, not to accomplish her own dreams, but to watch her child accomplish theirs.

I want her to know that a Cesarean scar or shiny stretch marks will become badges of honor. My daughter's relationship with her husband will change, and not in the way she thinks. I wish she could understand how much more you can love a man who is careful to powder the baby or who never hesitates to play with his child.

I think she should know that she will fall in love with him again for reasons she would now find very unromantic. I wish my daughter could sense the bond she will feel with women throughout history who have tried to stop war, prejudice and drunk
driving.

I want to describe to my daughter the exhilaration of seeing your child learn to ride a bike. I want to capture for her the belly laugh of a baby who is touching the soft fur of a dog or cat for the first time. I want her to taste the joy that is so real it actually hurts. My daughter's quizzical look makes me realize that tears have formed in my eyes. 'You'll never regret it,' I finally say. Then I reached across the table, squeezed my daughter's hand and offered a silent prayer for her, and for me, and for all the mere mortal women who stumble their way into this most wonderful of callings.

Confession #24 I'm Late

And I don't mean late to work/church/appointments.

I'm 15 weeks late.

You remember that last post about thinking it's time to eliminate something? I think I need to, I just don't know what to start with. Lately I feel like I am barely keeping my head afloat. Any minute now I'm going to start drowning because I'm wearing myself out.

I have something scheduled every morning of the week. It requires me to get out of the house by 9 or 9:30 every morning. The things I have scheduled are actually all good things. I swap babysitting with a neighbor each week. This was an attempt to have at least ONE morning a week when I went to the gym. It's not turning into that. How ironic that the mornings I scheduled for ME TIME have turned into NOT ME TIME. I have doctor's appointments, Visiting Teaching (Hello?!?! 5 active sisters on my route), Kindergarten Registration, and a million other things that come up that prevent me from going to the gym.

Other things scheduled are playgroups (some of which I don't even go to...), preschool for Piglet, and presidency meetings. This is on top of the regular chores: laundry, cooking, dishes, bathrooms, etc. And because Peter is in the bishopric, he's busy too and he can't always be available to me. These are all good things. This is what makes it so hard to decide what to eliminate.

And to top all that off...I'm pregnant. I'm sorry, but you women out there who love being pregnant...what are you smoking?!?! Because I want some! I HATE being pregnant. I hate being so tired that every day things exhaust me. I hate feeling fat. I hate knowing that I'm going to be on bed rest at the end. I hate stressing about what is going to happen to my family when I AM on bed rest. I hate getting heart burn all the time. I hate how you can't fit through spaces that you used to be able to fit. I hate trying to hurry and get off the couch when the phone rings so you can answer it. I hate it when I get so big I can hardly take a normal breath of air. I hate how swollen I get. I hate going to a million and one doctor's appointments because I'm high risk. I hate having to find babysitters for said million and one doctor's appointments. I hate feeling so worn down I can't devote the time I want to my kids. I hate having to collect my urine just to make sure I don't have a kidney infection. (They usually make me do this about 3 times for the duration of my pregnancies.)

I suppose I shouldn't complain. I don't get morning sickness too badly. Just a bit of an upset stomach (at night with this one.) I don't get gestational diabetes. I don't ever go over my due date. In fact, I usually get induced at 37 weeks. This means tiny babies that come out with one push. But all this doesn't make up for all the things I hate about being pregnant.

And of course, the thing I love about being pregnant is the fact that I get to hold my own little newborn. You all know how indescribable that feeling is.

So, that's it. That's my confession. That's why my blogging has suffered. That's why I'm barely staying afloat. That's why I am the way I am...take it or leave it.

A Little Joke for You

I realized that I haven't posted for awhile. There is much happening around here. We've had company, extra church meetings, neighborhood meetings, etc. Sometimes I feel like my life is happening as fast as I can keep up with it! It's approaching that point where I have to look at all the things I do and decide which of them needs to be eliminated. More on that later.

Anyway, because I am a bit short on time, I thought I'd just share with you a joke that my younger brother told me years ago. It is one of the few jokes that I can always remember.


How can you tell Ronald McDonald on a nude beach?


By his sesame seed buns...of course!



Happy day to everyone.

Confession #23 My Family Home Evening Lessons Aren't Always Stellar

But last night's was!! In fact, it was so good, that I though I'd blog about it.

We talked about the Word of Wisdom from Doctrine and Covenants Section 89. We talked about how following the Word of Wisdom will make our bodies strong and it will make us run fast, and it will make us think clearly.

Now comes the fun part. I had spent some time before hand looking at the weekly ads that come from the grocery store. I cut out pictures of things in the ads and then glued each one to an index card. I got pictures of all kinds of things...fruits, vegetables, yogurt, cheese, milk, nuts, ice cream, chips, beer, wine, tea, coffee, etc. We had three little sack lunch bags one labeled "Yes", another labeled "No" and the third labeled "Sometimes." The kids took turns picking one of the index cards and then deciding which bag it went into. They had tons of fun and even Tigger was getting into it.

So, there you go. A great idea for your next Family Home Evening Lesson. This could also work well talking about the different food groups and teaching your family about the food pyramid! Have fun with it and let me know how it works for you.




Image taken from lds.org.