Is It Naptime Yet

I’ve mentioned that the girls are taking swimming lessons right now. Sadly tomorrow is the last day, though I’m somewhat happy at the same time. Since I’m not exactly an early to rise person since I stay up late, I was up till 2 am cutting out an apron last night though usually 12:30 is my bedtime. With not getting up early and on days that we don’t need to go places I let the girls stay in their pajamas till after lunch when we get ready for swimming lessons. I on the other hand do get dressed, most of the time, especially since I had a UPS guy come one day while I was still in pajamas at 11 am. I just don’t see the point to have them get dressed for 3 1/2 hours and then need to change them, though we do that on Sundays but we’re leaving the house so it’s different.

On another note I want to share with you my list of sewing projects, most of which need to be done by next Saturday, all are pretty easy or quick and I’m just excited to make them.

1. Swaddling blankets for a woman in our ward who’s last Sunday it this week, it’s my one thing that needs to be done by this Saturday.
2. Reusable bags. One for Jon and one for a bridal shower I’m going to next Saturday.
3. An apron for the same bride, and it’s in her wedding colors, well it has two of them since I couldn’t remember the other two.
4. I’m altering one of the bridesmaid dresses too, and would like to have that done by next Saturday , though I don’t need it done by then.

Other things: more reusable bags and maybe an apron for me and my niece. Those are to be done sometime this summer. And we’ve decided to make a tent for the top bunk, which I will be sewing and Jon will be building, to help prevent any little heads from running into the ceiling fan. I’m hoping by Christmas we have this ready. (Ignore that we wanted it done by Eden’s birthday. We need to get things out of the shed and out from under our bed so we have space to put things there from the top bunk or maybe even the disassembled crib. Anyone want to help refinish some chairs and put one more coat of shellac on a table? I’m pretty sure I will be in charge of these once it’s cooler, especially since Jon will be busy with work and school during the cooler, but not yet cold months. )

What motivates you? This is a pretty open question. What motivates you to get up in the morning? What motivates you to exercise or eat healthy, neither of the two do I have a relationship with. This is a post about what motivates you to do things, or me to do things, since this is my blog and I’m very narcissistic.

I will not lie. I am most motivated to do things for the praise or approval of other people. Of course I do do things sometimes because they just have to be done, but I don’t always go the extra mile to make sure they’re done in a timely manner. Ask my husband. He has fabric napkins that he wants me to cut down and make into more napkins so he can take them to work, rather than a paper one each day. (I’ve created a go green monster!) These napkins were suppose to be his birthday present, and that was at the beginning of May. I’ve been greatly sidetracked by other projects that also deal with sewing. Plus, after sewing 140 panels I’m not really wanting to sew straight seams into napkins, give me something creative!  I sew for others above my husband or myself, I clean when I know people are coming, probably the things that irks Jon the most, and I love teaching adults because they’re much better at praising appreciating you when you give a good lesson.

Anyways, today I had a moment where I thought the following: Why am I not a better homemaker? If only we really had ordered the brackets for our table and finished it and the chairs so we could have a nice dining set, rather than the old table we bought used and folding chairs. Why isn’t my house cleaner? If only I was motivated to clean while I’m up late, or motivated to get up early.

You ask why I was so down on myself. Well, the one woman whom I think is the epitome of the perfect woman visited my house. I’ve never been to her house, but I know her daughter and her daughter is a very neat woman, so I assume she is too. Plus, she’s so well put together and very elegant and I just don’t know how to act or what to say to her and I often say the wrong thing.

I didn’t know she would be coming over, otherwise I would have told her granddaughter to come over tomorrow while I feverishly cleaned my house tonight. I thought it would be the daughter and the mother coming over, not the granddaughter and the grandmother. She sat right where she could look into my kitchen and see all the dirty dishes that I just hadn’t gotten to this morning. She was very polite, as always, and I think she didn’t  judge me, but lets be real, we all judge a little, but she is what I want to be when I’m older. She’s cool, she dresses her age, but very hip at the same time, she always says the right thing, is very spiritual and I’m sure her house is always neat, though the fact that she has no children at home, no young grandchildren, and her husband works out of state during the week helps it to stay clean.

I’ve just been in a rut since the play. My house was a big disaster then, and is just less of one now. I am still sleeping in too late and only doing what needs to be done, with a few exceptions.

I’ve just decided that I now need to clean my house and get my life together, rather quickly, in case I ever have the epitome of the perfect woman in my house again.

But maybe I should really just do it for my family and myself first.

What motivates you and why?

1. Being home with the girls. Some days it’s fun other days not so fun, but I usually like it. (Right now I get to go swimming everyday for swimming lessons, which is fun.)
2. Good friends. I sometimes feel like I only have my sisters as friends, not that that’s a bad thing, but I like having friends who don’t have to be my friend, or who aren’t stuck with me, though some of my friends might debate that.
3. A wonderful husband who is willing to let me leave him and the children for a full 24 hours. Only 38 days till my first girl’s getaway. I can’t wait! (Strange to think I’ve only been away from Lilah when I had Eden, and I’ve never been away from Eden.)
4. A husband who works hard to support us and is willing to “take one for the team” and do something he has never wanted to do because he works hard and supports us.
5. Summer fruits. I just love the fruits we get in the summer. Watermelon, cantaloupe, nectarines, I love how summer tastes.

Jon and I spent part of our Saturday night watching videos by Rhett & Link. This folk song order at taco bell was one off my favorite and I thought I’d share it with you.

Happy Monday!

Jon and I recently got the recycling bins provided by our local recycling plant. We’ve had them for about two months and our trash output has dropped dramatically. It helps us feel good that we’re able to recycle the annoying weekly adds we get, and all the plastic containers we use, if they’re able to be recycled by our local plant.

You see, our local plant only takes things with the recycling number 1 or 2. Anything higher has to go to the dump. It’s nice to see all we can recycle, but sometimes I feel bad that my individual yogurt cups are a 5 and cannot be recycled. Jon’s taken to making his own yogurt, and that has helped us be more green since he’s uses mason jars, and those are washable, instead of us having to throw away a plastic container every week. (He decided to make his own yogurt because he thought it would be cool, and it saves us a lot of money, but mostly because he thought it would be cool.)

Anyways, we have to clean the containers which held food before we put them out to be recycled. I think this is required by the plant, but more importantly it helps keeps away bugs and strong odors.

Today as I emptied our peanut butter jar, really plastic container, I found myself hoping that it had a 3 or higher on the bottom so I wouldn’t have to wash it out.

No such luck.

Sometimes I wish recycling was a little less sticky.

I’m in the beginning stages of planning Eden’s birthday party. I have 3 weeks to plan it and get Eden the perfect gift. The problem being, the perfect gift for her is locked in a vault and not being sold, at least you can’t buy it from stores.

What? Why would someone lock something in a vault for limited release when there would practically always be a demand for it? It’s Disney and they’re dumb and Eden is obsessed with Aladdin. I’m going to do an Aladdin themed party, any suggestions on games are welcomed, and we would like to give her the DVD Aladdin, but it’s not being sold and we debate whether we want to spend $30 on a DVD that’s worth $20. I did find one site that had Aladdin, but I worry that it’s a counterfeit Asian copy, something everyone who resales the DVD claims they are not, and we figure if we’re going to spend money it’s got to be the genuine article. We’re not rushing out to buy anything just yet, hello E-bay, but I do only have two weeks till her actual birthday and it would be nice to have a present for her.

So if you know someone who no longer wants their Aladdin DVD or tape, we’d gladly take it and give it to Eden. Then we could give my parents back their copy and help Eden have the perfect birthday present.

This week we started swimming lessons for the girls  and they are everyday, and they’re in the early afternoon so about an hour after we finish lunch, if we have it on time, we have to start getting ready for  lessons. It kinda ruins any plans a person might have for doing cleaning or organizing, or even sewing, something I’m somewhat dying to so, I’m just not dying to cut out the fabric.

So we finished the play and then had a week off, but in that week off we cleaned and organized the house on Monday, visited with Jon’s niece on Tuesday. Both days he had off. We sent Jon back to work on Wednesday, I did something, but nothing truly productive, Thursday looked the same. Friday Jon had off for the Holiday and I went to my parents to tidy for the BBQ that would be there next day. (I mostly sat and made remarks on how cheesy Escape from Witch Mountain was, the movie my mom was watching on the Hallmark channel.)  I also ran errands for the party/ BBQ that was on Saturday. Saturday was the Holiday, but I ran more errands that morning, made cupcakes, had Eden take a nap, then we went to the 4th of July BBQ/ birthday celebration for my niece and Lilah.

Then it was Sunday and then the week of swimming lessons started and I’ve gotten nothing done. (I have mopped my floors and been able to keep my living room looking mostly descent, except the fact that I have two girls who leave things around the house. Like yesterday one stripped down in the living room after the swimming lessons so she could take a bath. )

I think my life we never be normal. I’m doomed to a life of chaos and somewhere in there I try to home school and do all the other things a mom and wife has to do.

I want some normalcy. I want to have a whole week with no engagements and no errands to run. Just one week to get my house and home schooling schedule in order.

Nah, I think I like not getting anything done. I’m gonna go play Go Fish with my two girls.

Since it was so long ago that I posted the details of Day One and Day Two of our trip to Cathedral Gorge and the pictures for Day one, you can go back to the links I just provided to refresh your memory or  just enjoy Day two of our Memorial Weekend Trip.

Friday Morning: Our hike to the caves.

Zarina hand in hand with Lilah, which was very common the whole trip.

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Eden stayed back with us, though I think she’s running a little bit to catch up with the Parks and Lilah.

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The girls, Lilah, Zarina, and Eden.

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The Blake’s. (We were hiking, I’m not trying to look fashionable.)

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Entrance to one of the “caves”.

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The girls with Jon. The “caves” were really passage ways that had been created from the silt being worn down by water and wind after the prehistoric lake dried up. So they were open on the top and at least ten degrees cooler than outside in the open desert.

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There were a lot of narrow winding spaces.

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Eden had fun fitting in one…

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…so did Jon.

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This is the view from higher up. We went climbing after we hiked in the caves.

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Eden looking up at Mommy.

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I took a rest and Jon took the girls climbing. He had a lot of patience and was the perfect teacher.

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Lilah holding her Daddy’s hand after a hard climb down. Eden was just chilling at the bottom waiting for them, she had climbed down earlier.

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Jon offering his hand to a worried Eden. (I just loved the previous two pictures. I love seeing Jon helping his children, something he is always willing to do. )

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Friday Evening: On our way to dinner.

The sky in one direction. It was very ominous.

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180 degrees the other way it looked like this. (This was at a gazebo that had been built when it became a park in the 1930’s.)

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Lilah and Jon discovered the gazebo on their hike.

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Some antelope we encountered between Caliente and Lund on our drive home Saturday.

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We thought they were cool.

This concludes our camping trip with Andrea, Brien, and Zarina. It only took me over a month to post the pictures of our second half.  We plan on seeing them once more this summer and we can’t wait!

1. Being able to help teach my daughters to swim. I love watching them be so brave and seeing them try new things.
2. Good friends who are far away physically, but e-mail back and forth about the things we would talk about if we were close together.
3. I never thought I’d say this, but I’m thankful for Playdough. Lilah got some as a gift with a fancy toy or two and it occupies them for around an hour at a time. I just wish it never dried out, though it makes sweeping it up so much easier. (This is not a sign that I want more, please do not purposely buy some for Eden since her birthday is coming up.)
4. Sweet girls who love me unconditionally.
5. Air Conditioning. The heat has finally hit us and it is HOT.

On Sunday it’s our routine to walk the girls to their classes and to give them hugs and kisses before we send them off to their teachers. Then Jon walks me to my class, or Gospel Principles. We give each other a small good-bye kiss every time and I go off to teach, or listen if it’s my week off, and he goes off to read books in the foyer.

This Sunday our kiss was gross. At least gross to the little boy who bumped into Jon as he gave me my good-bye kiss. After bumping into Jon he looked up to see our apparently gross display of public affection and said:

“Ewe, you kissed!”

We thought it rather funny and the next time a child says this we’ll reply, “Someday you’ll like it kid.”