Is It Naptime Yet

It’s December. Wow.

I’m happy to say the craft fair I participated in was successful for me. It got a little slow in the afternoon and it would have been nice had more people come, but for the first year I think it was a success. Since I sold 4 bags, (score!) I now have some money to buy a little more fabric and I’m finally getting to the stage that I have inventory, so I won’t be spending out of pocket. Hooray! Sew Lacey might actually get in the black. The popcorn and truffles sales really help and I am so thankful that Tim convinced me to sell truffles and popcorn to him last year.

The homeschooling co-op is on break right now. I’m so thankful for that, but that also means I’m needing to deal with registration and finances. Ugh. It’s a lot of work and I’m a little worried for all that entails, especially since I have very little time right now and it needs to get done so we can start looking at the schedule and putting teachers in classes.

I started my first voice lesson last week! I’m so excited! I think she’s already helping me break my shell and helping me not sing from my throat, so I can actually have a louder voice and more control. Sadly, I haven’t been able to practice a whole lot due to so many pressing things this past week. She mentioned that practice is the hardest for her adult students because we are so busy, and boy was she right! It’s a new week, and I have less pressing things, so I’m hoping to carve out a half hour every day around 4:30. These lessons are actually a part, as in the main part, of my Christmas gift from Jon. I love choir, but I was talking to him about how I would like some one on one attention to have someone actually tell me what I need to do and we decided to make it my Christmas gift. I’m happy because it really is to help me gain confidence in myself and not to go out a sing solos necessarily, but he is so supportive of me and allowing me to do things that help build my confidence. The first lesson was a blast, so I’m looking forward to the next one.

Christmas is coming a long slowly in our house. I cleaned our front yard with Lilah on Wednesday and we put up new Christmas lights. Eden was happy to help with the lights, but didn’t want to help clean the yard. I’m trying to get the inside of the house in order so we can get the Christmas tree up, but I fear that until I get the rest of the popcorn and truffles out of the house next week, there is no point. So hopefully we get the tree up on Tuesday or Wednesday next week.

To close, I just want to post a couple funny things from this past week. I had them as updates on Facebook, but wanted them in a place that is controlled by me.

The set up: My girls had made a little fort and Lilah was telling me how the top blanket lets in air so it doesn’t get too hot.(It’s a lighter weight blanket.) I was peeking in, so I teasingly blew in a big breath of air and asked if that let in air and she said “Yeah, carbon dioxide.”

Eden: Stop tickling me!
Lilah: My fingers are exploring your armpits!

Dear People Who Still Read my Blog,

I’m not sure you’re out there, but eh, I haven’t been either. This week my children have been sick, which has forced me to stay home, which has helped me clean and get my house back to order. There are still things to do, when is there not, but I’m happy to say if you came over right now, my bathrooms are clean. Yay!

I’ve also made peanut butter, ground wheat, and indulged in two episodes of a show I can’t watch because Nova is on at the same time. (All in the same day, as in today when I also cleaned my bathrooms.) I want to just say, I love my Vitamix.

I used a pumice stone on my toilet today. A friend mentioned it for those pesky rings that stay because you don’t clean your toilet often enough, or really I’m convinced there is something in little kid pee, because ours gets cleaned at the same time and they have never developed in our toilet. I’m happy to report it worked, so now my toilet looks clean, rather then continuing to look icky because of those pesky ring stains.

I’ve even showered today. So that’s telling you I’ve done a lot.

So I’m actually getting ready for this weekend in a way. I have a couple meetings about homeschooling to attend, a fund raiser, choir, and a hot date with Jon. Not to mention baking five pies and rolls for an early Thanksgiving meal with Jon’s family on Saturday.

I think I will now put our flannel sheets on the bed. I put the girl’s on last week, and Jon has been patient with me. I washed them and they’re just waiting in the dryer to be put on, but for some reason I haven’t found the time in two days, but neither has he. I think the day has come, but that might be because I’ll be doing some laundry tonight.

Man, it’s nice to get stuff done.

Sincerely,
Lacey- Who has been a really lame blogger, housekeeper, and homeschooling mother.

We all have our little bit of craziness that we deal with, I’m right in the thick of it for me, the funny thing is I’m finally motivated and doing things, even though I have a looming deadline and not enough hours in the day.

Since life was so crazy over the summer, and during the play, I was really ready to not do anything, and I almost did not do the homeschooling co-op. I got my brain together and figured it was for the best, so I decided to sign up and continue to have it has a part of our homeschooling journey. Well, I asked if there was anything I could do to help, since I know the whole preparation part can be hard, and they asked me to help our treasurer, since she had a premature baby over the summer and though he was home, was quite overwhelmed with regular life and now constant doctors appointments. I pretty much organized all the information, and am acting as treasurer. I like it because now I only have to teach for one hour on Mondays, but it’s also settled me into a very permanent role, though I could leave if it became overwhelming. I’m now in the inner circle of the co-op and get to help with making decisions and knowing what’s going on. It’s been interesting and I really feel I’m learning and growing.

Besides co-op I’ve been taking a once a week choir class. It’s been lots of fun and I feel it’s helping me gain some confidence in my ability to find parts and sing. I have a lot to learn still, but I love the choral music we sing and being a part of something. The choir class is really so I can get more confidence for the plays, and soon we’ll be starting meetings for choosing the director and getting the ball rolling for the next play. It’s crazy to think we’ll soon be starting all over again!

My main focus right now is sewing though. I started Sew Lacey, which don’t bother going to the link since I haven’t touched it since January, last year and participated in a craft fair out of a woman’s house. That time of year has rolled around again, and I decided I wanted to participate once more, only I forgot about it till she called me and only have a week and a have to get ready, since I had to finish the girls costumes and help her with set up. I want to do it because I have tons of fabric for bags, and when people see and hold the bags, they’ve been inclined to buy them. I’ve also decided to add hooded towels and burp clothes to the mix, with a possibility of nursing covers too. We’ll see how much time I have next week, since that’s all I have before set up begins and then I’ll need to devote some time to making chocolate covered popcorn for it also, since that’s a big hit and I want to try selling that too. So I have lots of projects to do and very little time.

And Wednesday I decided to clean and organize my house because it was pretty crazy, but more importantly I needed to get all my material in one place and bring some order to my chaos. I hate to start creating in chaos, but don’t mind the mess along the way. Like I’ll clean my kitchen and do dishes so I can bake, though this is something I have to do with how small our kitchen is. I had to clean and get my room into a little more order so I could sew, but really have space for a drying rack for the fabric.

Yeah, I have tons to do. I need to prepare a lesson for Sunday, a lesson for Eden’s class on Monday, finish Lilah’s costume so we can go to the Haunted Harvest, cut out and sew 6-8 bags, make hooded towels, burp clothes, prepare another lesson, make chocolate covered popcorn and get ready for a craft fair, all in two weeks, plus have family time and regular house duties.

It makes perfect sense that I’m blogging. Yeah, this is me and my craziness.

Really I’m not, I just do what you have to do to get things done, perfectly.

It’s funny the things you face in life sometimes. Earlier tonight I was hand-feeding my printer little papers to print out baby shower invites for a shower I’m giving. They’re only 7 x 5 inches, and will be 3 1/2 x 5 inches when finished. My printer was being very finicky and I had to push them all the way back with a pencil, because the paper tray pusher thing is not centered on the paper and thus the paper goes in crooked when I was just using that to push it back and so I figured out it’s just easier to use a pencil and carefully push it back in the center of the paper. Then I gently tap the paper on each side to make sure it’s in straight. Then I hit print, and repeated it 16 times.

Yeah, I’m not a perfectionist, I just do what you have to do to get things done, perfectly.

Really, this comes down to wanting invitations that were not written in my own hand-writing, and not having scrap-booking stuff to make oh so cute and personalized invites, so I went and saw invitations I could print and thought, “These are the ones I need, because no one wants to see my janky hand-writing on an invitation.” I didn’t even want to write the addresses on the envelopes, so I took the time and figured out how to print them on there.

I just want to note, if I was a true perfectionist, I’d go buy new transparent paper and print new info on them to put in the announcements, since I realized the ink stayed wet f.o.r.e.v.e.r. and half the invitations became slightly smeared. I ended up blotting the invites, that is correct, I blotted them to help them from smearing more, at least I hope it helped.

(Anna, don’t worry about the invites, I was just mostly annoyed at them and sorry for any smears, I tried to give you the nicest one to have for yourself. )

Wednesday I had no internet so I cleaned.

I planned on cleaning anyways. I really needed to clean my bathrooms, which had been painfully neglected in the last three or four months while sewing and rehearsing for the play, but having no internet really helped me to stay focused on the task I needed to do. I cleaned the girls bathroom first, then mine, then my shower, then the floors got mopped. They had both been cleaned in all the places they could be cleaned. I even organized under my sink and threw out a trash bag full of make-up and other stuff I was storing for a later date, but really never going to use again, or shouldn’t use again. Now my bathrooms are in harmony and I won’t feel completely mortified if someone had to use one of them.

After cleaning the two neglected bathrooms I took a shower and prepared dinner. I waited for Jon to come home, mostly because I love him, partially because he could get the internet working on his laptop. Our computer had been turned off since noon, or when our air conditioner decided to start blowing room temperature air, something it’s done twice this month already, the second time being just Sunday. (A different air guy came and fixed it yesterday, at least I hope it fixes the problem, I guess time will tell.)

Once the cool air started blowing again after having the air off for over an hour, I would normally have turned on my computer to use the internet, but something is going on with the monitor. The brightness is messed up, but not only that, it’s brighter each time you turn it on. So the first time I was at 50 for brightness, and I had to turn it down to 30, to make it manageable to read. Then the second time I turned it on I had to turn it down to 20. So I’m avoiding turning it on unless completely necessary, or until we get a new monitor, which hopefully will be this weekend. Hint, Hint honey. 🙂

I realized I have a slight addiction to the internet, or really what’s on it. It takes up a lot of time, and I get easily distracted. Chats take longer than expected, I’m not complaining, but I know they take up a lot of time when I should be doing other things some days. I get lost in blogs or social networks, or I even look for things to take up my time so I don’t have to do cleaning or do what I’m suppose be doing.

It was a blessing to not have the internet so I could stay focused, but it stinks that I want it so much.

Each of us have our distractions, for Lilah it’s Mario Cart that takes up her time. We got it for her birthday and since then, she is always wanting to play when she wakes up or after breakfast, but she knows she has to wait till after lunch. Since we were in the play, she actually didn’t get to play it till a day or two after her brithday, but then she got to play it a lot, for the times were were home. Earlier this week I would just let her play, usually after lunch till later in the day, but other days, and from now on, I’m limiting it to just an hour a day. Since I made this rule Wednesday. I just set the timer and then she’s able to finish the games she’s playing after it goes off, so it’s really over an hour a day, then it’s off with Mario, unless someone else wants to play. Since an hour of play was so short Lilah actually asked if she could save up her days and play for a long time. I said yes, but only up to two hours a day. She actually didn’t ask at all to play today, the off day, so she’ll have two hours tomorrow to play. Yesterday when I had her turn off Mario Cart she found The Friend to read, something she hasn’t done in a while, so I think I’ll stick to my rule so she finds other things to do.

Eden waste time mostly by playing. As in she plays instead of cleaning something up or getting dressed or even coloring. The funny thing is she will play with nearly anything. The crayons become their own little people, her sandwich becomes something if she’s tired of eating, the clothes do something exciting, or really the chair she’s suppose to use while folding her clothes. Then with toys it’s pretty obvious that she’s going to waste time by playing when she’s suppose to be putting them away. I sometimes have to keep a close eye on her, since she’s so easily distracted, but sometimes it’s me who’s so easily…..

So what distracts you or keeps you off task?

So right now we’re entering the crazy part of the play where all my sanity and reason goes our the door and I get overwhelmed and grumpy. Hopefully you’re not around when this happens, but my poor girls and friend Anna have been and it wasn’t pretty.

It’s one of those things I love and hate about the play.

I love creating the costumes and doing more than just being in it.

I hate the stress that can comes with creating costumes and doing more than just being in the.

I had to apologize to three people I love, because of the grumpiness. I was happy that I realized I needed to apologize in a rational amount of time, rather than ignoring my rudeness or forgetting how ugly I was to the girls.

The funny thing is, my brain was what was making it hard. With my lack of sleep and trying to do so much, I blew things out of proportion and in the end everything was fine and dandy.

Jon says I’m doing too much, but then I think of how much other people are doing, and I’m really just trying to lift that burden. The craziness also only last for a little while, until I realize things aren’t as bad as I thought, or I get my reasoning back.

Anyways, costumes are getting on their way, rehearsals are becoming more frequent and I’ve realized I have to actually sing my little solo. I was hoping I might be able to just speak it since the notes are hard to hear.

Anyone have an in tune piano and want to plunk out my solo? I have a feeling it might be the next thing to drive me insane.

Not much.

Really? You haven’t been extremely busy and not at your house a lot.

Well, I have been busy but it just seems like a blur. Like we’re living life, but I haven’t got the foggiest clue what we’ve done.

I think Jon’s car was in the shop last week. Yes, yes it was, and luckily it only cost around $250 and not the annual $900 or more. We took it in Monday and got it back Tuesday afternoon. Since life was so crazy we went to China-A-Go-Go Monday night, to celebrate the new position, and to have dinner and left overs for other nights of the week. It worked out that we ate them Tuesday after Eden’s dance class. She doesn’t want to do this last session for some reason, and having me go watch her is what she now wants. Wow, how her attitude has changed. She likes class, for the most part, and she wants me to go watch her.

Wednesday is a total blur. I’m pretty sure I went to Trader Joe’s sometime last week, but I’m not sure and it would have been Wednesday if any day.

Thursday was Earth Day so we went to UNLV for some events, but it got rained out. We then went to the Barrick Museum for some Bring Your Child to Work Day activities, but all the elementary kids were there since the rain was to heavy to be outside for the Earth Day activities. It was pretty crazy, but eventually the girls got to paint a picture and have some fun. Then more errands and back home.

Friday we went to the park with the homeschooling co-op. We’d been doing things all week, but the girls hadn’t really gotten to be outside and see any friends. I think I also thought it would be nice to go hang out with some of the other moms. We had a wonderful afternoon at the park and my sister Carolyn stopped by since it was so close to her work.

Saturday was rehearsal. I actually took Eden with me so Jon could go on his date with Lilah. She wanted to go to the Springs Preserve, and the earlier the better since it’s getting warm, for the most part. Eden was so well behaved and just sat quietly and watched us dance, or did her own thing. I completely forgot about her at times and everyone was so impressed with her.

Sunday was church and Family Home Evening with my family.
Monday we saw Oceans with the co-op and fed the homeless with Carolyn and her work.

Now I’m going to be neglecting the girls so I can start sewing for the play.

So I guess we are pretty busy in the Blake house. I hope to remember to do fun things with the girls so they don’t go completely stir crazy.

So what have you been up to?

Over a year ago I had gastritis.

It was terrible and one of the worst things I’ve had to go through.

Ever since that’s happened I’ve been paranoid. If I get a stomach ache I take some Tums and pray that I don’t get sick again. I haven’t had it again, but I’m still very sensitive to any stomach pain.

I also worry about being too stressed. When I signed up to do costumes for the Wizard of Oz, since I got the gastritis after a a week of sewing, I worried that I would get sick and be in utter pain once more if I did too much. Everything turned out fine, but the nagging worry is still in the back of my mind.

Which leads me to this week.

Tuesday night I started having a stomach ache, so I took some Tums and fell asleep on the couch around 11:30 pm. I woke up around 12:30 am and was awake with stomach problems till 3:30 am. It wasn’t fun. I know it was food poisoning of some sort. I’m the only one who was sick and it lasted for less than 24 hours, even though I was still getting better and regaining my strength for the last 12, and we had eaten some fast food Monday night. But in my mind, even though I know what caused it, I now wonder and have the worry about what will get me sick. Every food could be the next culprit to giving me unbearable stomach pain, and keeping me up at night. Now a weekend of pain isn’t that bad, but this weekend I’m going to LA with Anna, so it would really stink to be sick.

I don’t like to think of myself as a worrier, but I don’t want my weekend to be ruined. I really want to enjoy my time with my friend, alone, shopping, and eating out. (We’re shopping for fabric for the play, so it’s not all fun and games.) It’s the thought of eating I don’t like. What if I get sick and my poor pregnant friend has to carry bolts and bolts of tulle and satin to my car, while I stay huddled in the fetal position in the passenger seat, or in a public bathroom? Ick. It could happen, the chances are slim, but I was just sick.

I think I’ll pack some extra tums just in case.

Today I’m grumpy so I’m trying to be thankful for things that are annoying me today.

I’m grateful for….

1. Dishes to eat and cook off of.
2. A home to live in.
3. Toys for my children.
4. A husband who has a job to go to.
5. Being a stay at home mom.

The truth….

1. My dirty dishes have been piling up a lot.
2. My house is dirty and chaotic.
3. My children’s toys have not been getting picked up lately.
4. My husband was annoying me by leaving a little late this morning when I had so much to do, when usually it doesn’t bother me what time he leaves. He’s also been working a lot and it’s starting to get to my sanity
5. I’ve been with the girls 24/7 without any time alone lately. Play rehearsals are time alone, but since I’m not accomplishing anything or relaxing, they sometimes don’t count, it depends on my mood.

The up side….I get to leave the house for a couple hours tonight to go pick out fabric and be ALONE! Also, all the things on my truth list are things I can change and have control over how I feel and react to.

Note: I started writing this a week ago but didn’t want to start over, so I just added updates.

We’ve been up to a lot of different things here in the Blake house. Mostly we’ve been spending lots of time as a family hiking and enjoying Science Saturday at the Museum. We’ve also had a a park day with Carolyn and her husband, where they invited us to spend time with them on a rare day which both of them had off. I totally felt special that they invited us to come over since their day offs are never the same.

We’ve also been up to our elbows in cookies. Lilah did very well on her pre-orders and since I’m also able sell extras we’ve had 488 boxes of cookies in our house, though 72 are not spoken for just yet, I’m hoping to sell them as we travel to two more offices and if anyone needs more than what they bought. Update: We’ve sold 478 boxes of cookies. I only have ten not spoken for.

We’ve also had auditions for Cinderella. I’m super excited for the play this year. Unlike last year I was not nervous for the singing audition.

Until I stood on stage and the pianist starting playing.

Then the words almost left me and as I sung a sharp note and for the life of me I could not correct it. I just sang and hoped that whatever came out didn’t sound too bad.

The dance portion was the next day, and so was the children’s auditions. I was helping to teach the older kids dance, and as I had 15 or so pre-teens watching me I could not start on the right foot, and I got flustered and then went to teach the young kids, which included my two girls. We were trying to avoid me teaching the young ones since I had children in that group, but also because I worried that Eden actually would act shy. She didn’t act shy, and they both did really well. The song we used was short and fun. Update: I’m “third girl”, though I’m not sure what that means, and the girls are a part of the children’s ensemble, so no specific role, but I’m just happy we’re all in it.

This past week:
I’ve been delivering cookies everyday with Lilah and not working out and eating more than I should, so I’m sure I’ve gained whatever weight I’ve lost. Cookies are bad, very bad, but they taste so good.

Lilah did incredibly well on her sales. She sold about 400 with pre-orders and I ordered around 80 extra boxes to sell as we went to different delivery spots. At the beginning of the week we only sold a small amount of the extra boxes and it looked like I might have 70 extra boxes to return. On Friday we delivered to Jon’s co-workers, just two had ordered, and we brought all the extra boxes. We borrowed a red wagon from my friend Sam with a nice squeaky wheel, which was not squeaky the day before as we went around the block. Just on the way to Jon’s office, which wasn’t that far, four people stopped us, and we sold 10 boxes. Then we made a killing at Jon’s current office, and his old office, and lastly a building I worked at long ago as a student worker. Lilah loved how much people just wanted to buy girl scout cookies, and I loved that we had succeeded in selling nearly all of our extra boxes. I have learned to have tons of Caramel deLites if we ever go on campus again. We have just 10 boxes left, and I think that is a success.

Jon and I also celebrated our eighth anniversary this week. Eighth. We did a one night get-a-way at a local hotel and my sister Carolyn and her husband Derek watched the girls. We stayed at the Silverton, near Carolyn, and it also has a Bass Pro Shop, so we went shopping and saw why my Dad loves this store so much. Jon bought himself a nice hiking hat and compass and I got a cute baseball cap to wear…sometime…I’m not sure when other than hiking. We had enjoyed dinner earlier and had a wonderful time away from the worries of normal life and parenting.

So that’s our past few weeks of life in a nutshell.