Did you think to pray...

In all of my hustle, trying to get organized, staying on top of "my world" I haven't forgotten the important things this time... my spiritual self!

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Sometimes I get on a high, thinking I am on top of the world, but forget why I am there, and who allowed me to be there, and I come crashing down.

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I have worked much harder and made goals to read and study my scriptures and to remember to Pray. No matter how good I think I am doing... I found there is always room to improve and grow spiritually.

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One of my neighbors gave us this prayer rock for Christmas. He has had an incredible year... passed out, rushed to the hospital, they found a brain tumor the size of a plum, gave him less than 9 months to live in March. He has fought his way back through bad reactions to the chemo treatments, a blood clot that traveled to his kidney, and took his last radiation treatment in May. At which he took a reprieve from the constant doctor visits and went to the Oregon coast to spend some quality time with his wife along the beach.

On his birthday Dec 11th he reported to still be cancer free for 9 very special months.

Basically, you put the rock on your pillow when you get out of bed in the morning, and before you lay your head down to sleep that night, you conk your head on your prayer rock and it reminds you to pray, you then move your prayer rock to the floor, and when you awake and stub your toe on your prayer rock, it is to remind you to pray.

I keep mine wrapped in the fabric with the card, because I think it is so pretty, but I have unwrapped it on occasion... it is the most beautiful rock, probably one they carefully and especially picked out from the Oregon coast, just for us. I love rocks, and this one has such a wonderful story to tell.

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Prayer offers me comfort and peace in my life. I have had many prayers answered. I have been humbled by prayers. I never want to forget why I have so many blessings in my life, and that those blessings, everyone is offered from God.

A bottle of sunshine...

I have had such a good day today... I need to bottle up all the great feelings I have, and save some of them for those times when I fall in "the hole" and can't seem to get out, I could open it up and be all uplifted. I sooooo wish it worked that way.

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I am not really sure what made it such a good day for me, maybe it really wasn't one big thing, but rather a bunch of little things.

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Getting things put away and in order at home, and somewhat clean... that is always a good feeling of accomplishment. I am such a procrastinator, it's ridiculous! You would think, when it feels this good... I would keep it up... but I am stubborn too! What a double edged sword.

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The puppies were behaving... not that they are ever really bad dogs, but they can be very very needy some days. Today they were a little, but they were sooooo patient!

I have freezer meals put away, a really good peace of mind for when I am gone knowing my boys will have some home cooked meals (if they will put them in the oven). Note to self, get self photo with freezer group gals... some months are harder than others, but this month my meal just came together and I actually liked what I made (sometimes I don't like my own cooking... it's still a work in progress, and my freezer group has been so patient... thanks ladies!). I am not a good experimenter, I tend to have more flops than successes, but I love trying out new recipes.

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I am moving forward on my year end closings for the business I do work for... such a blessing to have the work, and the extra little income to supplement, but I always feel stress balancing it between home and family.

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I finished two different newsletter issues; both were kind of self inflicted... I started them up for better communication in the organizations, but allot of work to keep them going each month. I love the design and layout, but dread gathering the information and the deadlines. I am trying to cherish what I love about them, so the things I dread don't cause me to procrastinate. But this too is a challenge for me. So relieved they are done for another 3 weeks, I can breathe!

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A great day topped off with dinner with my family. I am so grateful for my eternal companion. He really balances me!

He keeps me grounded, and is so level headed and sensible.

I wish I could put him in a bottle today and save all his good qualities for those days when our moons are "out of alignment".

Actions speak louder than words...

One of the things I feel really important about is putting family first. And yet, so often my actions don't reflect what I treasure the most. This year it is my goal to work on that. I want my actions to be right in line with what is most important to me. My actions should be showing who I am. Cherish family, cherish who I am.

This week after several communications with my family in Seattle and "my boys", over my Mom's upcoming surgery next Wednesday... I am planning a trip back to Seattle.

She will not be able to lift anything for two weeks, and with my Dad's current troubles with his diabetes and falling (oh my dear), I need to be there to help them through this time.

So in order to leave my responsibilities and still have a sane mind. I HAVE to get things in order.

My strong silent mysterious man has called me twice today already to give me support to go be with my family, and assures me he and the teenager will be just fine, maybe they eat out and have a little more junk food when I am gone, but they will survive. So that is huge to have his unconditional support. I think spending time with family over Christmas helped him to be more compassionate. He likes to stay home and not travel much, and I hope this trip bonded him to the idea that sometimes you have to sacrifice to have what is most important to you.
(It gives me great hope for his upcoming family reunion in June!!!)

So this morning.... instead of working on my to lists at my own pace, cherishing my hot cocoa.

(this is what my strong silent mysterious man thinks I do all day long... this or sleep, ya right!!!)

I put on my super mom shirt and got busy.

(I really think I want a super mom shirt... my goal is to live up to it in 2009)

I feel so productive today before 10am I have...

Swept and mopped the kitchen and entry floors.
Vacuumed the main areas
Pulled all the dirty clothes out of the crevices where they get tucked (a teenagers specialty... cherish, cherish, cherish... he has nice clothes to wear, and is home so I can keep them clean for him)
Got all the garbage out to the curb for pick up
Dishes done, kitchen clean, sink is shiny
Laundry going
Labeled all my freezer meals for a swap tonight
Found the non-christmas decor and it put back out in the dining and living room
Put away all the Christmas boxes that were staged to be packed away
cleaned all the dog dishes
swish and swiped the bathrooms
found the top of my desk
finished getting my church callings responsibilities ready to temp. pass off (this one is hard for me, but my husband reminds and assures me they can cover until I get back)
got all the mail ready to go out
got the seasonal clothes bins out of my bedroom and back in the garage until the next season.
showered, shampoo'd and shining... ready to get all my companies year end work done, so I can be in Seattle next week.

Now I just have to eat all those veggies I bought yesterday between now and next Wed... because there is no hope my boys will fix and eat them while I am gone.

I am cherishing all this energy and motivation!!!
It's going to be a good day!

SPT ~ I resolve to take more self portraits

SPT

I am not a fan of self portraits for a few reasons, but I am older and wiser enough to realize that there are great benefits for taking them now for when I am yet more older and more wise. So I reluctantly continue to take them.

Today the temperatures have warmed up to 44 degrees, which means I will finally be able to get out and do some errands... get the late birthday packages to the post office, the bank, get my hair cut, get ink for the printer, and work on the lists I have been creating while stuck at home these past couple of days.

As I tried to sleep last night, I thought I was having a heart attack... my chest was tight, and I was aching on my left side. So scary, but it didn't really hurt, just very annoying. This morning I could recognize it was my muscles, because I could hardly move... WHAT? I have been focusing on my Wii Fit, doing yoga and strength training and aerobics but to be this sore??? Crazy!!! But cool!!!

Then I mentioned it to my strong silent mysterious man and he reminded me it was probably from the snow shoveling.

Of course!

But all my hopes and dreams that I could be getting really fit from a game - dashed!

DRAT!!!

Happy Birthday ~ Ralph!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

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Today is my brothers birthday.

He really knows how to have fun!!!

He is the one who invented the "birthday, holiday, week, extravaganza"!!!

Where you get to celebrate your birthday for the entire week, you know asking for special service, and favors, and getting to do what you want all week.

I heard rumors that he might be updating the "week" to be "month"... but I am not sure that will go over well with those closest to him.

We will see.

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This past year, my brother was a grandpa again... also known tenderly as "Poppy".

I think that was self appointed... I hate to tell him, sometimes they call you what they want, no matter what you want... but I bet Poppy will be an easy one to pronounce, so it will probably stick... and so fitting!!!!!

He has two great boys, who I think, were blessed to receive the best parts of him.... the big giving heart, and a witty sense of humor.

While we were together at Christmas time, I heard him say, the only thing he has to do EVERYDAY is tell his wife how much he loves her, and give her hugs!

It was so sweet, he has the best wifey, and I am so happy he loves her as much as I do! It brought tears to my eyes, and I couldn't look at him the same way the rest of the trip. Very cool for a guy!

I love him so much, and miss living near him.

He is such an example of how to grow from your trials, not take life too seriously, cherish each moment, love what you do, and do what you love!

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Happy Birthday to my brother!!!

Last day of vacation and back to School and routine...

Yesterday was a beautiful Sunday, cold but mostly sunny.

A new schedule, the 1pm meeting... which I had already evaluated and discovered, I never like change, it's either too early, too late, or breaks up the whole day... but I know we ALWAYS adapt and end up finding something we really like about every schedule.

So I made the decision I wouldn't complain or murmur about the new schedule, and just wait to find all those good things about it quicker!

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But then when we got to church, NO BODY was happy about the meeting time and most were very willing to voice an opinion about it. I just tried to be quiet and not waver from my attempts to embrace it early in the game... this too shall pass.

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We had an opportunity to fast for our Relief Society President who had a stroke hours after her youngest sons wedding in Sacramento CA the week before Christmas. She has been so much on my mind and I loved hearing all the sweet prayers for her during our meetings.

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I went over so much church business, getting my schedule and lists and talks organized, this time of year is super busy for me going to Ward Conferences and attending (and teaching) lessons for the youth in the Stake. It is fun and exciting, but totally different, and I have to pay close attention and take good notes for myself so that while I am traveling I take away from the meetings what I need for my calling, as well as what I need to build up myself, and to teach my family as well... so I struggle for balance this time of year.

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Later in the evening I had felt a pulled muscle in my back and by 7pm I was hurting so badly, I was just hoping to be able to walk the next morning. I have no idea what, where, when or how I did it.... but it was bad.

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I tossed for hours and at 2am was thrust from my bed hearing a sick dog in the other room! That is the worst way to wake up anyway, but with a pulled back muscle it's even more dreadful.

By 2:10am everyone in the house was up to see what the commotion was all about.

We had gone to get dog food on Saturday only to discover our regular brand which we had spent years finding that would be low on the poop scooping, good for the dogs, filling but also affordable.... was bought out by another company and discontinued. Not all dog foods are created equal and finding the right one is a huge process, and yes it matters, ALLOT! Apparently there is a huge political game in the dog food industry too... ugggg!

So in changing dog foods we discovered the hard way, the one we chose doesn't agree with one of them... luckily the other two were fine. Not that it really helped at 2am, but I am sure around noon the next day I will be appreciative it was only one of them.

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When the alarm went off at 5:30am, I tried to roll over, only to have one of the dogs whimpering to go back outside... so I flung my legs back out of bed, this was an opportunity not to miss... as I had discovered at 2am... and as I tried to clear my eyes and see what was on our sliding glass door, I opened it to have snow blowing in on my bare feet.

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Now I was awake, I only thought I would be crawling back in bed! NOT!!

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The good news was my back was fine, not any more pain... it must have been a pinched nerve or something.

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How could we get THIS MUCH SNOW in only a few hours?

After daylight I realized it was mostly drifted snow, but we still waiting for the announcement of at least a delay from the school! At the last minute, with no announcement, my strong silent mysterious man took the teenager to school and headed off to work.

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They don't expect much, but at 8:45am it's still snowing.

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So I will get back on my regular routine as planned. It's so distracting for me to try and work inside when it's snowing outside. I love the snow!

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It will be gone before Wednesday as the temps are getting warm again, so for now

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

Marley & Me the Movie...

Saturday I went to see Marley & Me the movie... it would be my first time watching a movie after reading a book.

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So afterward I had to call my Mom and share with her all the stuff they left out, how I felt about it, and all the differences from what was in my head to what was portraited on the screen. A very new experience for me... I have always been kind of jealous for those who could do that... now I am among them! So cool!

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I just didn't like that I had to cry, I knew I would, it was inevitable... but I don't like to cry.

I was unavoidable.