Getting to Know You part 12

Q: Will you be staying up to see the new year come in tonight?

My A: Probably not. I haven't in years. The kids go to bed, and I go to bed too. I'll party tomorrow. Happy New Year!

Please leave a comment with your own answer to this question.

Betelehemu

I just had to quickly share this really cool Nigerian Christmas carol. It is so full of energy and excitement! What a great way to rejoice in the birth of our Savior! Merry Christmas!

for a time

This week is looking super, SUPER busy. Lots and lots to do. Happily, I am not feeling overwhelmed about all of this right now. But in an effort to keep sane this week I've decided to stay away from the computer for a time. Definitely for this week...but it could even last into the new year. I'm just planning to take one day at a time. I am very much looking forward to Christmas!


I might even come back with another new look for my blog. Something for the new year. Amy from A Common Place Life has started a new blog, Patchwork Weblog, all about how to enhance a blog. I followed her tutorial on how to change background color to get my green that I like so much. Thanks Amy!


Have a wonderful week and holiday season! I'll catch you later!

Getting to Know You part 11

Q: Have you ever traveled or even lived outside of the country of your birth?

My A: Nope. {sigh} Maybe someday. For now it sure is fun thinking about all the places I would like to go!

Please leave a comment with your own answer to this question. I'd love to hear any stories you've got to share.

Edit: If you have never traveled or lived outside your country, where would you most like to visit? I would like to go to Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. After that, I have a great big long list...

O Christmas Tree

On Saturday we went as a family to go cut a Christmas tree. It's a tradition of ours that started with our very first Christmas when James and I had been married for only a few months. We started it then because we both REALLY wanted a real Christmas tree, but knew we could not afford to go buy one. We had heard of people cutting their own trees in the National Forest, but didn't know much about it. We found out that a permit only costs $5. That was in our budget!

We bought a permit, got a map, and headed out to the woods. I have to admit that I didn't really enjoy our time spent getting a tree. It was so nice to spend time with my new husband, but I was cold, and pregnant, and not feeling completely great. We found what we thought would be a perfect tree and managed to get it home strapped to the top of our little old car. When we got it all set up in our apartment it looked funny. I mean funny in a comical and strange sort of way. It was not what we had pictured. But it was what we had. Our decorations were pretty meager as well. We bought one box of small colored glass balls and one strand of colored lights. It just wasn't enough, so we sat down together at our little dining table and made some simple star ornaments out of construction paper and glitter. I think we made 20 or so. Now, 10 years later, I only have one left, and it is faded and misshapen. But it is one of my most treasured ornaments.

That funny looking tree of ours really grew on us. It smelled good. It still had pretty pine cones attached to it. And it was ours. Somehow it made us feel more like a family and not just two people who were blissfully learning a whole lot about each other.

Our next Christmas was quite different. We had a new baby, a new job, and a new home. Since we had so much, we decided to go buy a nice tree at a regular tree lot in town. The cheapest one there was $40. We bought it and took it home. Within just a couple of days it was dropping pine needles like crazy! We found needles everywhere! We were still finding and cleaning up needles from that tree by the time the next Christmas came around. We cut our own tree that year. And have every year since. Well, really James has. Because of babies and small children, I've almost always managed to get out of going to cut the tree. Until this year. James and the kids really wanted me to go, and I knew that Little Man would love the experience, so I said I would go. I wasn't really looking forward to it. But the day came, and I went. I had a good time. A really good time. Things didn't quite go as smoothly as planned. But it was OK! At one point we were all crammed into our Jeep driving through the snow trying to get to the place that the map said was designated for cutting Christmas trees. All of a sudden we came to a dead end. The road we were on did not connect to the one we wanted to be on like it looked like on the map. The kids were starting to ask, "When are we going to stop?" We didn't know. Little Man said, "Out? Out?" I explained to him that we were going to go find a tree to cut down. He looked out the window, pointed and very excitedly yelled, "Tree!" We were in the middle of the forest surrounded by trees. Why should we not stop right there and get one of these trees? He is a smart kid, that one. On we went, slowly working our way back to the main road so that we could go to a completely different area. The snow on the trees was very beautiful. And we were going slow enough (about 10mph) that we actually had time to look a little closer at things as we drove by. We were all squished against each other, but no one was complaining about it. We were warm and munching on the snack we had brought along. I was so content! So happy to have my most favorite people that close to me. I told them so. I felt so good, that I just had to sing. I sang one fun Christmas song after the next. I mostly sang by myself, everyone else was busy eating, but every now and then one or two would sing a little bit with me. It was wonderful! We did finally get our tree and it still looks a little funny. But we love it. And I am very much looking forward to being able to go cut a tree next year!

Something new for Christmas

We are definitely getting into the Christmas swing of things around here. We are singing and listening to Christmas music every day, our tree is up and decorated, our stockings are hung, and we're almost done shopping for or making all our gifts. So I had to redo my blog too!

No, I really didn't have to. In fact I probably should have spent the time doing something else. But I didn't. And so far, I don't regret it! Tomorrow morning when I'm running around like crazy trying to find everything everyone needs for the day, but has managed to lose and only Mom can find, I might have some second thoughts about the time I spent on the computer today. But there were some new things I've been wanting to try and some old things I've been wanting to get rid of. There are still a few changes I want to make. But I'll save those for another day.

The bell on the header is from a vintage Christmas card I found on Flickr. (Thanks for the suggestion, Cocoa!) As you can see, I only used a part of it. I'm pretty happy with the way it all turned out. I might play around with it a little bit more, but maybe not. I really am trying to keep life simple.....so what I have will have to do. I really do like the blue background! It is such a pretty color!!!

Edit: I don't know why I called the background blue. It's green! I guess there is a little blue to it, but mostly green. Still such a pretty color though!

Getting to Know You part 10

Q: Sunrise or Sunset? Do you have a preference?

My A: I have always loved watching both, but sunrise is my very favorite! When I watch the sunrise I feel peaceful, hopeful, excited, and energetic all at the same time.

Please leave a comment with your own answer to this question!

Advent Envelopes

I finished my advent envelopes on Monday! Just in time. We sang our first song last night. And it was nice. I'm looking forward to singing the rest. I think the kiddos are too. I know they are looking forward to choosing an envelope and finding out what song they have chosen.

I had considered putting numbers on the envelopes. I think most advent calendars involve numbers. Maybe that is part of the definition of an advent calendar. I should find out. But I wanted this to be a random kind of thing. Definitely a surprise kind of thing.

Here is the list of songs we will be singing this year. I think I will change it a little bit for next year...probably every year after that too. Wait, wait, wait! I'm getting way ahead of myself here. Just wait and see how it all goes this time around!

All of the songs come from the Children's Songbook or the Hymnal. Both from my church. If you click on each title it will take you to a page where you can print out the sheet music or you can listen to the song. If you click play as it is it will just play a piano accompaniment. If you click on "words and music" on the upper left-hand side of the page, then click play, you can hear a nicer recorded version with actual people singing. All of this is available through the Church's Music Website. I LOVE THAT SITE!!! It's amazing!

Away in a Manger

Christmas Bells

Have a Very Merry Christmas!

He Sent His Son

Little Jesus

Mary's Lullaby

Oh, Hush Thee, My Baby

Once within a Lowly Stable

Picture a Christmas

Samuel Tells of the Baby Jesus

Sleep, Little Jesus

Stars Were Gleaming

The Nativity Song

The Shepherd's Carol

There Was Starlight on the Hillside

When Joseph Went to Bethlehem

Who is the Child?

Angels We Have Heard on High

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

It Came upon the Midnight Clear

Joy to the World

O Little Town of Bethlehem

Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful

Silent Night

The First Noel

Happy Thanksgiving!

Real Life

Thank you to those of you who commented on my last post. You are all so wonderful! I had thought about apologizing for letting my stress overflow onto my blog...but I won't. A lot of blogs I read are about lots of wonderful things. So wonderful that I get the impression that life is just perfect in other homes and parts of the world. Logically I know this is not true, but I still get that feeling sometimes.

My life is really not perfect. It is really not terrible either! I am very grateful for the life and circumstances I have been given. But it isn't perfect. I have bad days, and I make mistakes, and crummy things happen sometimes. They come and then they go. Some of them I try really hard to forget. Some I try to remember so that I can learn from them and try to do a little better next time. So, occasionally I am going to blog about my imperfect life and the things I learn.

I learned, or was reminded, of a few good things on that stressful day last week.

Sunshine is very wonderful and I had been missing it.

I very easily forget cleaning tips that I've learned and used in the past,
and should make them a habit, not just a good idea now and then.

I really don't have to do everything.

Oh yeah, I want to improve myself...I don't always want to be just like
this. It is ok to make changes here and there.

I need to vent. Simply talking or writing about what is troubling me
does wonders for the way I am feeling. As soon as I published that last
post I felt much better about things and I was able to get over feeling so
overwhelmed.

Prayer is ALWAYS a good idea. I can't think of anything that helps
more.

I want this to be a blog about the real me. I can't be anyone else. And I'm pretty happy about that.

Oh, one more quick thing. I'm almost done with my Advent Envelopes. The envelopes themselves are all done and I'm about halfway finished with the little cards to go inside. I can't wait!

Getting to Know You part 9

Q: What are you doing to get ready for Thanksgiving?

My A: Going crazy trying to clean my house! And trying to stay focused on the things I am thankful for and the really wonderful blessings I have been given and not be distracted by other things that really don't matter.

Please leave a comment with your own answer to this question.

Ok, I'm going to add another question or two today. Where do you start when you have a huge, overwhelming task to accomplish? I am facing such a task today. Actually it's a whole bunch of smaller tasks that are all piled up into one gigantic mountain of a task. In my mind it is just about impossible. It seems so overwhelming to me that I don't know where to start, and so I'm just NOT starting. That doesn't help anything!!! Does this happen to anyone else? If so, what do you do? I know, and I tell myself, that if I will just start I'll feel better and I'll accomplish something (as opposed to nothing!), and life will be looking up. Maybe not perfect, but certainly better than it was before. How do you take that first step?

Ribbon Tag Toy for Babies

Christmas is coming quicker than I had realized. I kept going along thinking, "It's only November, I've got plenty of time..." Why do I do this to myself??? Thanksgiving is next week!!!

So over the weekend I started and finished one Christmas gift! It is for one of my very littlest nieces and I hope she likes it.

My Mom gave one of these to my youngest when he was pretty little and he loved it. Then I saw this idea, and decided to try something like it. My babies all loved the crinkly noises that plastic makes. I just used an empty wipes package and stuffed it inside the square. It measures approximately 6x6 inches.

Today I'm Thankful For...

very helpful and kind people,
a daughter who says, "Ooooh, Yay!" when I say, "You need to practice the piano."
sunshine,
a husband who loves me, no matter what,
prayer and the peace it brings,
wonderful parents,
pumpkin pie,
and a nice warm house,
just to name a few.

Getting to Know You part 8

Q: What kind of jewelry, if any, are you wearing right now?

A: One ring on each ring finger. My wedding ring and a CTR ring. That's all I usually wear.

Please leave a comment with your own answer to this question!

1 Year, 12 Quilts

I joined a virtual quilting bee!!!

I am SOOOO excited!!!

I've seen lots of people around blogland that were participating in virtual quilting bees and I really wanted to but never could find out about one in time to join in. But then Alissa and Kristen started the Block Party Quilt Along and started a Flickr group to go with it where lots of new quilting bees could be organized.

I jumped right in!!! And now I'm part of the 1 Year, 12 Quilts virtual quilting bee with 11 other amazing ladies!

What is a virtual quilting bee? I had never heard of one until about a year ago when I got busy with blogs. Here is my basic definition. Usually 12 ladies (I have come across a couple of quilting men) make up a quilting bee. Each one is assigned a specific month. When one person's month comes they send enough fabric to make a quilt block to each of the other bee members and they also usually request a certain kind of quilt block. A log cabin block, for example. The members then make that block with the fabric they were sent and then send the completed block back to the person of the month. Then the next month someone else gets to take a turn, and so on. By the end each person will have 12 quilt blocks to make into a whole quilt. Of course, there are all kinds of variations on quilting bees, but that is basically how it all works.

1 Year, 12 Quilts will start in January. My month will be March. I've got a few ideas about what kind of block I want to request, but I don't know about fabric yet. I'm already having fun thinking about it and wondering what kinds of blocks others will choose. I can't wait to start!

Getting to Know You part 7

Q: What did you eat for supper last night?

A: French toast and applesauce.

Please leave a comment with your own answer to this question!

Influences

The Wordfull Wednesday topic for today has given me a lot to think about. This is the assignment from Chocolate on My Cranium: Besides the Savior, Heavenly Father, and your family, list ten of the most important and influential people in your life. Write the reasons why they are and have been so important to you. Some of these will be people you have known, but some might be people you have only heard of or read about." (Mary Ellen Edmunds, Peculiar in a Good Way, pg.23)

This is what I've come up with.

George Bean - I don't remember not knowing George. We grew up together and were in the same school and church classes. George was born with spina bifida. He taught me so much about what a person is able to do regardless of their physical abilities or disabilities. We played together as kids, inside and outside. When we got into Jr. High and high school we danced together, wheelchair and all. We went on a few dates and he was a perfect gentleman, he even opened all my doors. He was a wheelchair racer. He went to college and lived on his own. He married a wonderful girl in the Temple. He had faith. And such a strong spirit. George passed away at age 25 and I have no doubt that he is still working hard and accomplishing great things.

Dwila Perriton - Dwila was my visiting teacher about 8 years ago. She taught me what it really means to be a visiting teacher. She loved me. She helped me whenever she could. She even taught me how to piece quilt blocks. I've been hooked on quilting ever since.

Cecily Dixon - Cecily is my neighbor and my dear friend. She has been a mom for five years longer than I have. It is so nice having someone with just that much more experience right down the street. I can't even begin to tell all that I have learned from Cecily.

Marjorie Pay Hinckley - Sister Hinckley amazes me! Her faith, cheerfulness, wisdom, hard work, and love are just a few of her characteristics that I would like to emulate. I was only able to listen to her speak once in her life, but I loved every minute of it. What a sweet example she is to me.

Fred Rogers - I grew up watching and loving Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. As I got older and learned more about Fred Rogers I loved him even more. Here is one of my favorite quotes from Mr. Rogers that is very fitting for today's topic, "If you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person."

Mrs. Christiansen - I was a daydreamer when I was a kid. And so I took a long time to get things done, especially school work. I had to spend a lot of recesses inside finishing my work. Mrs. Christiansen was my 4th grade teacher. She suggested that I set a timer at home while doing my homework and try to beat it. It worked!!! I still struggle with getting my work done quickly. When it seems to get especially bad, I use the timer trick, and it still works.

Robert McCloskey - My very favorite book as a kid was Make Way For Ducklings. I've loved books and reading since then. And I've always wanted to go to Boston.

Lance Farmer - Bishop Farmer was my bishop when I was in high school. He encouraged and expected me to do good things. He also set a wonderful example of doing what the Lord asks of us, even if it is hard.

Cathy Clark - I gained a lot of confidence in high school. My choir teacher, Mrs. Clark, had a lot to do with that. She was a wonderful choir director but she did so much more. She loved and encouraged her students. She got to know us and gave so much of herself to us.

David A. Bednar - One of my favorite speakers is Elder David A. Bednar. I first got to listen to Elder Bednar when I was attending Ricks College and he was the new President there. I loved listening to him speak then. He wanted the students to really get to know the scriptures and strongly encouraged us to bring them to every devotional. At the beginning of each devotional he would ask to see our scriptures. It was quite inspiring to watch as thousands of students lifted their scriptures into the air. In one particular talk in 1998, he was talking about the future of Ricks College and he compared it to Nephi's experience in being commanded by the Lord to build a ship. President Bednar said, "In essence, then, Nephi was commanded and instructed to build something he had never built before in order to go someplace he had never been before. May I suggest that Nephi's experience in building that ship is a model for us at Ricks College as we prepare for and move into the next century. We, too, must build something we have never built before in order to go someplace we have never been before." I was so impressed when I heard him say this that I wrote that last line on a blank page in the back of my scriptures. This quote immediately came to mind 2 and a half years later when I heard the announcement that Ricks College would become a 4 year university called BYU-Idaho. It also comes to my mind whenever I am faced with new challenges that threaten to overwhelm me. Almost every time I hear Elder Bednar speak I come away feeling so enlightened! I learn so much from him. His last talk in the October General Conference was another one of those. So wonderful!!!

Fun Clipart

I've been finding some fun old pictures lately like the one I posted on Halloween. Here are a few of the sites I've found. Sometimes you have to explore a little to find the vintage pictures, but it's worth the effort.

Karen's Whimsey

Vintage Holiday Crafts

Public Domain Clipart

The Vintage Moth

Happy Halloween!

Getting to Know You part 6

Q: What is your favorite part of Halloween?

A: Halloween is not my favorite holiday, but I do love the chocolate! I also really enjoy carving pumpkins.

Please leave a comment with your own answer to this question!

Pass the Pumpkin

I guess family games have been on my mind a lot lately. We like playing games as a family. But it can be a little difficult deciding what to play sometimes. Everyone has different favorites and dislikes and abilities and attention spans. So I am always on the lookout for new games to try that we can all enjoy together.

Last night for Family Home Evening I came up with a new version of hot potato for us to try. We all sat in a circle and passed around a small pumpkin instead of a potato. I turned on some music, let it play for a minute or so then turned it off again. In regular hot potato games the person holding the potato (or pumpkin) would just be out. But in this game the person holding the pumpkin gets to draw one thing on the pumpkin. An eye, a nose, an ear....whatever they want. (James pointed out to me that everyone will want to hold on to the pumpkin as long as they can instead of passing it on quickly. He was right. But usually a quick reminder was enough to get the pumpkin going again.) After drawing on the pumpkin that person takes a turn at running the music. We had them turn away so that they couldn't see where the pumpkin was. It helped to keep things a little more random.

This is what we ended up with:

Isn't he cute? Perfect for Halloween! We only did the one pumpkin last night. We all had a good time together and now have a fun new addition to our porch.

What kind of animal am I?

While organizing our games last week I came across a favorite. I made it a couple of years ago. Since it was out I thought I would take a couple of pictures and share it.

Without looking, everyone gets one card taped to their back.

Then we have to try to figure out what animal is on our back. We take turns asking questions. But they have to be yes or no questions. Things like,

"Do I live on a farm?"

"Am I a mammal?"

"Do I have feathers?"

The first person to figure out their animal wins. Everyone else still really wants to know what animal they are, so we just keep going till we are all done.

We love this game! It is great for Family Home Evening. Or for rainy/snowy/cold afternoons when the kids are bored. I also like it because the kids don't fight with each other while we are playing. They want to know what animal they are, but they also know they can't figure it out without help so they are as nice as can be.

Friday's Fix-up: games

This isn't much of a fix-up but at least it's something, I guess. This closet has always been a problem area. It is finally starting to shape up! This week I straightened up the two bottom shelves. They weren't terribly messy, but that tub really needed to be organized!

Nice and neat! (that blob of black stuff is just some black paint that some child thought should be there.)

I'm very happy to say that the next shelf up doesn't need any straightening! Last winter when I posted my very first Friday's Fix-up I decided to store our games all on their sides (except a select few that really couldn't be on their side) in the hopes that they would be easier to put away and would then become less of a mess. It worked! The games are still nicely stored on their sides and we even tend to get some of them out more often because they are easier to get out too!

Next week I'll do that last shelf and this closet will be done! Hooray!!! It feels so good to be making some progress!

If you have a fix-up to share please leave a comment telling about it or with a link to your own blog post about it. I will add your link to the bottom of this post.

Getting to Know You part 5

Q: What was the last song you had running through your mind?

A: I Think We're Alone Now

I just got home from the grocery store...I think that's where it came from. I really don't remember hearing it though! Brains do such funny things sometimes!!

Please leave a comment with your own answer to this question!

What's in my name?

For Wordfull Wednesday today, we were asked to explain our first name. Why we have it and what it means.

My name is Aimee. It is the french form of the name Amy and means beloved. I've always loved that it is french! And spelled just a little differently. My parents really liked the name Amy, but then saw it spelled Aimee and liked that even better. Growing up I rarely ever heard of anyone else named Aimee. Just lots of Amy's. My mom even cut out a picture from the newspaper in 1983 showing the family of Ferdinand Marcos, including a niece named Aimee who looked like she was about my age. I still have the clipping. In the last year or so it seems that I've run into all kinds of Aimee's. Even one with the same maiden name!

To read other's Wordfull Wednesday entries, visit Chocolate on My Cranium.

Scraps, Beautiful, Scraps!!!

Last week was a very nice week. On top of every other good thing that went on, I won a bag of scraps from Sew, Mama, Sew. And oh my, are there some amazingly beautiful scraps! This picture really doesn't show it all very well. My favorites are hiding way back there on the right. Four pieces of Heather Ross's Far Far Away fabric line!!! I knew I wouldn't ever buy any because it's SO expensive. But it is so pretty!!! And now I have a little bit to look at and do something with, if I can ever decide what to do with it.

I've had lots of fun just looking at all of these different scraps! Thank you Sew, Mama, Sew!!!

Getting to Know You part 4

Q: How tall are you?

A: 5' 5"

Please leave a quick comment with your own answer to this question!

A Day Off

Today my super, amazing, and wonderful husband has taken all the kids out for the day and I get a day off. I'll be spending most of it here.


I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

The Pledge of Allegiance

Instead of a fix-up

I had every intention of getting my fix-up done for today. But I kept putting it off and having other things to do. Then I thought I would try to do it real quick this morning, but I've decided to do other things today. It is my birthday, after all. So I'll have a fix-up next week.

I wasn't going to blog about my birthday, but I've had some really nice thoughts today and wanted to share them. Mostly I've felt very loved. Encouraged. Liked. (which is very different from being loved I think, and just as nice.) And thought of. I don't quite feel deserving of all of this, but I'm very grateful for it.

The picture is of a card I received. It's so lovely. Inside was a quote from Louisa May Alcott. It fits me so perfectly that I had to make it part of my blog. It's at the top of the left sidebar.

Thanks for loving and liking and thinking of me today! It's been a very nice birthday!

Getting to Know You part 3

Q: If you could only eat one food all day long, what would it be?

A: pumpkin pie! mmmmm

Please leave a comment with your own answer to this question!

Getting to Know You part 2

Q: What time of day were you born?

A: 11:42 pm

Please leave a quick comment with your own answer to this question!

Park City Girl Quilt Festival

Amy at Park City Girl is hosting a Quilt Festival. So I'm blogging about this little quilt again so that I can participate.

Last spring I joined in a swap from Creative Chicks and got some great fabric from my partner Michelle. We both enjoy making skirts for ourselves and daughters so that is what we had in mind when choosing fabric to swap. I made a cute skirt for my 3 year old, and still had some fabric left over. So I decided to make a little doll quilt out of the rest.

I used an old white pillowcase to make the border. It is SO soft! This was my first time quilting with a walking foot. I enjoyed the process and really like the way it turned out!

For the back I used orange with a very small white polka dot. I had just enough of the bright flowery print to make the binding. I tried sewing the binding on by machine with this quilt. It looks ok. I am very far from being a perfectionist so this was alright with me. It was very fast, and I really liked that.

I love this little quilt! My girls use it for their dolls, but sometimes I just like to pick it up and look at it. It always makes me smile!!

Friday's Fix-up: I can see the floor!

This week I tackled the bottom of our hall closet.



I sorted out the puzzles and they are now stored in the top of the closet where little people cannot dump them out. I took everything else out and the only thing that got to go back was our bocce game. Don't you love that carpet? I think it must be the only place in the whole house that still has the original carpet.

Now if I can only keep it from turning into a dumping ground again, all will be well! Next week I'll move up a little higher in this closet and organize a shelf or two.

If you have a fix-up to share leave a comment telling about it or leave a link to your blog post about it. I will add the links to the bottom of this post.

Lynsey

Getting to Know You

One of the things I like so much about blogging is getting to know other people. Some are new to me, and some are people I've known for a long time, but blogging helps me to learn more about a person. So I'm going to try something new on my blog and I'm calling it Getting to Know You. Every Thursday, and maybe on other days too, I will post a simple question. I would like you to answer it in a comment. You could leave a one word answer or a few sentences. Something quick. I just think this could be fun!

My question for today is:

What color shoes are you wearing right now?

My answer for today is:

BLUE

Six Little Words

Today's assignment from Chocolate On My Cranium is to describe ourselves in only six words.

I am very much a girl.

Balance and Prophets

I haven't blogged all week. I missed it! I have to admit that I am very happy just to be writing another post.

I've been working this week on finding the right balance. Life changes now and then, throwing new things at you or taking other things away. And I have to adjust and shift things around to find a new balance. I think I'm starting to get the hang of this particular balance. Maybe a little more tweaking, but it's looking and feeling good so far.

My mind has also been occupied by thoughts of this weekend. My parents are coming to visit. I am so excited to see them! And I get to listen to a prophet's words. The 179th Semiannual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will be held tomorrow and Sunday, Oct. 3-4. I am so grateful for a modern day prophet to give us counsel and guidance from the Lord!

President Thomas S. Monson

Friday's Fix-up: clearing out the junk

I have too much stuff. I try to keep it spread around the house in different places so that it doesn't look so bad. But there is one place in my laundry room that is really just a pile of stuff. It is in boxes, but they are overflowing and it is not a nice thing to look at.


My goal was to get rid of at least one box.


I got two!!! It seemed like such a daunting task, but when I started out thinking that I didn't have to do it all at once it wasn't so scary. I actually had a hard time stopping at just the two boxes. But I really had to move on to other things.

For next week I'm going to do more clearing out. Maybe another box, or maybe stuff from some other part of the house.

If you have a fix-up to share, leave a comment telling about it and/or leave a link to your post. Sorry, but I still can't get Mr. Linky to work. If you leave a comment with a link I will come back and add your link to the bottom of this post.

Friday's Fix-up: my cheap idea almost worked

My bathroom has absolutely no decorations. None! It doesn't even have a nice shower curtain, just a very bland cream colored plastic one. The closest thing to any type of decoration is the light fixture. It has yellow roses. So I thought I'd go with that theme. I like yellow bathrooms.
Last week I found a flat sheet at a thrift store with yellow roses on it that match the light fixture almost exactly. It cost $1.27.

So I planned to make it into a nice shower curtain to cover up the bland plastic one. It was going to be so beautiful! And then I washed and dried it...........with a blue crayon!!!

Aaaagghhh!!! I have know idea how that silly crayon could have gotten into that particular load of laundry! I know, I know, I have five children. I should know by now that I need to check for crayons and other strange things in the laundry. But I didn't, and there went my beautiful shower curtain. So I moved on to the rest of my plan. The sheet was bigger than the shower curtain so I planned to use the extra on this empty wall space like Vanessa of V and Co. does.

That part turned out nice. It is in the bathroom with very crummy lighting, so you'll just have to trust me that the wall looks way better now.

Again, I found the hoops at a thrift store. Quite a while ago, though. The larger one cost 49 cents and the smaller ones cost 19 cents. Like I said, cheap! I think I'll have to keep checking for another sheet with yellow roses. I still would like to give my idea a try.

edited to add: I need to do some more clearing out of stuff. So for next week my goal is to get rid of one box of stuff from my laundry/sewing room.

If you have a fix-up to share, leave a comment telling about it or with a link to your own blog post. For some reason, I can't get Mr. Linky to work at the moment. As soon as I can I'll add it to this post.

Cathie

Who Am I?

For today's Wordfull Wednesday we are supposed to describe who we are and even include a picture of ourselves. Visit Chocolate on My Cranium for more Wordfull Wednesday participants.

Cocoa said this would be hard. She was right.

As I started thinking about who I am and what I wanted to write about myself I immediately thought of some of my less desirable characteristics. I am easily distracted, I procrastinate, I'm not very organized. Things like that. I quickly stopped myself. Cocoa also said that we should show our beauty. What is there about me that is beautiful? I had to think.

I am almost 31 and am more comfortable with myself than I think I ever have been. It's a nice feeling to be happy being myself. I'm not always thrilled with myself. Sometimes I do things right and sometimes I don't.

And yet I would not be the person I am now without the person I was last year, or 5 or 10 or 20 years ago. So I am going to share lots of pictures of me. All kinds of different me's that add up to the me I am now.

Me at age 1.

I was the first child born to my wonderful parents. My mom (and my grandma and a couple of aunts) made most of my clothes when I was little. My mom taught me how to sew when I was old enough. I love to sew! I'm still learning a lot, but I very much enjoy it.

I very quickly gained two brothers. This picture was taken the day my brother Sam was blessed. I was 3 and my brother Ben was just about 18 months old. I did finally get two sisters. Heidi is 6 and a half years younger than me. (I remember jumping up and down when I learned I had a sister.) And Dixie is almost 11 years younger than me.

This picture of my family was taken at our family reunion this summer. It was SO wonderful to be with all of them. Oh, I love them!

I was a pretty quiet kid. I sang to myself a lot. And daydreamed a lot. I still do when I have a quiet moment. I also grew up with a large strawberry patch and a few lilac bushes in the yard. Those were some of my favorite places to sit and imagine. Strawberries and lilacs are still two of my very favorite things.

I got to go with my Dad on a trip to Seattle when I was 14. He took this picture of me in our hotel room. We had great conversations on that trip, and a few others I was able to go on with him. I still love talking to my Dad. And I love maps, traveling, and exploring new places.

I graduated from high school in 1997. Though I would never want to go back to high school, it was a great growing experience for me. Right after my freshman year of high school I moved from a small town in Idaho to Denver and a much larger high school. I spent more time with my brothers and came to depend on them quite a bit. I had to really decide what I believed and had to stand up for it. I landed the lead role in the school musical when I was a Jr. and gained a lot of self confidence from that and many other experiences. Now I am able to lead singing time for the Primary kids at church every Sunday and it isn't scary to me. I also met the boy who would one day be my husband. In fact we hung out quite a bit and dated off and on.

This is us when I was a senior and he was getting ready to leave on his mission. (I know it looks like an engagement picture, but it really wasn't.) I didn't tell him that I would wait for him. And I didn't. I wrote him a "Dear John" after he had been gone for 1 year. I did, however, realize my mistake. I broke up with the other guy and wrote back to James a couple of months before he came home. I learned a lot then. I came to appreciate James so much more than I had before. I realized that he really did have the qualities I wanted in a husband. Now I know that he has even more wonderful qualities that I didn't even think about at the time.

This is me as a new mother at age 21. I am so glad I'm not a new mother any more. I'm still learning a lot about being a mom, and there are lots of new things coming. But I do love being a mom. It has taught me and changed me more than any other experience I've had.

This is me reeling in a salmon in Puget Sound this summer. Yes, it was cold that day! James and I went to Whidbey Island for a few days to celebrate our 10th anniversary. As we were talking about what we would like to do on our little getaway James said that he would really like to go salmon fishing. He loves fishing. I don't mind fishing so much, but I am terrified of water and get pretty nervous out in a boat. James asked me if I would be ok with salmon fishing and I told him that "without kids, I can handle it." I really wanted to explore some of the little towns on the island and do some window shopping. James really does not like shopping. I asked if he would be too bored with that. He said, "Without kids, I can handle it."

So we went fishing and I really enjoyed it. I even caught the first fish! I'm learning that some things might not be as scary as I had thought.

And so this is me now at age 30. I wonder who I will be after the next 30 years. I'm excited to find out.