Optimistic Mondays – The Kitchen Floor

I love to live in a clean house. However, cleaning house is not my favorite thing to do. I don’t thrive on it. It’s not what I do when I’m stressed, or mad, or need a distraction. Sometimes I wish I was the type of woman that, when faced with a problem of some sorts says, “I have to go clean something.” But I’m not.

It’s a necessary evil for me. My least favorite place to clean is the kitchen floor. But it’s exactly that same kitchen floor that drives me the most crazy when it’s dirty. I can’t stand walking across the floor in socks or bare feet, and having something stick to the bottom of my feet. Or the sound of crunching cereal as I grind a piece into thousands of little dust particles.

To properly clean the floor, it takes several steps. I remove all the chairs around the table, putting them in the living room. Next, I sweep the floor. I’m always amazed at the pile of crumbs I end up with. Yikes!

After sweeping, I get out the swiffer. It’s shocking how much this can pick up. I just swept for Pete’s sake! Then I finally move onto actually mopping, down on hands and knees. At least I have knee pads, to save my poor knees from the tile floor. Once again, I look into the bucket upon completion, and can’t believe how dirty the water is. Three steps later, I’m done.

Wonder upon wonder, I feel a deep satisfaction putting the chairs back around the table, and knowing I don’t have to worry about stepping on something that will stab into my foot. At least not for about another hour, when the kids get up from their naps.

But, as always, there are wonderful things about scrubbing the kitchen floor, and for cleaning the rest of the house, too. It’s a great way to get some exercise. I’m usually sweating before I’m done, and I can feel my stomach muscles are tight too. One of my arms was holding up my body weight (weight lifting?) while the other one was scrubbing. Lifting chairs = more exercise.

In addition to the exercise factor, having a freshly cleaned house just makes me feel good. I love walking from room to room and seeing my progress, knowing I accomplished something that day. And even better, is when my hubby gets home and says it looks really nice. That makes it all worth it.

So go and clean something. It will make you feel wonderful!

Happy Monday.

Optimistic Mondays – I Love Laundry Day!

For most women out there, Laundry Day is not something to look forward to. Some women have one day a week, and spend the entire day doing every batch of laundry, one after another. Other women like the “one load a day” approach. Both seem to work, depending on your personality and schedule. I’ve gone down the middle of the two, and have Mondays and Thursdays as my laundry days.

Like most women, I don’t really look forward to doing laundry. Starting it is no problem. Even switching the first load to the dryer, and putting in the second load in the washer goes smoothly. But after that, the trouble starts. Putting clothes AWAY is my downfall. I usually don’t allow myself to unload the dryer without the intention of putting the clothes away immediately. I don’t usually have a stack of laundry on the bed, waiting for me to get to it. A good reason for that is from last week, when my daughter tried to help me.

So if I don’t have time to put the clothes away, they just sit in the dryer. Hours later, I’ve only got 1-1/2 loads done. While I intend to have it all done before my husband gets home from work, instead we get to listen to the washer and dryer run during dinner.

But there are some things that I do love about laundry day. I love the fresh smell of the dryer vent outside our front door. If I have any visitors on laundry day, I always have comments about how good it smells. I love the warmth of the freshly dried clothes, if I put them away right when the dryer gets done. I love the fact that I now have an option of what to wear the following day. And I love being able to stay in my pajamas all day, and blame that on the fact that I have no clean clothes to wear, because it’s laundry day.

Happy Monday!

Family Blog

I've decided to separate this blog into two. This will remain the place for me to ramble on about anything I find interesting, in the hope of keeping my two readers entertained. I've started a new blog that will be my family blog. There, I will post family pictures and the story of what we are up to. If you're interested, you can keep up with us there.

Sorry for the craziness. This will meet my needs better. And after all, it's all about me, right?

Optimistic Mondays - What I love about being cold:

I like to think I’m an optimist. I don’t like to hang around with negative things, including negative people. I avoid any kind on contention, as though it’s a plague. One of my favorite quotes is by the previous President of the LDS Church, Gordon B. Hinckley:

“My plea is that we stop seeking out the storms in life and enjoy more fully the sunlight. I am suggesting that as we go through life, we ‘accentuate the positive’. I am asking that we look a little deeper for the good, that we still our voices of insult and sarcasm, that we more generously compliment and endorse virtue and effort.”

A new idea came to me, inspired by my “I love Mondays” post. Each week, I plan to post a positive spin on something that has a bad reputation (at least for me). I start this week with feeling cold.

I love the fall. I love the colors of the leaves. I love the fall décor. I love the smells, and the food that are characteristic of fall. I love the cooler weather. Okay, so I don’t actually like being cold. But I do like what I get to do and enjoy when I feel cold.

I love to go walking outdoors, in the crisp mornings of fall. It’s refreshing to be able to get some exercise, and not be required to shower after.

I love to wear my ugly purple slippers around the house all day, if I want to, because the tile floor is too cold with out them.

I LOVE hot chocolate. It’s like a warm hug, from the inside out. And it’s CHOCOLATE! Need I say more? And if that warm hug isn’t quite enough, I love to wrap myself in a warm, soft blanket. Now, combine the two, add in a good book to read, and I’m in heaven.

Happy Monday!

New Family Pictures

We had our yearly family pictures taken last Saturday.

The kids weren't really in the mood to cooperate, but we did alright.

Since we just had our 10th wedding anniversary, I thought

it was appropriate to have one of just Todd and I.

Right as we were finishing up, we gave the kids one more shot.

Emily loved being in this tree, and Ryan was happy to be standing

by himself, instead of being held, in what he thought, was a restricting position.

Emily wasn't this happy when we told her it was time to get down.

She would have stayed there all day.

Ryan, enjoying his freedom.

When we put them back in the car, they were both crying. Less than 10 minutes down the road, they were both asleep.

Thanks R, A, and Miss M for helping us out with these. We love them!

Am I the last to know?

I couple of months ago I posted about the 5K race I ran. I failed to mention the education I received while at that event. There I stood with all the other racers. We were standing by the start line. Some of us were still stretching, trying to warm up our muscles. Others were just standing around talking to friends and racing companions. There were people of all ages. Men, Women, boys and girls. Some were serious about the race, others were pulling a wagon with a small child in it. But all of them had one thing in common. I'd been standing around for about

20 minutes, watching everyone, listening to conversations, and observing. It was then that

noticed it. Everyone, and I do mean EVERYONE had on ankle socks. Some were barely visible above the tennis shoe line. Others were not visible at all. When I first noticed it, I was surprised. I looked around some more. Everyone! I walked to the other side of the crowd.

Every one!

Everyone but me, that is. My next emotion was that of embarrassment. I was the only one there with socks showing above my ankles. I thought, "seriously? How can that be?" I looked some more, looking for the one other person in the crowd that was apparently as un-informed as me. There was none. I thought that maybe I should fold my socks down, as far as they would go, to try to blend in more. But then again, I didn't want to bring attention to my un-stylish ways. I tried to forget about it, and act like I hadn't noticed. But I couldn't help it. I was the ONLY

ONE! But you know what? My socks didn't effect the outcome of the race. I still ran, and didn't come in last due to the excess weight around my ankles!

Here's me.

Here's Everyone Else!

A few days later, I mentioned this observation to a friend. She will remain nameless (you know who you are), but here was her reply: "Ya, it's been that way for a while now." The next day I went out and bought some ankle socks!

So I pose the question: Am I the last to know? And just in case there are a few other people out there still wearing tube style socks with their tennis shoes, let me offer you some advice. Apparently, it's not the thing to do. I never realized that I could be out of style when it came to my socks, but I learned differently. I guess the saying "Better late than never" applies here.

I Love Mondays!

When I was a teenage, I worked at the Hogle Zoo. I was a manager of a concession stand, and I had a set schedule. I worked Tuesdays and Thursday-Sunday. I always had Mondays and Wednesdays off. We always had the radio on in the back part of the building, and I remember one song in particular. The words to it were "It's just another manic Monday. I wish it were Sunday, cause that's my fun day...." I had made up my own little version, and sang, "It's just another manic Sunday, I wish it were Monday..." Monday's were a welcome relief after a busy weekend at the zoo.

Most people look forward to Fridays, and dread Mondays. There was a time in my life when I was the same way. When I worked in an office from 9-5, Monday - Friday, I loved Fridays. Don't get me wrong, I loved my job. But I still welcomed the weekend. Now that I'm a stay at home mom, the weekend doesn't mean quite the same thing. Yes, Todd is home, and it's nice to spend time with him. But my job doesn't stop just because it's the weekend. I still have to feed and dress the kids. I still have to wash dishes and do the laundry.

But there is something special for me about Mondays now. It's a fresh start. A new beginning. If I didn't do as well as I wanted to with something during the week, I decide that on Monday, I'll do better. Did I over eat this week? Did I not exercise as much as I wanted? Did I not get the house cleaned? It's okay, on Monday I will start fresh. I will do better. And there's even more refreshing news. If I slip up half way through the week, and don't keep up with my new found determination to succeed at whatever I had decided to do: It's only 3 or 4 more days until another Monday! A new fresh start. It's a wonderful cycle.

Happy Monday to you all.

Five Blogging Languages

Over the last few months I have found myself getting more and more into reading blogs.  It started out with friends and families personal blogs.  Then, one by one I started to link over to other blogs.  Some were friends of friends, and family of friends, and so on.  But some were totally different.  

My eyes are still opening to the incredibly large world of blogging that's out there, just waiting to be discovered by souls like me (and  you).  Baking, Writing, Reading, Photography, Religion, Opinions, Advice, and that's such a small start.  

Today, on my daily tour through "Blogger-ville" I read one of my regular blogs, and it made me laugh, smile, and think: What kind of Blogger am I?  It discussed 5 different types of bloggers, and it was so well put.  Link to it here:  

And if you go on to read that blog, you will note that I'm following one of the 5 languages described (hyperlinking).  I find myself in several of the categories described. Mostly I'm a lurker, but I'm trying to break out of that.  I leave occasional comments, but not faithfully.  I don't recall ever hyperlinking before now, so I hope the link works.  I intent to add a blog-roll here soon, and credit for that decision goes to that blog.  And I have subscribed to a few, but not all the blogs I regularly read.

And for any of you out there who are slowly getting into the blogging world, like me, I pose a question.  Have you heard of google reader?  I have been using it for a while, and love it.  You enter in the blog address, and it will tell you when the blog has been updated.  That way you don't have to check in with them all individually, just so you don't miss anything.  There may be other programs out there that do the same thing, but this is the one I know about.

One of my favorite "Just for Fun" blogs is Bakerella.  She is wonderful.  Great pictures, great recipes, and great ideas.  Check it out.

Lake Yuba

Last weekend we took Todd's Parent's motor home down to Lake Yuba, a couple hours south of Salt Lake.  

Here are the kids, all excited and ready to go.  They even got new balls especially for this trip!

The lake was calm, and the beach was sandy and nice.  Ryan was able to hang out in the first few feet of the shore.

I had a hard time keeping Emily out of the water.  I think she has a little bit of me in her. :)

Hanging out, on a perfect evening.

I love this one.  It's a slight difference from the one I took when we were headed out.  Everyone was ready to go home.

10th Anniversary

This weekend Todd and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary.  Todd's parents watched the kids, and we headed up to Park City.  First, we stopped to get lunch.  It was weird not having to worry about getting the kids out of the car, and finding a high chair, ect.  And even more amazing:  I got to enjoy a HOT lunch.  It's been a while!  ;)

Next, we drove to the Park City Ski Resort.  There are several activities to do in the summer months, including some fun rides.  The weather was a little on the cold side, but we lucked out because it didn't rain on us.  The rides get cancelled in the rain.  We started off by taking the

ski lift up the mountain, and then riding the Alpine Slide.  Then we did the Alpine Coaster.

That was our favorite.  We sat in a little car/sled that was attached to a rail, just like a roller coaster.  Then we rode in it as it was pulled up the track by a cable.  When we got to the top; gravity took over.  

They told us we would go faster if we sat in the same cart, so we did.  Down we went!  They also told us that the only time we would need to use our brakes was to avoid hitting the car in front of us.  We never did get close to the person ahead of us, so we didn't brake at all.  It was so fast.  It curved and looped through the trees, down the mountain, for over a mile of track.  The website says it goes up to 30 mph, and I'm sure that we were about that fast.  It was so much fun.  I highly recommend it!

http://www.parkcitymountain.com/summer/activities/alpine_coaster/index.html

We did the coaster twice, and then headed back to the ski lift for the Ziprider.  That's where they put you in a harness and then you slide, 110 feet in the air, on a cable, from the top to the bottom.  We really liked this one too, but the line for it was over a hour long, so we only did it once.  We finished it off with one more ride on the Alpine Coaster.  

My word of advice to anyone that wants to try it out:  Don't use your brakes!!  :)

We stayed at a cute little Bed and Breakfast, in Midway, called Johnson's Mill.  There was a small lake just outside our room, with a cute little gazebo.  We tried to use the paddle boat, but I don't think it was working right.  We couldn't control where we were going.  I'm just glad we made it back to the dock!  We took a walk on the trail that circled the property, and I had fun taking pictures.  Breakfast was on the outdoor patio, overlooking the lawns.  

We had a really good time.  

Here's to another 10, and way beyond!

Party Time

We had a party at the park for Ryan's birthday.  He arrived in style, in his new front facing car seat.  Look out world: Here he comes!

Surrounded by his cousins, Aunts, Uncles, and Grandparents (and of course: his parents and sister!) he was seriously spoiled with toys, toys, and more toys.  He also got some very cute new clothes and some wonderful new books.  Emily enjoyed pushing him in his new red wagon.

But of all the new toys he was given, his favorite?  The red cup:

Look at him stare at that cup cake!

Ryan thinking, "Just give me the cupcake already!"

"What are you looking at?  No, you can't have any, get your own!"

Oh, how sweet!

It was a wonderful success.  The kids played and ran and then played some more.  Summertime birthdays certainly have the advantage, when it comes to outdoor parties!

Happy Birthday Ryan!

Today is my sweet little Ryan's First Birthday! I can't believe he's already a year old.

In some ways it has been a really long year, and in other ways it has flown by.

But he is growing and learning every day, and I am thankful to have him

in our family.

I have been working on this scrapbook page for a full year now. I took a picture of Ryan every month, sitting next to the same teddy bear. It shows how much he has grown and changed over the last 12 months.

We are going to the park tonight, for his birthday party. I will post those pictures later.

Happy Birthday Ryan!!