Thursday, January 22, 2009

One of These Things is not Like the Others- and Someday Will it Really Matter?


I have been trying to think of something to post about all day and nothing hit me until just a few minutes ago. This is my bed. (Apparently my camera has a few dried droplets on it. It's not raining or snowing in my room!) I sleep in it every night and I make it every morning. It used to have more pillows, but we took them with us on our trip over Christmas and accidentally left them at the Grand Canyon Railroad Hotel in Williams, AZ. (It was sad, but not worth the drive to go back and get them.) I love my bed. It is very comfy and I like the bedspread because it reminds me of being out in the woods. Greg, or I, makes the bed every morning. Not a big deal- just pull up the covers and throw the pillows back on. 60 seconds, tops. I am not a "hospital corners" kind of person. I just like it neat and tidy. To be honest, Greg is better at the neat and tidy thing than I am.

Every person in my family also has a bed. Every person in my family also has the assignment to make their bed every day. I like having my bed made, but I also feel that if I am going to ask my family to make their beds, I should set an example. I was told this morning, as I am most mornings, that all the beds were made. This afternoon at about 4:30 I happened to be downstairs in one of the bedrooms and realized that someone(s) either had a different definition of "made" or had not been completely honest with me. (Not the first time, I know, nor will it be the last.) I visited other rooms and found that the same circumstances applied there as well.

I will leave the pictures random and somewhat anonymous, though dear daughter will probably be discovered as she is the only one with "girl" colors.






I must cut a teeny bit of slack because it has been cold at night, so there are extra blankets out. I also must admit that all the covers are actually on the beds and not on the floor. Taking those things into account, picture #2 did pretty well.

This reminded me of a class I attended with Greg yesterday on optimism. An optimist is not one that always find life 100% rosey, but is realistic in a situation without forgetting that hardships are not here to stay. As the Book of Mormon says, "It came to pass...". So, I am letting go of the frustration that I felt. Someday these little (and not so little) bodies will be grown and making (or not) their beds somewhere else. I will go down to a guest room with a bed that is made everyday and picture the toys and the blankets and have a happy little "memory moment". Then I will probably call a child or two and just say "Hi", maybe ask if they made their bed that morning, and tell them that I love them. Then I will go back downstairs and look at the still-made bed and smile. Maybe someday those children will bring little ones of their own and I can listen to them try to convince said grandchild that it really is important to make the bed, and most likely, it won't bother me one bit because it won't be my job to teach that anymore. After they leave, I'll make that bed with clean sheets (and no hospital corners) where it will stand ready to welcome the next guest to grace its' room. And I will smile again.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Let's Hear it for Spontaneity

Today, out of the blue, I had a call from a friend I haven't seen in something like 5 years. She and her family lived on the street behind me in the Lehi 7th ward in Mesa. We served in Relief Society together, our kids (my sons, her daughters) were in Primary together, and Steven and M even attended Joy School together. She introduced me to Flylady and helped me gain some semblance of control in the crazy life of a young mom with young kiddos, though you wouldn't know it to see the house at this particular moment. Their family lives in UT now, as well, about 1-1/2 hours from our house. We've kept up through Christmas cards and the occasional email over the years, but haven't managed to be able to do much more than that.

So, this morning N called. Their kiddos had the day off like ours and she wondered if we minded if they drove down to see us for the day. Why not?! I had already gone visiting teaching and was contemplating giving the boys haircuts, though not really up to the "encouragement" that would be required for such a project. Her timing was perfect to save the boys from a perceived fate worse than death and me from the frustration involved. She and her kiddos arrived in the early afternoon. The kids didn't remember each other at all, but they watched a little tv and played the Wii and DS while N and I visited. It was such a nice afternoon. I'm so glad she called and was willing to make the drive. There is just something about a good friend that can make all the distance and years evaporate like the fog in the morning. Why don't we do this sort of thing more often?

Friday, January 16, 2009

What now?!

Alright, so what did I do that, on my computer at least, everything after the video is wacky? It's centered and spread out the width of the screen. Can I fix it? I should have gotten a degree in computer science. I don't like feeling unintelligent!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Good Night!

Hey, what do you know- it worked! Don't know why there is code above the frame, but I think it works. Good Night!

Learning Something New

Thanks for the instructions, Cabesh. Let's see how good a student I am in the video embedding department. If this works, you should be able to watch the Brian Regan video I have a link to in the previous post. If it works, I get to go to bed because I've learned something new (and it's that time anyway.) If it doesn't, I'll probably still go to bed and try to learn something new tomorrow and take a nap or something as a reward. Cross your fingers!

Oxen

So, I'm tired of the Chess/Twilight background and The Cutest Blog on the Block website is down except for Valentine's stuff. I figured my sons would not be impressed as we looked through them tonight. Lo and behold, I was wrong, though we , once again, are taking a slight twist on the meaning. The current layout shows lots of O's and X's, which Joseph immediately recognized as the word "ox" which reminded him and all the boys of "oxen" in Brian Regans' comedy routine about school and spelling. So, in honor of Valentine's Day and Oxen, enjoy the link.

Also, if anyone knows how, I'd love to just post the video. I apparently haven't learned how to do a link to YouTube like I thought I had. Any suggestions?

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Pictures

I finally downloaded my camera this evening and thought I'd put up a few pictures from our trip. There were 275 pictures in the camera, some good, some not. I will spare you most of them. Enjoy.


Taking the train to the Grand Canyon for the day

Joseph (who can't just smile for once) and Spencer (at least someone cooperated!)


My Crew: Living Life on the Edge
(and no one fell in despite the ice and no guard rail what-so-ever)


Erica and Greg
(much better spot to hang out, notice the guard rail!)


Erica, Joseph (he's fine, the ham), Shan, and Spence


Phoenix Zoo

Ryan and Steven and the Big Mouth Frog


Joseph avoiding proof that he was there


Greg obtaining proof that Joseph was there, so sneaky


Steven, Shan, Erica, Ryan


Madde, Erica, Katelyn

Greg and Spence (and cousin Sara in the stroller)