Finding Balance...

Skunk Trouble

A couple of weeks ago we came home from school to find a coyote in our backyard. Saydee chased him off on the 4-wheeler (cuz I don't know how to load one of our 'many' guns).

The next morning, I looked out the front window and noticed something moving out by the end of the driveway. I first thought it was one of my cats. I was worried something was wrong, so out came the binoculars.

And what do you know? It was a skunk. Obviously hurt, not able to move it's hind end.....yikes! I think that was a good thing in the end (hee hee), because it could not use it's 'sprayer' either.

Anyhow - we got ready for school/work and out Mr. Steven went to put it out of it's misery.

And, here he is....30 minutes later....still trying to get the gun to load or shoot or something. Something wasn't working (obviously) and I got all paranoid and told the kids to quit watching (I was worried there wouldn't be a spraying accident, but a shooting accident....if you know what I mean?).

We left for school and I nervously returned to find all was well - Steven, a.k.a. Rambo . . . finished that S O B off....good. And disposed of him without even a HINT of skunk smell. Whew!

What an adventurous morning on the farm, eh?

Anyone have the number to hunter's safety handy? Hee hee!

 

Photo Booth Fun!

This week, there are 7 girls from our church graduating from the local high school. I cannot believe how much I have grown to love them after working with them and trying to show them the fun and positive and peace that being spiritual can bring into your life. They are amazing girls - truly strong, capable and solid girls - will most definitely live extraordinary lives because of their core/soul/spirit - I've been truly blessed to be able to get to know them.

All that said, I felt it was very important to showcase them at an activity with all the other girls and their moms.

This was this past Tuesday.

We had posters for each girl with a couple of pictures the moms had provided us on each poster. These posters were done in the local high school colors and were great to add to our simple decor.

We also had a few balloons in the school colors around the room.

One leader had made BEAUTIFUL scrapbook pages for each of the graduates. They were SO neat. Everyone there was asked to sign each page with ONE POSITIVE WORD they thought of when they thought of that specific girl. Then, the girls got to take the scrapbook pages home with them.

We had a short tribute to them and the tributes were read by their siblings or another girl from the group.  These were funny and serious and hopefully flattering.

Another leader put together a slide show with photos of our girls in it. The song was "I am His Daughter" (Nicole Sheahan).

When I first heard it, I was so taken back by the beauty of the music - then I read the words - Holy Cow!

The photos in the magazines
Don't dictate who I'm supposed to be
The world can't recognize, all that I am inside
But I know in His eyes, I am a part of, the bigger picture,

There's so much more to me
He helps me see that I have so much to offer
I am His daughter
He loves me the way I am,
He's my strength when I stand
He is my King, and my Father,
I am His daughter.

The people on the TV screen,
The leaders, rulers, and queens
I watch them shape the world,
And though I'm just a girl, I still know for sure,
That I am a part of, the bigger picture

There's so much more to me
He helps me see that I have so much to offer
I am His daughter
He loves me the way I am,
He's my strength when I stand
He is my King, and my Father,
I am His daughter

And when I'm feeling small,
And wondering if I'll ever, find courage to stand tall
Through His love I remember

There's so much more to me
He helps me to see that I have so much to offer
I am His daughter
He loves me the way I am
He's my strength when I stand
He is my King, and my Father,
I am His daughter

Then I talked for a couple of minutes (and cried, but I tried REALLY hard NOT to). I talked about how we had all written these positive words that I hoped they would read when they were having a bad day. When they felt they didn't measure up or when they weren't good enough, etc. Hopefully they would realize their worth (to so many) on that simple, scrapbook page.

I also challenged them to think of the ONE word they would wish Heavenly Father would describe them with when he was referring to them specifically, individually, personally. They needed to come up with that one word and then try to actually BE that one word in their lives, in their choices, actions, example, etc.

This thought actually came from a fireside I had been to recently done by Laurel Christensen. (BTW - this specific talk by Laurel is in my handful of TRULY spiritual experiences - one of my most favorite hours in my whole life - truly moving and inspiring and memorable for me).

After I blubbered through some words, our Bishop talked to them and gave some great words of wisdom, too.

Closing prayer and our program was done in about 40 minutes.

Then we had some fun!

I had a guy in our ward make me a huge photo booth.

I didn't get a picture of it all set up that night, but it looked cute with more pennants (from Saydee's birthday party last year) hung across the front of it.

I hung an old picture frame on the front of it and printed out tons and tons of lips, mustaches, etc. and stuck them to skewers.

The girls and their moms were suppose to load up the booth and have some fun while one of the leaders took pictures of them goofing off.

And...ok, I goofed off, too! We had simple refreshments - root beer floats - YUM!

Then I spent WAY TOO MANY hours on Saturday moving all 200+ photos into little strips for each of the girls. Hey! It had to feel like they actually got a strip of photos from a booth, right?

I think they turned out cute. I printed 4 per 8x10 photo at our local Sam's Club (20 8x10s full!).

Here they are all laid out in piles, while Saydee and I were sorting through them.

BTW:  I downloaded the template for the photos from THIS BLOG.

I hope these girls always know how much I love them, I love the freedom to worship how I choose, that I love God, my family, cats and chickens. And I love being creative...(not in that particular order - I was just typing as I thought about it) - what a good life I have, eh?

Updating...

Ok, so I missed three days on my 20 day quest. It couldn't be helped - life kicked up a few notches and blogging had to be put on the back burner.

But, I'm back, ready to document and share.

Today I would like to share a few pictures I found recently that I'd been saving.

First:

Don't I TOTALLY need one of these????? Super cool for my eggs!

Next:

GET THE CRAP OUT OF DODGE! Would you look at those temporary tattoos on eggs? Next Easter, baby!

 

And a quote I share with you:

Profound, yes? I also like the boxes and fence.

And finally:

Tonight is Logan's first Pinewood Derby. I tried to talk him into this 'car', but he would have NONE of it! Stubborn child, I tell ya!

Stay tuned for more fun pictures of the kitties and our garden progress and all the other crap that seems to consume our lives around here.

 

Remember

Two items that I want to remember from this week:

Logan telling Saydee and I out of the blue that the worst part of his day was when he didn't want to hurt Taylor's (his BFF - she is a girl, by the way) feelings and HAD to watch Finding Nemo at school instead of IceAge.  So cute and random and completely shows his sweet, sensitive feelings. So polar opposite his CRAZY, LOUD, WILD boy at home.....oh....and I might add stubborn and messy AND COMPLETELY SWEET - all at the same time!

 __________________

Saydee & I had a LLLLOOOOONNNNNGGG conversation in the garden about how disappointed and a little disgusted she was that her 'classmates' seemed to vote for POPULARITY instead of THE BEST CANDIDATES for their five class representatives for next year. 

I shared with her when I tried out for my High School mascot and made it to the final two. But surely wasn't very popular and didn't make the final cut...even if I was a more SPAZZY mascot (the girl who did make it was an AWESOME BEE BTW).

I LOVE that Saydee 'gets life' at her age. She gets stuff that I think is so beyond her years - so cool to already be aware of, understand and know how to handle at her age.  I hope this all helps her steer through her life as she is almost a pre-teen or TWEEN . . . pretty dang soon.

Good kids, Steven & I were blessed with. Not perfect, but pretty dang good, if I say so myself!

Speed Dating Activity

Have any of you seen the movie HITCH? It's one of my very favorite! I LOVE the scene when Will Smith is teaching the other dude to dance....so funny! And, I LOVE the ending song at the wedding. "Now that we've found love, what are we gonna do.......ohh".

So, when I saw an idea from Arizona for a youth activity mimicking Speed Dating, I was like "Hey, they did that in Hitch". And I thought it would be grand.......so I started running with this idea. I will admit that I had a hard time figuring out how to make this all come together.

In the end, I worked with our Insurance agent (and friend), Ryan Reilly. He also works with the youth (Young Men's President) in his church congregation (ward). He also seems to know a TON of people. And with his help, we were able to get 100 kids together on Tuesday night for this fun activity.

Side note here - these two pictures above are brothers and sisters interviewing each other...kinda funny. But, they were good sports.

There were 5 area high schools represented. We did end up with about 20 less boys than girls, but everyone was a good sport about it. Some girls had to sit without a boy across from them for a 'round or two'. Other times, a boy would talk to two girls at one time during that 'round'.

These two are from our ward. They were already going to prom this weekend together. Kinda cute.

Another one from our ward - she pretended to be miserable....and ended up texting with a 'cute' boy the very next day. Totally admitted they would both do it again. Funny!

Each ward brought pop and cookies to share. The leaders ended up serving the cookies to the kids at the tables while they continued to talk at the end.

Steven was at scouts with Logan, so I brought Saydee with me. She ended up helping Ryan with the siren. They would set a timer for 60 seconds, then the kids would chat/ask questions/laugh.....when the siren went off, the boys would move down ONE chair.

At the very beginning, I welcomed them and told them I was going to make them VERY nervous and that I would make them have the MOST AWKWARD part of the night RIGHT THEN (I had them turn off their cell phones).  I assured them that NO ONE would die and if they would turn them off, they would have a good time.

Some kids were like "How do we get phone numbers if we can't have our cell phones on?" I held up a pencil and asked them if they had ever seen one of these? Hee hee.

Our Young Men's President, Aaron Sharp gave them all a little talk on dating. He shared a couple funny dating stories and encouraged them to treat each other with respect.

The girls and boys divided up and Ryan talked to the boys about treating each girl they were sitting across from with kindness that night.

Chris Russell and I encouraged the girls to remember the influence they can have on boys. They can help boys become really GREAT men. And, of course, to have fun!

We asked the ward to submit questions. I typed them up and we provided the questions and they used the crap out of them.

Here's the leaders - hangin' out....

Everyone helped put the tables and chairs away and clean up was a cinch!

I was quite nervous about this activity turning out - especially when so many kids and adults were coming that I did not know. But, I can honestly say that the feedback was superb. We will most likely put another one together this fall, possibly with a dance following. Yee haw!

 

Dance Gifts

We knew quite a few people in the dance recital on Saturday. Some were Saydee's friends and some were girls from our church.

We wanted to give them a 'good job' gift, but not the traditional flowers....just because I'm 'different' that way.

We decided on, what else.....Target $1 Spot buckets...filled with treats, notebooks and pens. Topped with a little tag-ish-thingy!

Saydee also gave her two teachers a thank you gift. We found a couple different ideas on Pinterest and used them.

Saydee had a class party in Jazz and took the mat and had all the girls sign it for her teacher.

She simply LOVED the music in Zumba, so she wanted to give her teacher an ITunes gift card to get more fun, pumpin' music for next year.

 

Credits for these ideas are from HERE and HERE.

And here is my JPEG file of the dance tags I am sharing.

Saydee's Dance Recital

 On Saturday, Saydee had her first dance recital.

She performed in four different numbers, plus started the final bows.

It was so fun to watch her! She did awesome!

She was in a Zumbatonic class and a jazz dance class. She really liked this whole experience.

It was super hard for a mom to get good pictures of her performing, but I did try and hopefully these will spark memories for her later.

We were REALLY proud of Saydee. She did a REALLY good job! We had some friends and family who said she was so fun to watch because she had such good rhythm and 'stage presence'. 

I just thought she looked pretty!

Great JOB, Saydee!

Collection Buckets

I'm not sure about anyone else out there, but our family has a SERIOUS problem with clutter and putting things where they go.

One small boy ESPECIALLY has a problem with this.

So, I came across an idea on Pinterest (and I'm sorry, I cannot find that original post to give them credit) and expanded it to meet our needs....ok, MY MOTHERLY needs. I completely RESENT having to spend an hour of my morning picking up everyone else's crap - I have enough of my own....come on, PEOPLE!

Presenting...the Collection Buckets:

These are located in our laundry room. Each child has one. Steven and I get a pass on the whole 'clean up after yourself or else'. We are the stinkin' parents, for crying out loud!

Now, here's the deal: Each morning, instead of picking their crap up and putting it away - I grab it and put it in their bucket. If they come home and find something in their bucket that they want back, they have to draw a 'job' out of the red bucket.

These jobs are 'the bomb'. This is where I saw the idea on Pinterest.

I will list the jobs I put in this bucket at the end.

The kids (mostly Logan) have one week to clear their stuff out of their bucket. Otherwise, it will be taken and donated the following week.

So, far, if you notice...his is chucked full - after ONE FREAKIN' DAY!

The other  part of this - if they don't get ONE thing in their bucket for the entire week, they get $5. Saydee got $5 last week and will most likely get $5 again this week.

Logan is hard to motivate and easily frustrated and bored with stuff like this. But, it will quickly help me determine what toys, etc. he values and which ones I can 'share' with someone else - thus helping control the clutter around this joint!

_____________________________

Here's the list of jobs I came up with after using some from the Pinterest Post:

Clean out Mom’s Car – Vacuum & wash Windows

Clean out pantry.
Pull weeds in back yard for 15 minutes
Pull weeds in front yard for 15 minutes
Rub dad’s feet for 10 minutes and do, ‘this little piggy’ to him.
Pick up your brother/sister’s room
Wipe down Laundry Room bathroom toilet

Wipe down Mom’s Bathroom Toilet
Clean all bathroom mirrors while singing any song.
Clean out silverware drawer
Wipe down outside of fridge and have a treat afterwards.
You are free but this is a WARNING!
Shake garage mats.

Sweep garage

Sweep back porch

Water mom’s pots on the back porch

Water mom’s pots on the front porch.

Sweep/Vacuum Pet Area

Clean Pet Bowls Good
Scrub upstairs bathtub
Give mom and dad a hug and say, “I will never leave my stuff out again.”

Wipe down garage door inside and out
Empty all garbage’s

Write a letter to someone who has done a service for you and tell them thank you.

Fold 10 pairs of socks and put them away

Fold a load of whites and put them away

Rub dad’s head for 10 minutes while telling him how thankful you are for him working so hard.

Rub mom’s head for 10 minutes while telling her how thankful you are for her.

Sweep front porch and ride your bike up & down the driveway 3 times.

Walk down the field to the tall tree and back.
Clean out a drawer that mom shows you needs cleaned.
Dust living room
Clean front glass door
You are free but this is a WARNING!
You are free but this is a WARNING!
Tell your brother/sister 3 things you love about them.

Tell your mom 3 things you love about her.

Tell your dad 3 things you love about him.
Write 50 times “I will not leave my things out.”
Do 25 jumping jacks while singing, “I am a cleaning machine.”
Run around the house for 1 minute and see how many things you can pick up and put away, even if they aren’t yours.
Wash back patio door windows

Wash front door windows.

Draw a picture of you picking up things and your mom and dad smiling BIG!
Make up a song about a clean house and perform it in front of your family.
Make your bed blindfolded.
Clean out a heater vent.
Do research on the computer about how to clean with baking soda.
While hopping on one foot, wipe the kitchen counters off.
Choose 2 items of yours to donate to Deseret Industries.
Vacuum the office.
Scrub an air vent with a toothbrush.
Hand wash 3 dishes
Scrub your toilet while singing, ‘whistle while you work’.
Pick up backyard, do a flip on the trampoline and beg your mother for forgiveness.
Sweep back patio
Design a machine on paper that cleans the whole house and gets you ready for the day.
Water the pots on the front porch.
Tell us the story, ‘The Little Red Hen.”
Organize mom and dad’s shoes.

Organize and declutter one corner of your bedroom

Vacuum stairs

Dust/Wipe Down Cupboard Fronts in Kitchen

Shake Kitchen rugs

Ultimate Loser!

SO, I posted on Facebook this morning that I weighed in for the 4th week and have lost a bit over 15 pounds in a month.  I have worked for it and deserve it.

It hasn't been easy, but honestly, not too hard, either. I had a couple of days where it was ALL I COULD do to spend an hour at the gym. But, I took the kids and went late and they swam while I walked. I've also had a few harder days with my eating, but I try to plan ahead what I'm eating and try to be on time to eat, so it's not too feast or famine for this over-sized, food-lovin' girl!

I had a couple of emails and also comments asking what I'm doing.

Here's a picture of some of the things I'm eating/using/helping/taking....you know the drill.

I am counting calories. I'm honestly a LOW-CARB diet girl. I love to eat tons of protein and feel like I'm eating so well when I do that. But, long term, and for a permanent lifestyle, I feel like counting calories is the way to go.

I'm using an app on my phone called MyFitnessPal.com. It automatically syncs your computer and phone app together. I LOVE IT! I am always typing in what I eat, what I drink and how much exercise I do daily. You can link together with other people and keep track of each other, which is also nice. I think it's made the MOST difference for me this time.

I often will look up an item before I eat it and then make another choice because of the calories. For example, I went to the gym on Saturday morning and then to McDonalds. I knew I wanted an Egg McMuffin. I looked it up on my phone while I was waiting in the drive through. It gave you an option of only eating one portion of the English Muffin and it reduced the calories quite a bit. So - I only ate the bottom of the 'bun' - the part with the yummy cheese on it.

I try to eat around 1200 calories a day. There have been a couple of days where I "NEEDED" more calories. So, I ate more protein and vegetables to give myself more 'go'.

I am pretty much eating anything that I can document actual calories on. Not a lot of meals or home cooking...I just don't have the time or interest in measuring out everything quite yet. This week, however, I have a goal of making 2 new dinners (low calories) for my family.

I eat Subway grilled chicken breast sandwiches and haven't grown too sick of them. Again - easy calorie counting.

Also, I am ABSOLUTELY in love with Wendy's 1/2 BLT/COBB salad. It's like 300 calories WITH a packet of ranch dressing. YUM! I can hardly take it if I don't eat one of these everyday. They are like $4, which I think's a deal because I don't have to buy, cook, chop, wash, cleanup, etc. Quick and YUMMY! The kids and Steven even really like these!

I'm on a team of 7 people who all signed up to do this Ultimate Loser. We are competing against 4 other teams. I'm not sure what we are competing for, but the accountibility is what I knew I needed. I'm hardly tempted to cheat on a Sunday because I know on Monday morning I have to weigh in for my team and I don't want to be THE ONE.

I work out with my team twice a week with a trainer. He kicks my butt usually.

I am obligated to work out an additional 4 days a week (6 total). I have to sign in at the desk and sign out. I try to always do a big cardio workout. My goal is to burn 1000 calories in a hour on the treadmill or Arc Trainer.  I hate it! But, I want to get the most calories for my time there. I'm trying to get rid of fat, first - then tone up. No sense in toning when you can't even see it under the fat rolls. Jeesh!

I eat the Melaleuca Access Bar every time before I work out. I asked my trainer if the 110 calories were worth it and he said ABSOLUTELY.

I have just recently found GREEK Yogurt. YUM! I eat this sometimes late at night - like right before bed. It helps me with energy if I'm going to the gym early the next morning. I LOVE putting the granola in it for the crunch. Again - I can quickly measure from these containers and know exactly how many calories I have eaten.

I have had very little trouble with sugar cravings. The last time I did this - I nearly killed someone because I wanted sugar so bad. I have been taking quite a bit of Probiotics to help with the sugar cravings. I plan to continue those a bit longer.

I also credit the Voyager pills to helping with my energy level and appetite. I really like these, guys. REALLY a lot! I take 2 pills a day - one in the morning and another about 1-2 p.m. These are like $2 a pill. But, worth every penny.

If I NEED a little sweet snack, I drink Vitamin Water Zero or Crystal Lite or I will allow myself one or two of these chocolate mint squares. THEY ARE SO YUMMY!

I'm also drinking Dr. Atkins protein shakes (from Sam's Club). I put a couple handfuls of spinach in them and try to drink one of those as a meal 5 days a week. I love these shakes. If I want to chew while I drink a shake, I will have 1 of the granola bars shown above. Then, share the other with Steven or the kids.

This is a 10 week commitment. I plan to stay committed that long. Then, through the summer I want to maintain and then hit it back hard again when the kids go back to school and set a specific goal for my birthday.

Steven has been so awesome about helping me. He gets the kids up for school when I'm with the trainer. He makes us all eggs for breakfast and they are always waiting for me when I rush back in the house, just in time to eat and then take the kids to school.

Honestly, he THINKS he needs to see me naked often so that he can 'access' my progress. I think that's so funny. And a bit too personal for this....sorry mom and mom-in-law. (We have been married for over 20 years, though.)

Anyway - I feel good. I'm tired still from getting up in the night to feed the kittens then hitting the gym early some mornings. But, I'm glad I'm doing it and glad it's working.

Any other questions, ask away....

Day 8

Last Sunday in church, I challenged the girls to write in their journals every day for 20 days. This blog is my journal.

As you've noticed, I've been bloggin' quite well recently.

Today is a boring post, but I don't want to miss a day with my 20 days.

____________

It's Sunday.

We had a crazy, crazy week this past week, so....we slept in and ate a yummy breakfast of Steven's famous over-easy eggs, grandma's homemade wheat bread-toast and ice water.

I'm tired of ice water.

I drink it a lot! - I try to get in 100 oz a day - I pee often and lots at a time.

We all took naps at about 11 a.m. I had to convince Saydee that Heavenly Father would understand that our bodies needed rested in our bed and that it was ok that we missed church (it was a big, regional meeting).  She just doesn't like to sleep during the day - no matter how tired (AND GRUMPY) she is.

I LOVED my nap!

Her dance recital was yesterday. She performed 4 numbers and we were SO PROUD! It was quite the undertaking for her to be part of - all the rehearsal and makeup and costumes and hair.....whew! Glad we made it through it all. She danced AWESOME and we were so proud!

Steven & Logan took Red to pick some asparagus for dinner today. We grilled steaks, steamed carrots and ate asparagus. It was a DE-LISH meal! We loved it! 

Our good friends, the Butte's came over to visit and play. We love them. They are good people for us to be with and we feel blessed to have good friends in our lives.

The kittens would NOT suck their bottles tonight. I didn't warm up their milk and they DIDN'T like it cold. Of course, I warmed it up and they sucked it right down. I love when they have finally eaten and are so full and they just lay there purring.

I need to get some pictures of them this week so I can share how cute they all are - when they haven't crapped on each other.

Ok - I'm headed to bed. I have to be at the gym at 6 a.m. and need to feed kitties before I go.

Steven is sawing logs loudly on the couch.

Peace out!