Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: luxury, manicures, necessity, pedicures, rejuvenation, relaxation
Today I occupied a massage chair for an hour while I had a foot spa. What a miracle! Relaxation permeates my body. Even if I had wanted to think about stressful things during the foot spa, my mind wouldn’t allow it. The rhythm of pulsing water and the kneading balls pressed against my back took all stress from not only my body but my mind.
I honestly can not tell you what I thought about while getting my pedicure. I don’t think I was thinking. I can recall the tickling of my feet as different lotions or methods were used to get rid of my ugly calluses, but I don’t recall thinking. All I recall is the beauty of the pedicure, stress-free beauty.
Tonight, I look at my freshly manicured digits and my callous-free, pedicured feet and I think: Manicures and Pedicures are not luxury, they are a necessity every now and then. I was not as snappy with my family as I have been the last few days, some might argue weeks. My husband went to a movie with friends and I wasn’t agitated at all. I am happy he is getting time with friends and able to enjoy himself. Normally, I would feel perturbed that he would leave me all night after being gone all day. Today I don’t see that. I have one word, rejuvenation. Rejuvenation came and hopefully I can afford another vacation at the spa in the near future!
P.S. Dear, when you want to go on a night out with the guys, send me to the spa that afternoon. We are both happier this way! 
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: birthday party, camping, exhaustion, pedicure, stay-at-home mom
I need a pedicure. It has passed the point of want, it has become a need. Why you ask? Let me share.
This all starts last Thursday. It was a holiday in Utah. It was supposed to be relaxing and enjoyable. An ordinary day turned extraordinary by the fact that fireworks are allowed, my husband had the day off from one job and I didn’t provide a list a million miles long of things that needed to be done. As the day progressed, I found that for me it was an ordinary day. The only difference was my husband was home and had his own plans. No vacation day for me, just another day in the life of a stay-at-home mom.
Friday comes early. I get up and start getting ready for our camping trip. In the midst of getting ready, my husband gets an email stating he has to be in Chicago for a job interview with the FAA. If he were the only one, I would have waited to book airfare and hotel rooms. Since there are 3,000-4,000 other applicants going for interviews, I decided now was the time to get a room and airfare before it is all booked.
I frantically work on air fare only to find it has went up from $206 round trip to $850 round trip for the flights he will need. CRAP! So I go to the drawing board. How can I save money? What can I possibly do? Then the thought comes to me, book 2 one-way airfares on different carriers. Yes, it will be more of a hassle for my husband because he will be picked for the “special security”. He is traveling alone, he will survive. Yes, it is more hassle for me, but it works better for the time frame since one airline offered the perfect time to get there and the other offered the perfect time for leaving.
After getting his airfare, I worked on the hotel room. I had to make sure to get a room close to where he would interview due to not renting a car and having to pay cab fare. I find a hotel that offers a free shuttle service from the airport to the hotel and back. Great, less cab fare. This particular hotel also offers a free hot breakfast and is less than 1 mile from the interview location. Save money on food and cab fare…things are looking up. There has to be something wrong right?!? Right! Turns out this perfect place is about $50 more than other places. Bad news, I booked BEFORE searching it out completely. Remember the camping trip?!? Yeah, still hadn’t finished packing for it and just needed to get a room booked so he would actually have a room.
After my “rest” from packing to book flights and hotels, I get back to the camping stuff. I work on packing and my husband gets home. We pack up the car and head out. The children were already at the camping location with grandparents. It was a nice quiet drive, something we don’t get often. We talked and enjoyed. That was the LAST quiet moment we had. We arrived at the campgrounds and instant work was upon us.
Camping is so fun, yet so much work with children. You have to CONSTANTLY watch and know where they are. At home, you can let them wander throughout the house or if you have a safe yard, throughout the house and yard. You check on them every couple minutes but overall you are good. Not the case while camping. Camping you have to watch them every second, make sure they don’t wander off and get lost in the woods. On top of that you are preparing meals, getting beds made up and trying to enjoy your experience. Why do I like camping again?
The night camping was restless. Went to bed at midnight, was woken up 2 times by my daughter, and woke up at least 4 times on my own. I finally crawled out of bed at 7:40. I know it doesn’t sound early, but after only sleeping at most 1 hour at a time, it felt a lot earlier. Got up and people were preparing breakfast. My family was asleep and I helped prepare breakfast.
After breakfast was over (I woke my family up to eat) everyone decided on a hike. I declined because I only had Mary Jane shoes – not good for hiking. My decline was not accepted so off I tromped through the woods in my slip on mess. The hike was straight up with lots of loose dirt. Not the best hiking experience ever. Plus you need to factor in children - we had children with us!
After hiking about 2 miles, we get back to camp, fix lunch and head to the lake to canoe. As we got in the car to go to the lake, I noticed my head hurting something fierce. I took some meds and hoped it wouldn’t turn into the migraine I felt coming on. The lake was fun. We had a canoe race and spent some time on paddle boats. After an hour, we went back to shore and I KNEW I was in trouble. The sun felt like it was burning my retinas, the water lapping on the shore and against the canoes sounded like the ocean beating upon rocks. I made it to the car somehow. I didn’t bring my migraine medicine; what was I thinking? I did finally beat the migraine after much faith, the strongest meds around and a COLD shower.
With my migraine gone, we cleaned up and headed home. Once home we weren’t afforded the luxury of unpacking and enjoying a nice relaxing evening at home, we had a million errands. It was my daughter’s birthday the next day and we had to get prepared. The store, mine and my husband’s parent’s houses, the store again…lots of errands. When my head hit the pillow that evening my thought was, I wish the migraine had stayed!
The next morning was crazy as well. We had a nice birthday breakfast then went frantic with cleaning. We had all the camping stuff to take care of. Once the house was cleaned, the birthday cake needed to be made. I finished that and then got myself and family ready for church. We walked in the door for church at 12:55 and walked back in the door of our home 3 hours later. Frantically, we started to get everything ready for the family party. As we are preparing for an outdoor party, the wind begins to howl and rain begins to pelt down. Instead of an outdoor party planned, we will be having it in our small 900 sq ft condo. Yeah 40 people in our small space will equal an eventful night!
After we survived the party – yes we did, but barely – I was exhausted. Instead of being able to go straight to bed, I had to clean the house. I was babysitting my baby niece and my nephew the next day. I had to be up by 6:15 for my niece to be dropped off. Since everyone didn’t leave until after 9:00 and I was cleaning until midnight, I was exhausted Monday morning.
Monday was hectic. Babysitting all day, driving children to swim parties…the typical day of a stay-at-home mom…EXTREMELY BUSY! By the end of Monday I thought, I REALLY need a weekend. My thoughts drifted to the calm day I could have the next day. Peace, I would have peace. The reality struck. My daughter’s water party for her birthday was in the afternoon. I would spend on morning preparing for the party and all evening cleaning up from it. UGHH! I went to bed disheartened.
The water party was a blast, although my prediction of preparing all morning and cleaning all evening was correct. By the end of the night, I was exhausted. I haven’t sat for what feels like 24 hours. My feet hurt from running all over the place, my body aches from moving 2 pools, a bounce around and a slip n slide all over. I am tired.
When I finally sat down tonight, I thought. Phew, no more plans this week. Then the phone rings. I have to visit a friend in the morning, I have a play date that is mandated by my sister in law that lives out of state so my children MUST play and the week is full clear up until Sunday. Where is my break? All the while I am reminded; this is the life of a stay-at-home mom. While I love it, I am exhausted. Thinking of all I needed to do and have to do make me want to sit and cry. When is my vacation? When is my day off? Then I looked at my feet.
My feet are those of a mother that hates shoes yet spends hours outside. My heels are calloused and cracked. I don’t recall the last time my toe nails had paint on them. My feet need taken care of. So tomorrow I have a babysitter and I am taking a vacation. Well kind of…it will be in between visiting the friend and taking the children to the play date. Definitely not full days like most people get from their jobs, but it is a vacation. Tomorrow night I will have fresh, relaxed beautiful feet. My toe nails will have color and hopefully I will feel a bit more rejuvenation!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: cute photos, dang cute kids, expensive photos, photography studio
My husband and I took our children for pictures tonight. We went to JcPenny, since I have a “smile savers” card there. Walked in with cute children, walked out with cute children and $100 less in my bank account. I swear, I should open up a photo studio. The photographer spent about 20 minutes taking pictures and 20 minute selling them.
I did a lot of the work. I picked the background, I picked the position I wanted and I got my kids to pose for the picture. I have taken enough photos to know the poses for a cute picture. Matter of fact, I think in MANY ways I had more know-how on photography than the girl taking the photos tonight. Don’t get me wrong, she did a good job getting the shot; yet, all the ideas were mine!
If I had that studio…man, pictures wouldn’t be costing me $100 for prints anymore! I wonder what it would cost to open up a small studio? I wish I had the guts to actually try! For now, the pictures all turned out cute and I am poor 
(But my kids are so dang cute I couldn’t turn down not even 1 photo!)
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: "why me", abortion, adoption, attitude, infertility, purchasing house
Lately, I have caught myself with the attitude of, “why me?” Why do so many others get the great deals on houses and when I look I find nothing? Why, when I think of my family’s future, can’t I see a path? Why, when we so desperately want another baby to bless our family, there are teenagers and other women that don’t want to be pregnant, getting pregnant.
First: “why me” bug on the house situation. Yes we “own” our condo. In reality we just rent from the bank. Yeah we build equity, but in this market you have to be able to sell to make that worth anything. More than equity, we need a bigger home for our family. 900sq ft for 4 people and a dog is starting to close in fast! I have several friends finding these AMAZING deals on houses. One friend was told about a house by another friend. This friend is getting a house that needs some TLC for $50,000 under the appraised amount. They have about $15,000 of cosmetic work and will have a completely updated house (new kitchen, appliances, flooring). Why, when they have only looked for 2 months and I have looked for 2 years, do they get the awesome deal in the neighborhood I want? Why didn’t the other friend tell me about this house last year (yes it was available then for the same deal)? Does this friend not like me and not want me to be close to them?!? This is my “why me” house bug.
Second: “why me on unwanted pregnancies” bug. Why is it that my husband and I can’t conceive a child while people that don’t want a baby are able to conceive? Many teenagers choose to have sex for fun then have to make a decision - adoption or raise by self? My husband and I have to plan it - far from romantic -and then we have heart ache when that month’s dream of a baby disappears. The teenager is put into a situation that is hard yet would be so easy for my husband and I. Most of the time, raising the child herself is a bad option. She is still just a baby. By giving the baby up for adoption, she enables another family to be blessed with something they can’t provide for themselves! Speaking of this, why, when you want to adopt, is it so expensive? There are people that don’t have a lot of money but would be great parents. Due to the fact that they can’t put up $10,000-20,000 they don’t get the blessing of a baby? So many babies in orphanages across the globe yet because of legal fees parents that would gladly take them, can’t afford to. It just doesn’t seem fair!
Why are women being blessed to get pregnant and then choosing to end it? That one bothers me more than teenage pregnancy. They don’t realize the blessing they have received. People pay thousands upon thousands to receive the blessing that they so flippantly dispose of. Why can’t they see the precious gift they have been blessed with? Why not go 9 months, give that baby a life and a family their dream of having a baby?!?! I understand there are times when you don’t want to carry the baby, but I think that is selfish. A majority of abortions are from consensual sex.
I understand the molestation/rape abortions, although I don’t necessarily believe that should instantly make the case for abortion. I think more things should be considered then how the child was conceived. With the morning after pill now readily available, I personally don’t believe abortion should be legal for any consensual sex conception. If the mother’s life is in danger and she isn’t willing to take the risk or it is a rape/molestation situation, abortion should be allowed. Many times the shame from the rape or molestation leaves the woman not getting treatment such as the morning after pill. Overall though, I don’t believe abortion is right. That baby is living the minute it is conceived. I have been pregnant in the past and I will attest it is alive from conception!
My “why me” bug turned into a “why do they” bug. So now I have the “why me” and “why don’t they” bug. It all leads to sadness and depression as you think of things out of your control. I can’t control the fact that I am not getting the amazing deals on homes, or that my friends chose not to pass the deal onto me. I can’t change the fact that I can’t get pregnant because of stupid PCOS. I can’t change the fact that women around the world choose to have sex and end up pregnant. I can’t change what they choose to do with that pregnancy. I realize more and more that I truly don’t have control over what happens, only over what attitude I have. So, I will pray for more understanding. I will have pray for faith to see: the path our family needs to be on; that my husband’s job situation will work out; that we will eventually get a home; that a baby will bless our lives in some way.
Writing this helped me see my “why me” bug, but I am afraid it will take more effort than that to solve it. Do you have the answer? Sorry for the rambling…hopefully the grammar and spelling aren’t too horrible, spell check doesn’t always catch everything.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Cost to drive, insurance, insurance premiums, price of everything going up, price of gas
In today’s society, going without insurance is like financial suicide. The problem is, the cost of insurance is financial suicide. I think that the insurance agencies have picked up on that!
Health Insurance. It is one of those perks with jobs now. You can be making $10/hour and be bringing home more money each month than someone that makes $15/hour, if you have great insurance and they have crappy insurance. You’ll be up a creek without a paddle if you are making $11/hour and have crappy insurance (been there done that!). Self employed? Have a fun time trying to find decent Health Insurance at a reasonable price. Most likely they will require your arm, leg and life savings.
House/Condo/Renters insurance is probably the cheapest of all the insurances available. $200-300 and you are covered for an entire year incase your house starts on fire or you are burglarized. Now in Utah, the insurance automatically covers Tornados and Hurricanes. When the Tornado of 1999 ransacked downtown Salt Lake City, I am sure a lot of agents were thinking, “Crap…should have charge for tornados too”. Now if you want insurance to cover in case of an earthquake (which is most likely the natural disaster that would occur here) you have to pay your arm, leg and an additional appendage for it.
Car insurance, the dreaded car insurance. On top of gas (which is a killer), maintenance (oil changes can be done every 5,000 miles now), and of course the car payment, in Utah, every car must have insurance. The insurances vary along with the prices. The minimum coverage is crap but affordable. I am not of the mindset to go with the cheapest insurance; hence I don’t get the cheapest price. I like to know that if I were to get into an accident, it would be covered. We have always opted to go with the $100000/$300000 coverage. Make sure that if you really screw up in an accident, at least the insurance would cover a significant amount.
Part of the reason I am inclined this way is because of my husband’s car accident. On my husband’s 17 birthday, he was driving on the freeway with his girlfriend. It was the girlfriend’s father’s little ford ranger they were driving. Water was down pouring and the rear-wheel drive truck started to hydroplane. The truck went up the embankment on the side of the freeway, slid back down on its roof (while his hand was between the road and the roof of the car) right smack in front of a semi truck. The semi t-boned them. My husband is lucky to be alive, lucky to still have a right hand and has very few scars considering the horrendous accident he was in.
Now, this is where insurance comes in. My husband was driving the girlfriend’s father’s truck. The truck only had liability on it and well it was crappy liability. The truck was totaled and the semi truck also took some injuries. The insurance wasn’t high enough to cover the loss made to the semi. The semi truck driver was going to sue! Before he got there though, my husband’s parent’s insurance picked up the tab. Since he was driving, they covered it. Because of this car accident, there are a few things that my husband and I feel are important: seat belts and good insurance.
Recently, I was paying bills and noticed that our insurance had gone up. I was shocked to see it had gone up $20/month! OUCH! So, I got online and started looking around. I have now spent all day researching car insurance. As I have talked to many agents, I have found many to have said, “Insurance is rising everywhere”. Great, not only is the car payment, maintenance and gas killing me, my insurance is going to as well. I am thinking that the cost to drive is getting way too much!
With the price of everything now, my children aren’t going to get anything when we die…the economy will nickel and dime us of all that. They might end up with our life insurance…as long as we die within the terms of what the life insurance covers and we have enough money to always pay the premiums!
I have been into cleaning and organizing a LOT lately (my poor husband is getting dragged into it all). Yesterday, I was cleaning our patio area off. My husband was at work and not there to help. I figured it was something I could handle on my own, afterall it was just cleaning the patio off! After it was all said and done, I wish he were there. He would have had the brains to know that gloves were needed.
We had some 2×8 boards we had cut and nailed together to create a LARGE flower box. We purchased soil and flowers to put in our large flower box. The patio was going to be welcoming and the olfactory sense 
would love the smell. The dream of flowers died as fast as the flowers did. We realized our dog liked to dig in this soil and tear out our flowers. UGH! At least she is a cute dog! (The picture is of her with my daughter)
The flower box sat full of dirt and empty of flowers since Spring in 2007. We put some cinderblocks over the top to prevent Lady, our dog, from digging in the soil. I kept the box with hopes that one day Lady wouldn’t be a puppy anymore; we wouldn’t have to worry about the flowers becoming arid and dying in the sun due to their roots being ripped from the fertile, moist soil.
Yesterday, I decided the hopes were pointless and it was time to get rid of the excess soil and flower box. As I started to dig, I found LOTS of bugs. Some I knew, some I did not. Among the ones I knew were: rolly pollies (or potato bugs), centipedes, worms and spiders. I filled 2 garbage bags with these bugs’ home, aka soil, and lives. There was a fair share of bugs destined for the dumpster. I loaded our little red wagon with the bug life. I hauled the wagon over to the dumpster, hoisted up the bags and destined these bugs to a new life at the dump. I am sure they will be happy.
The other chore I had to endure was moving the wood to the dumpster. The 2×8’s were long, bulky, heavy, covered in soil and splinter invested. Gloves would have been a good idea, but as they say, hind sight is 20/20. As I was carrying the awkward package, my hand slipped and all the germ invested splinters penetrated my skin. Most were superficial, some were not.
I finished the chore and went inside to find some tweezers and needle to get rid of the splinters. I thought I had gotten all the splinters out. My palm still hurt some, but I had just jabbed and prodded it with a needle trying to get the deep splinters. This morning I realized, there still must be one in there. My palm is red and swollen and hurts to the touch.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 4th of July, American History, Blueman Group, Declaration of Independence, Hannah Montana, Miley Cyrus, Stadium of Fire, why we have fireworks on 4th of July
The day is upon us to celebrate our Nation’s call for Independence. In celebration of the 4th of July, this year our family will be attending the Stadium of Fire…yep the sold out event in the Lavelle Edwards Stadium at BYU. The groups performing will be the Blue man Group and Miley Cyrus, AKA Hannah Montana. My daughters are ecstatic! My husband’s work provided all the families with VIP tickets and parking. We are very excited for the opportunity to celebrate the Fourth of July at the Stadium of Fire.
I was thinking of our excursion tomorrow night and started thinking why fireworks were used to celebrate the 4th of July. As I looked into the US History of why we had fireworks, I was intrigued by the history that I once knew and have since forgotten. After reading, I decided to share some of the facts I found on our American History.
On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee, a name few associate with our Independence, suggested we fight for Independence from Great Britain. His suggestion was given a second by John Adams, our 2nd President of the United States. Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd President of the United States, was asked to write The Declaration. This was not an easy task for him; overall it took 17 days and 86 changes. I personally have been to the Jefferson Monument in Washington DC. His words are eloquent, to say the least. As you read the passages he wrote, that are now inscribe upon the walls in his Monument, you can see the reason in why Jefferson was the person picked to write our nation’s Declaration of Independence.
The ratification of the Declaration of Independence took a while. On July 3, 1776, the men in Congress edited the document so all would be happy with it. On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the men in that Congressional meeting. Not all were present on July 4th to adopt the Declaration of Independence; those men voted and adopted the Declaration at a later date. John Hancock was the only one to sign the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Most signatures (56) took place on August 2, 1776 (I must note, one exception to that is Thomas McKean didn’t sign until 1781).
On July 6, 1776, the first President of the United States, George Washington, read the Declaration of Independence to his troops who were fighting in New York. After finishing reading, there was a moment of silence. Following the silence, cheers for independence rang throughout the crowd.
By the way, here is one of the sites that I got a majority of my information from: http://www.nps.gov/archive/moru/park_history/US%20History/men_behind_declaration.htm
Oh, and to answer the original question of why we have fireworks, the answer is: On July 4, 1777, congress adjourned to celebrate our call for Independence. Fireworks were lit off that night and have been a tradition ever since!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: new book series, reading habits, book suggestion, Chores lagging, Fablehaven
My husband recently got me swept away into the land of Fablehaven. It was a land I had tried to ignore and avoid, but ultimately my desire to read a book, any book, lead me to Fablehaven. Fablehaven is a land where fairies are butterflies and humming birds. A land where not only fairies but other mystical creatures such as bog monsters, centaurs, naiads and golems truly do exist. 
As I started my adventure, I thought to myself, “I will read this to appease the giant force directing towards this book”. I would hear the voice on all sides stating, “This is a great book”. For some reason that giant force has the same voice as my husband! So I threw a bone to him. I conceded to read the first book. Upon opening the book and reading the first couple pages, I was not overly enthused about my choice. After a couple chapters, I started getting into it. I finished the first book in 2 days and asked for the second. 
I was thirsty for more.
The second book was longer and quenched my thirst at first, but it was also quick reading. I finished the book after a little over a day of adventuring in the forests of Fablehaven. The cliffhanger left me teetering on the edge; I had to get the third book from my mother in law. Even with gas prices as outrageous as they are, I was willing to drive 15 minutes there and 15 back for the sole purpose of the third book.
Today I sit sadly writing this blog. I have finished the 3rd and longest book in the series of Fablehaven, only having received the book 20 hours ago. I think of that world, the children and the family and friends they made. I feel like I made those same friends. Will Kendra get Gavin as a watching guardian? Will Seth ever learn? What will happen to the Preserves (and no I am not talking about jam)? Will the school year go off without a hitch or will they be called back to Fablehaven early? Although much of the books are predictable, that doesn’t stop me from enjoying the excursion into a new world. Here I am reveling in what I just finished and contemplating what the next book has in store. Since only 3 books are finished, I have read as far as I can until a new release. 
I am the personality type that I DEFINITELY should have waited for the series to be completed before started the endeavor. I am impatient when it comes to waiting for the new release of books. Books are hard for me to put down and leave that world to enter my own again. When my family sees a book in my hands, they know they are on their own for dinner and the house chores are reserved for when the book is finished, other than necessities such as: breakfast and lunch preparation, dishes washed and basic pick up of toys throughout the house. While taking a break to make lunch or start the dishwasher, I realize I will have to make up for my slack today by working extra hard tomorrow. I promise the hardwood floors will get mopped!
In the end, I do suggest these books. If you are up to a lighter fantasy book, check out the Fablehaven books by Brandon Mull. Your eyes will be opened to a whole new world, especially if you drink the milk
