Tag Archives: random

This is the part where you’re supposed to validate me.

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Seriously.  I need to know if I’m alone in this.

Girl Talk

Do you ever…

  1. Get half way through your shower and can’t remember if you already washed your hair or not?  Or wash your hair and then not remember if you used shampoo or Summer’s Eve?
  2. Spend 50% of your budget in the first two days after payday?  Because you’ve been showing spending restraint for ten whole days and just. can’t. hold. back. any. longer.
  3. Buy something you know is nasty for your kids (like Spaghettios) just in the hopes that they might like it and you will have one more less-than-a-dollar and less-than-two-minutes-to-fix item to add to your list of lunch possibilities?
  4. Stock up on clearance items that are two sizes too big for your kids even though you know it will make your budget tight this month, but you convince yourself it will save you a lot of money in the Spring of 2011?
  5. Have more pajamas and lounge pants than “real” pants?
  6. Carry on imaginary conversations in your mind with people that you don’t even know?
  7. Secretly wish that all your ex-boyfriends had a blog so you could pop in occasionally to remind yourself how lucky you are (and make sure that you’re cuter and more clever than their wife)?
  8. Buy something that is obviously unhealthy (like a small package of Lindt milk chocolate truffles, hypothetically speaking) and eat all of it all at once so you can just throw away the wrapper(s) and eliminate all evidence that you purchased/ate it?
  9. Ignore your children while they ask something over and over and over again because you hope they’ll just give up and think about something else?  (Admittedly, not very nice.)
  10. Just look at your husband, your children and your life, and think “HOW did I get this blessed?”

Because I do.  And I was just wondering if that was normal.

A few thoughts that lean heavily on the “Diapers” half of this blog

Posted in Diapers by

(little echoing voice:) “Poop or pee?”

Am I the only mother whose children stand outside the bathroom door and want to know exactly what’s going on in there?

Please tell me I’m not.

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When your daughter is potty training and is a big-girl-underwear rookie, it is not wise to let her sit on your lap while you type an email.  Just a little advice you’ll thank me for someday.

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What does it mean when your husband looks at the dinner you made and says, “Do we have any Beano?”

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Why do night-time diapers cost like $1.50 EACH when they are just glorified newborn diapers?  And will my children still wear them in high school?

Microposts

Posted in Diapers, Divinity by

Here are a few thoughts I’ve wanted to write about recently, but I don’t have the energy to develop them into “real” posts, so enjoy my extraordinary brevity.

  1. Tonight I was getting ready to go to dinner with a lovely blog friend, and Grant was understandably curious since I put on make up and all.  I explained where, who, what, when, etc. and he seemed satisfied.  He paused from dusting my dresser (yes, I make my children do jobs while I get ready for a night on the town) and said, “You’d better hurry.  I wish you a good time.”  I laughed. What six-year-old says, “I wish you a good time”?  Such a silly boy.
  2. Even though I spent most of today being more detached and lazy than I should be, I spent a little one-on-one time with each of my kids doing some cuddling/wrestling/tickling, and I watched their mouths really close while we talked and played.  I love their smiles.  The cute little teeth and smile shapes.  I felt a deep connection with each of them and wondered if I knew their smiles in heaven before any of us were born.
  3. I know it’s sexist, but I’ve always kind of considered self-mastery to be more of a man’s problem.  Women are more disciplined it seems.  Well, I’ve been realizing lately that’s baloney.  Maybe men have a harder time not doing things they shouldn’t, but it’s sure been hard for me lately to do the stuff I know I should.  I joked with my friend tonight that we moms just don’t have the energy to do all the stuff we believe in and know we should.  Anyway, I concede that self-mastery is a universal problem.
  4. Matt just played a country song for me (not my favorite genre) and told me that he wants to turn it into a heavy metal song and it will be his anthem to me.  I looked skeptical, and he said it’s called “She’s Got It All.”  “Oh, that’s nice,” I said, “but I’m not sure I want my anthem to be a heavy metal song.”  He said he’s got all the guitar solos and riffs and stuff worked out in his mind; he just doesn’t know how to play it.  What a shame.  It’s our tenth anniversary this weekend, and I think he’s right– I do “got it all.”  Still love that guy.  I thank my lucky stars often that I got that choice right.  I think I might do a “How I met Matt” series on my blog to celebrate. It’s quite a fun story. Would anybody actually care to read it?
  5. For family home evening last night, the boys taught the lesson and we all did a role-play of David and Goliath.  Matt was the Goliath defeated by the brave and faithful Grant/David.  He hit him smack dab in the forehead with a little bouncy ball and it cracked us all up.  I guess Natalie even paid attention, but unfortunately she spent the rest of the night saying (in her mean Daddy/Goliath voice) “Come and fight me!”  Not exactly the lesson we were going for, but I’m glad she was listening.
  6. Last week, the kids were on my black list after that hard trip I took with them to Nauvoo.  Matt helped me out by teaching our family home evening lesson on “the body of Christ” and how we have to work together as a family so we can be strong and happy.  We got out the whiteboard and they each took turns drawing a member of our family, and then we made lists of ways to have strong, happy families and what makes sad, broken families (obviously all in preschool vocabulary).  Check it out:DSCF0067

And here’s a close-up of the family portrait:

DSCF0068

This is me right here.  The tarantula or spider monkey that Natalie drew.  It’s good to see what a prominent place I hold in the family.

DSCF0069

7.  I sent out a lot of emails with Protecting Innocence Project assignments and I’ve heard back from several of you, but can the rest of you (who said you wanted to participate) hit reply and let me know if you’re going to be able to do your assignment?  No offense will be taken if you don’t want to/can’t do it, but it helps me to know what parts I still need to work on.  To those of you who are waiting on a response back from me on your initial research/work, I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.  Thank you, thank you.

So much for brevity.  Good night.

Vacation can kill you, and other random thoughts

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chuck27e20cheeseThis vacation in Atlanta has been fairly laid back, but I still feel exhausted.  Here are a few important lessons I have learned this time around:

  • If my children are given the choice between going to heaven or going to Chuck E. Cheese, it’s a no-brainer.  (Oh, and apparently exchanging wads and wads of tickets for a one-inch Laffy Taffy and a mini Tootsie-Roll pop is much more rewarding than I would have imagined.)
  • Lots and lots of rain is only slightly better than lots and lots of snow.  You still get cabin fever.
  • When your mom asks you to help her shop for jeans, wear comfortable shoes and pack a lunch.
  • An air mattress does not count as a bed, I don’t care what anyone tells you.
  • If you go on a leisurely walk with your dad in a hilly neighborhood while pushing your 2-year-old in a stroller, it’s possible that your leg muscles might combust.
  • If your husband loves to browse eBay and Craig’s List, it may not be a wise budget move to leave him unsupervised at home for eight days.
  • If you would like to renew your faith in your children, just listen to your parents talk about them to their friends.  You’d think they were national treasures raised by a herd of angels.
  • Vacation makes your children lose their will to sleep.  No matter how hard you try to maintain a routine, they go to bed late and wake up too early.
  • When your mom thinks that homemade play-doh would be a fun idea for your kids, she’s right.  It will entertain Clark and Natalie for more than an hour and the mess is at her house instead of yours.
  • Note to self:  Do not save all of your children’s old books and toys for 35 years so that your grandchildren can play with them some day.  Chances are only about 23% that said grandchildren will survive the dust, mildew, small parts and 274 broken modern safety laws.  If you choose to break this “rule,”  keep plenty of band-aids and Benadryl on hand.
  • I really like Springtime, and really dislike Arctic wintertime.
  • It doesn’t really matter much how many years have passed or whether the homestead has changed location, spending time with parents and family always feels like home.

Well, that’s about as deep as I’m feeling today.  I’ve got to get some sleep so I can survive that 3 kids on the airplane thing tomorrow.

Tomorrow’s the last day to enter a limerick in the limerick contest.  There are some fun ones so far.  Watch for voting starting Wednesday.

And also Wednesday is the day you’ll need to reset the RSS feed for this blog as it switches to www.diapersanddivinity.com .  From what I understand, Google Reader, your sidebar post-updater-thing, or any RSS feed won’t pick up any new posts unless you re-subscribe.  Please come back and find me again or I’ll miss you.

And I’m going to Women’s Conference at BYU at the end of April… is anyone going to be there as well?  Might be fun to meet up for lunch one day or something.

Oh, and guess what?!  I actually won something in that giveaway at Mormon Mommy Blogs— a cool photo book.  Plus a bunch of other people I like won stuff too, so I was so excited when I saw the big announcement.  They also invited/approved for me to guest post there soon and I’m anxious about what to write… heavy on diapers or heavy on divinty, or a clever mix of both (that’s trickier sometimes).  Any advice?  Feel free to throw out a topic, too.