It's a Wonderful Life

We wrapped up the family visit last night. It was so enjoyable spending time with Dave's side of the family during this Christmas season. We are so blessed.

The mood for Christmas was set on the Sunday before Christmas. The choir sang and the bishopric spoke. It was a simple, unassuming sacrament meeting. As I was directing the sacrament hymn (Jesus Once of Humble Birth) I was really touched by the words of the hymn. So many of the phrases stuck with me throughout the day and on 'til Christmas. I spent a lot of time thinking about how our Savior came to this earth in such humble circumstances; how he meekly, willingly bore all of our hurts and pains; how he was rejected and despised; and he did all of these things so He could redeem and save us; so He could succor us when we are feeling rejected, despised, hurt, abandoned. I was so grateful to the Lord for putting those thoughts in my heart and mind.

There were many fun memories created during our time with Dave's family. One highlight for me was hearing my father-in-law pray over his family at Christmas dinner. He, much like his boy I married, is not an outwardly religious man; however, during those times when I have the opportunity to hear him pray there is no doubt about his deep abiding faith and love for our Lord.

I can't wait to see Les Miserable. That is on tomorrow's agenda. We are going to the theater with my parents. It's always fun to go to the movies with my dad and seeing a movie during the Christmas break has become somewhat of a tradition.

Christmas, time with Dave's family, movie with my parents (and maybe dinner?)... what a wonderful life.

A Redemption Run...Sort of

Oh what a difference a week can make in my running world. The wicked, kicking-my-butt head cold is winding down. The dip in hormones is on the way back up. So basically, energy levels are approaching normal levels. I was feeling so confident in my being back, I told Jessica that I would run all 12 miles with her.

Yes I still had to walk some of the big Mission hill, but I ran farther up it than I did last week. And I wasn't totally sucking wind and disoriented when I got to the top like I was last week. That was good. I felt strong running into the lovely head wind we had on the backside of the hill, but I was happy when it was at our backs down the homestretch.

When we hit the 8 mile mark, I was still feeling good. But it was just a short couple of miles later when I began to question why I had decided 12 miles would be a good idea. I hadn't run anything longer than 8 since the end of October. I hit 11.2 and I was done. Actually at 10.3 I was being to slow down, but it wasn't til 11.2 that I just didn't have anything left. Fortunately with a few small walk breaks I was able to get it done, but oh poor Jessica, I'm sure that wasn't the run she wanted to have.

So, you see, a redemption run of sorts. Good for 8 strong miles, a couple of OK miles and then a couple of ending miles just to remind me that I'm 41 and 12 miles is a big deal.

A Blog from Sad to Happy

I haven't felt much like blogging lately.

I don't have any cute kid stories to share. That makes me sad.

I have a wicked head cold that is kicking my butt. It started on Saturday and made for a really sucky run. That makes me sad.

I have a Pinterest account. And I have followers. Those poor people are going to be sorely disappointed. The fact that I have followers makes me giggle.

Even though I had a craptastic run on Saturday, I did find an unexpected running companion. I didn't expect anyone from the group to drop back and run with me for the last mile and a half, but one did. And she was the last person I would have thought would have done that. Just thinking about that kindness makes me smile.

We got our tree up on Sunday...finally! It actually worked out nicely because Katelyn was home by then to help decorate the tree. Carson actually cracked his little sheepish grin when I exclaimed "Oh this ornament is for Carson to put up. He always puts it up." Seeing him smile, even if just briefly, made me so happy and truth be told, a little misty-eyed.

Whew, I'm glad decided to blog. I feel much better. And ready for some more blogging.

Learn from My Mistakes, People

Do you have certain household chores, let's say cleaning the baseboards, that you let slide until a more convenient time only to discover that the more convenient time never seems to materialize? Then, before you know it, 12 years have passed by and those baseboards have been neglected for all those long years. But you don't really know how tired, dingy, and old they look until you go to re-install them after putting in brand spanking-new, shiny hardwood floors.

Does that sound like a scenario that could happen to you?

No? Well good on you. Please come visit me.

But if it is possible that you could foresee yourself in this situation, let me introduce you to two miracle workers...

Yep, these plus a little elbow grease can turn baseboards that look like this...

Into a baseboard that looks like this...

They aren't perfect, but they sure do look a lot better! And I promise there was no photoshopping or photography enhancements (I don't have the first clue how to do that). And I am not receiving any compensation from the above featured products.

You are welcome.

Funny Phone Calls from Kate

As soon as Katelyn got a cell phone (when she was 16), our way of communicating with her changed. As typical with teens, she preferred texting to calling. Her first cell phone bills were painful as she tried to balance her texting with her texting limit. She found an ally in her dad who convinced me to just bite the bullet and pay the stinkin' extra 10 bucks a month and get her unlimited texting.

When she was at home I didn't mind the text conversations because I knew she would be home at night and we could have actual voice conversations. But now that she is away at college, I wish she didn't have unlimited texting because that is still her preferred route of communication and I miss hearing her voice.

So I find it absolutely delightful when I get phone calls like this....

"Mom, how do you describe a lentil?"

or

"Mom, what's the name of the book about the three little pigs but told from the wolf's perspective"

or

"Mom, do you think something from the BYU-I bookstore would be just as good as a Seahawk sweatshirt?"


Random subjects, but totally Kate. I love it when she calls. And I am so looking forward to her coming home on Friday (or wait, maybe it's Saturday), she's not quite sure. Whenever it is, I'm taking the phone for those two weeks so she has to talk.

A Little Bit of Venting

I am restless and crabby. I want it to start feeling like Christmas around here, well at least around our house. I didn't realize how much decorating for Christmas helped set the mood for the season. I miss not being able to decorate. I was expressing this disappointment to Dave last night as we were driving home from the wrestling match and seeing all the neighborhood houses decorated. Then Carson pipes up from the back seat and says, "It's all frivolous any way. Sure it looks nice, but it's not necessary." Excuse me? This from the boy who is meticulous as he sets up the Precious Moments Sugar Town collection? Then I realized the words "frivolous" and "not necessary" were almost the exact words that were uttered by the one brother on Duck Dynasty. You are so grounded from watching the show any more, Carson.

Moving on. I'm still irritated about the RS from Sunday. Yes, it's Friday and I'm still ruminating on the message that was shared. Now, I think the teacher is a very nice, compassionate lady but her lesson really rubbed me the wrong way. I left RS far from feeling uplifted. I left feeling like I must be the most selfish and worst wife ever. The message was about becoming one in marriage. All I heard was that to be one in marriage you must give up all outside interests if they take time away from the family; you must never take your children to visit their grandparents if your spouse can't come; you shouldn't hang out with friends; TV and movies are things that should be left behind. One of the things that I appreciate most about Dave is that he understands the importance of each of us participating in individual interests. Yes, we do try to do some of those things together but sometimes what we are interested in the other is not. And since the men were not hearing the same lesson on Sunday it just felt like another lesson on submitting to male authority and the only way to become one in marriage is for the woman to give up everything that makes her an individual. I left feeling like somehow marriage must be some sort of "Borg" collective. Yuck.

Switching gears. Sometimes I think I should go to law school and the specializes in 504 law. Then I could work as a parent advocate or do trainings for school administrators. I think sometimes admininstrators just wish this law would go away since it is an unfunded mandate. Irritating that sometimes parents have to jump through so many hoops and see their kids fail before the school will write a 504 plan. Irritating I tell you.

One last thing. Katelyn had a boyfriend. Earlier this week she had to change her status on Facebook to "single". She was sad and didn't want to talk about it so she didn't call home. I found myself irritated at the guy for breaking up with her. Not often do I have the "mama bear" reaction to things but in the case I did which is weird because Dave and I both felt like he was too old for her. But I guess no one likes to see their kids hurting. And since this was Katelyn's first boyfriend I think the break up hurt a little worse.

Dave is supposed to be putting in our new hardwood floors this weekend. I hope he is able to get them in. I need to get the Christmas decorations up. I'm hoping with that my mood will be lifted and I'll feel more settled.