These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

It's not even Christmas Day yet and I already feel like I got what I wanted for Christmas. This year I was seeking a simple Christmas packed with tons of memories (as opposed to things) and thanks to my SIL and my my wish is being fulfilled.

Favorite Gifts:
*From my SIL, Carrie, the 12 Days of Christmas ready to give to another family. How fun! Carrie did all the work (cute poems, pretty bows on each gift--it was seeping with creativity) and all I have to do each night is pass it off to Jon and the girls and off they go. LOVED IT!
*From my brother, Justin, a gift that has brought about great discussions and questions with our girls. In our name, honey bees, tree seedlings and training are being provided to families in another country through Heifer International. What a great gift! I loved it for its originality, thoughtfulness and practicality. We gave another family a source of income!!! That's cool.

Favorite Activities:
*ice skating...in the rain (Who would've guessed that 40% chance of rain meant a downpour?)
*finding any excuse for having hot chocolate, like skating in the rain (We discovered flavored coffee creamers that make hot chocolate even more fun!)
*seeing the Nutcracker with the girls--love this tradition
*watching Christmas movies
*making gingerbread houses (sorry, the houses were made with graham crackers, but I did make the royal icing that worked like magic keeping everything together) The girls invited friends over too, so in all about 12 houses were made. We will definitely make this a tradition. And I will definitely do this outside next year. :)
*looking at lights...on other people's houses (because as my girls have learned, we just don't do lights on the outside because that's the part that Jon's in charge of.)

What I'm Looking Forward to:
*making donuts (Yet another excuse for more hot chocolate--you gotta have something to dip the donuts in!)
*finding some snow somewhere (Emily wants to make a snowman and go sledding. So far, the closest snow we can find is 5 hours away, so maybe we'll do an overnighter and have some snow adventures.)
*game nights
*Christmas morning
*watching more Christmas movies (did you see this one?)

Fun Ideas

Check out these sites that I found--way fun ideas!
Thanksgiving Thankful Countdown
Ornament Wreath
No Knit Scarf
Patchwork Duvet (I'm thinking it will be a great way for Emily to be more involved in her room makeover)
Christ Centered Christmas--a whole blog full of ideas!
Fabric Bracelets
Monogram Wreath
Hanging Book Display--I'm dying to do one for each of the girls.
Maybe thinking about all these fun ideas will motivate me to work super hard to get everything done today! Then I'll have lots of free time, right? :)

Am I getting it done?

My philosophy has always leaned towards 'Get in there and get er done.' I might not be having a lot of fun sometimes, but I'm getting a lot done! A couple of weeks ago I talked to a friend who I have always admired. She made this comment to me: "If we're not having fun doing what we do, then what's the point?"
I'm looking at my calendar today and seeing what needs to get done. I have lesson plans for preschool to prepare and November's calendar to the parents to get out. I have a Relief Society lesson to prepare for tomorrow. I have trick or treating tonight (Trunk or Treating was last night) and 13 people coming over for dinner tomorrow so the house needs to be cleaned today. I have 3 dentist appointments and 1 doctor's apppointment next week. I'm volunteering in Emily's class on Monday. Swimming on Tuesday. Relief Society presidency meeting on Wednesday. (Am I doing everything I can with my calling?) Visiting teaching on Thursday evening. Gymnastics on Friday. Family pictures being taken on Friday. Shopping for the family picture will be fit in...???? Preschool on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. I just saw the lawn and again had the thought, 'Maybe it's time to hire someone to do the yard.' It's also time for me to get a haircut. (When???) I feel like I call on friends too much to watch my kids so that I can "Get er done!"
Yesterday after gymnastics I went to the store to get food for Sunday's dinner and next week's preschool stuff. I had a cart full when I realized I was supposed to be in Rachel's class with plates and Cheerios for her Halloween party right now!! I left the cart in the middle of the store full of stuff and RAN out, threw Hannah and Lizzie in the car and vroomed off. I hit every red light on the way home to pick up my stuff and H&L just stared at me while I growled at the lights. I tried to make it look like I was having fun doing it, but I don't think I fooled them--I think I scared them. I showed up to the party a little late, frazzled, with H&L looking like they needed a little more love and cleaner outfits. Rachel just seemed to look at me like "Yeah, that seems about right. That's my mom."
Why am I so busy and feeling like I'm doing a lot, but when you look at my house or any other part of my life one has to wonder, What is she doing?

I now know...

After a very fun, very busy day at preschool today, I put Lizzie down for a nap and Hannah and I went upstairs for some quiet time with the telly. (We get 7 stations with the antenna Jon bought--4 are PBS, one is Korean, one is Spanish and one is lame.) After watching Elmo for awhile, I heard noises downstairs. I went to investigate. Lizzie wasn't in her crib. She had discovered something more fun. Coloring! With a marker...a black marker...a black dry erase marker. It's easier to list what she didn't color on than what she did--her rug and, thankfully, the new white dresser were spotless.
Here is what I now know: (It seems that because of my kids' curiosity I've learned a lot!)
~Rubbing alcohol and hairspray take dry erase marker off walls, doors, and baseboards pretty easily. It also takes off paint pretty easily, too. Emily and Lizzie now get to choose a new paint color for their room. Emily's thinking blue. Lizzie says pink. (I'm not sure Lizzie will get much say seeing that she created this dilemma.)
~Baby wipes take dry erase marker off cribs and beds, but not off of skin.
~Murphy's Oil Soap takes most of dry erase marker out of clothes. Ironically, Lizzie was wearing this shirt. Maybe this isn't quite the shirt for her? I tend to stay pretty calm during "moments" such as these. Lizzie kept asking, "Mommy sad?" while I was scrubbing away. I simply replied, "Yes, Mommy's very sad." Then with a smile she'd say, "Sorry, Mommy."
I tried 2 more times to put Lizzie to bed. After hearing noises I checked on her to make sure she hadn't found any more markers. The first time she was in her closet, with the doors closed trying on shoes and the next time she was doing somersaults on her floor. What am I going to do??? She usually takes 3 hour naps! It's such a wonderful thing and I'm not ready to give them up. So, after picking up Rachel from school I tried one more time and told her to stay. The look on my face was enough I guess because she napped until the next teasing match woke her up.
What did you learn today?

This Week's Menu

Monday: Rats and Snakes
Tuesday: Bat Wings in Blood and Ghosts (Parmesan flavored)
Wednesday: Monster Faces (Spider Webs for dessert)
Thursday: Creepy Crawlies
Friday: Saucy Worms

The tests are in...

Three different doctors ordered a total of 10 tests to pinpoint what's been up with me. The results are in from the tests and for the most part I just need to make a few changes and I'll be on my way to health and strength. The easy things? Make some diet changes and increase some deficient vitamins. That's the easy part, though I'm not too excited about minimizing chocolate, wheat, oats and sugar. I bought a juicer, 20 lbs. of fruit and some vitamins and supplements. The problem comes in when the doctor tells me to reduce my stress and increase my sleep. Not as easy as popping some vitamins. I've already set my life course on busy and I've recently realized I haven't left a whole lot of room for me. I have tried. I really have. The two biggest being the gym and house cleaners. I signed up for the gym because my early morning walks weren't working too well, due to Jon's traveling and Lizzie crawling out of her crib while I was out. But sadly, since signing up over a week ago for the gym, I haven't found a time to go just to get my picture taken for my card! I hired house cleaners to help with the big stuff I haven't been keeping up with since starting the preschool. But sadly, I haven't even been keeping up with the little stuff.
My personality that focuses on perfectionism may have gotten me far in life, but now it's getting me in trouble. I feel like my head is arguing all day long. "It's important! It's not important!" I fear that my days of getting lots done are gone. Sometimes projects for church or school, reading a great book, catching up on laundry have to be paid with the price of missed sleep. I might be tired the next day, but I feel satisfied. Now, I know that missed sleep costs me more than just a groggy day. I'm wiped out for a week with a dip in my health. The price is all of a sudden too steep if I am to be a good mom who can deal with the whining, crying, emotions of a bad day at school, homework, life's questions. I'm determined to alter my perspective. I have to. I'm not giving myself a choice. But, I am allowing myself a time of mourning for my old self (the one who thrived on accomplishing tasks, the one who stayed up late because that was my time) before I take the time to get to know the new me (the one with a bedtime, the one who doesn't eat chocolate chip cookies for breakfast and the one who allows minimal distress in her life even when her 2 year old rips off a diaper in her room at 8:00 at night that requires the room to be quarantined for sanitation purposes. I'll let you know when I get to know the new me, but so far I don't think I know her very well.

Seriously (#3)

Jon told me today that Obama recently used our current health care provider as a role model for his health care reform plans. I guess I'm not surprised. The provider we use is set up very much like the government. Here was my experience with our health care provider this week.
A week ago I had a health issue, one that's been ongoing but sporadic. I called the call center, explained the problem and asked if it would be prudent to see a specialist. No, just see an internal medicine doctor. I made an appointment for yesterday--the next available one. I went in, described the problem, which by now was no longer a problem. I was told I need to see a specialist. Right--what a great idea. AND see the specialist when I am having the problem. Right--brilliant! Very helpful! So far I'm nowhere and I've paid someone $20 to tell me these things.
Well, the problem came back this morning. So, I quickly called after preschool to make my appointment with the specialist. The next available appointment? Next week. I explain the history and what I would like to happen--to be seen today or tomorrow so that testing can be done and answers can be found.
Here is the solution I am told (after talking to several people who didn't know what to do with me): Call to make an appointment with the internal medicine doctor (who is on the south end of town and referred me to the specialist yesterday). She will take a picture of the problem and send it to the specialist. Then the specialist will look at the picture and determine if she wants to see me and then I will get a call to make another appointment for the specialist (on the north end of town).
Seriously!!!
Let's just hope I never have to use Obama's plan because I would end up frequenting the psych ward every time I needed anything medical!!!
Needless to say, in my frame of I'm-not-feeling-very-well mind, the poor nurse who relayed this crazy plan had to listen to my response. I don't think it needs to be scripted here, but wowie, wow, wow! Don't worry, I didn't use any expletives, but I'm sure my tone sure did.
Ten seconds after I hung up with the nurse (saying something like "I'm not playing your ridiculous game!") I got a call from the specialist's office saying she could see me in an hour. Huh? I frantically made phone calls to friends who knew a bit of the situation--Please watch my kids. (What would we do without friends???) The doctor did some tests and the results will be back sometime in my lifetime. I think the results will be: She has lost her mind, and there is nothing we can do for her! But maybe they can take pictures of me in a padded room and send them around to all of you!