I'm not the most hospitable person normally. It's not that I don't want to share my life with people, but I'm terribly embarrassed when people come over to my house and things just aren't perfect. I'm not perfect. I don't claim to be, but still, just the thought of people coming over and judging me is abhorrent to me.
That being said, today I had a tie dye party for our girl scout troop at my house today.
Nerve wracking as it was to open my home, I still did it here. Then there's the fact that I'd never tie dyed in a huge group ever. The thought of bringing dye near 20 kids is frightening on it's own.
Can I just say it's a miracle that I survived the day?
I'm a bundle of stress the whole time, but it still went well. I'm exhausted, but that's mostly stress. I ordered pizza for my family so we had something to eat tonight. Micah's pizza is as easy as a microwave (thank God I had something that would serve as crust on hand).
Why is this so hard for me? Having family around doesn't bother me (unless it's my grandmother) because they know me and know I'm not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. Anyone else is just hard to have around. Today I couldn't get around it, so it happened. Why am I so leery of being hospitable? It's one of those things I really need to work on.
So the tie dye party was a success. I wish I remembered to take pictures among everything else that I was doing. Tony even charged the battery for me today to make sure I could. Too many hats, I guess. I just don't mix photographer with other hats well. I didn't hear a single complaint from parents, and some of them were jumping right in helping out in every way they could. I heard only good things so far.
Anyway, just thought I'd share. I'm releasing stress blogging I guess. One of these days I will have the energy and the gumption to write about my goals for this year...it's still January, right?
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
The Past and the Present
Well, I haven't blogged in a while, but it's a new year, so I thought I'd blog a bit. It's not a resolution, but I figure I'll do well if I blog at least once a month. I hope for more, but that's just not always possible.
Funny how many blogs I read start out with similar paragraphs....
Anyhoo, what's going on?
The kids are finally back to school. They were off for 3 weeks, which was starting to get on my nerves. I love my kids, but we need a break from each other sometimes. My patience runs thin after a while. I find myself looking forward to the end of July when the twins start Kindergarten. It will be weird, I've never been the mom who doesn't have children in the mornings before. Knowing me, I'll end up spending half my time at their school and the other half avoiding cleaning my house until I eventually give in. I have all kinds of plans for my time, but in the end, I figure that's what will happen.
Today I worked with some other ladies from my church on a skit for this Sunday's service. It should be interesting. I've never worked with so little time on a skit before. I love doing this kind of thing, though, so it should be fun.
It's different to just be involved at church and not be in charge of things. I really like it. I think it has to do with some of the awesome people that I am working with. Cristi, the lady who is in charge of drama at the church, is really fun to be around. She has 2 cute little girls. One is a little younger than the twins, and the other is a little older. Cristi's mom is in charge of AWANA at Palm, and she does a great job, especially since she just started as commander this year. This whole family has a real heart to serve. They remind me a bit of my own family.
Oh, something I haven't blogged about: my mother moved out of my house...sort of.... My grandmother had been in the hospital for a little while and was released last month. My mother, who knows that my grandmother really couldn't come home without help, went to live with her. My mom is still keeping her room at my house, and she still plans to "live" here, but she has a room at my grandmother's and is going to be taking care of her there. I don't think it's really worked out what's going to happen, but I have a room where my mom can stay here, and my mother has a room with my grandmother. In all of this, my grandmother is moving to an apartment that is pretty close to my house, so I'll be able to visit with her and help her out as well. I just hope that in everything, my mother doesn't end up feeling stretched too thin. She's also going through a rough time at work. I just hope that I can provide for her a place where she can rest when she needs to.
My house is quiet...I wonder what's wrong...the twins are napping...Micah is having a snack...Becca is doing homework...there's no TV...no one bugging me...this is weird.
Girl Scouts is going well. Cookie sales are coming, so I'm getting prepared. Don't be surprised when I have Becca here writing on my blog selling cookies. She wants to go to the Disneyland trip that they have for big sellers, so we are going to be a bit crazy with sales this year. She did pretty well just at the end of the sale last year, so I hope she will get to her goal this year. She just has to sell 750 boxes of cookies for that...it can happen, right? Along with that Disneyland trip she would get a $200 "cookie card" that she can spend in the store on uniforms and GS stuff. That would be what I want for her. Girl Scouts stuff is expensive.
I had some goals that I blogged about at the beginning of last year, and since I started them on the blog, I figure I should at least tell you what happened with them.
1. Listen Better: Honestly, I think I achieved a bit better than I was last year at this time. I can't say that I'm perfect, just better. Becca and I have a better relationship because I listen to what she has to say. I feel like I spent over half the year waiting and listening to what God wanted us to do at church. It really helped to hear from Him and have it confirmed that we did what He wanted us to do. I still think I need to work on this, but I'm pretty sure I am better than last year, which is what the goal was all about anyway.
2. More Organized: Wanna know something funny? It took adding something else to my schedule to get more organized. Taking on the Girl Scout troop has helped me in this area tremendously. I know that someone else (besides my family, who are very forgiving) is depending on me to be organized. My calendar is full, but I'm not over-scheduling because I'm putting it on my calendar. I take out my phone when people ask me about a certain date to check my calendar to find out if I can actually do it. These things may seem simple and routine for some, but for me, I didn't do it before. I even added a new calendar recently that is online and will go to Tony's phone so that he can check it and add his stuff to it, too. It makes my life easier knowing what is going on with my family at a glance...now if only my phone hadn't broken last week...but I'm getting a new phone this week, so I'll be fine.
3. Feel Better: I actually do feel better. I'm walking some in order to get my body used to a bit more exercise at a time. I'm actually taking my meds (duh, that might work, huh?), and I'm keeping my temperature regulated so I don't have the relapse. The only thing that I still need to work on with this (beyond keeping up what I'm doing now) is to stop stressing out. As I become more organized, I'm becoming less stressed, so hopefully all of that will work itself out, too.
Those were the goals for last year. I'm thinking of my new ones for this year...I think that will be a different blog entry.
Funny how many blogs I read start out with similar paragraphs....
Anyhoo, what's going on?
The kids are finally back to school. They were off for 3 weeks, which was starting to get on my nerves. I love my kids, but we need a break from each other sometimes. My patience runs thin after a while. I find myself looking forward to the end of July when the twins start Kindergarten. It will be weird, I've never been the mom who doesn't have children in the mornings before. Knowing me, I'll end up spending half my time at their school and the other half avoiding cleaning my house until I eventually give in. I have all kinds of plans for my time, but in the end, I figure that's what will happen.
Today I worked with some other ladies from my church on a skit for this Sunday's service. It should be interesting. I've never worked with so little time on a skit before. I love doing this kind of thing, though, so it should be fun.
It's different to just be involved at church and not be in charge of things. I really like it. I think it has to do with some of the awesome people that I am working with. Cristi, the lady who is in charge of drama at the church, is really fun to be around. She has 2 cute little girls. One is a little younger than the twins, and the other is a little older. Cristi's mom is in charge of AWANA at Palm, and she does a great job, especially since she just started as commander this year. This whole family has a real heart to serve. They remind me a bit of my own family.
Oh, something I haven't blogged about: my mother moved out of my house...sort of.... My grandmother had been in the hospital for a little while and was released last month. My mother, who knows that my grandmother really couldn't come home without help, went to live with her. My mom is still keeping her room at my house, and she still plans to "live" here, but she has a room at my grandmother's and is going to be taking care of her there. I don't think it's really worked out what's going to happen, but I have a room where my mom can stay here, and my mother has a room with my grandmother. In all of this, my grandmother is moving to an apartment that is pretty close to my house, so I'll be able to visit with her and help her out as well. I just hope that in everything, my mother doesn't end up feeling stretched too thin. She's also going through a rough time at work. I just hope that I can provide for her a place where she can rest when she needs to.
My house is quiet...I wonder what's wrong...the twins are napping...Micah is having a snack...Becca is doing homework...there's no TV...no one bugging me...this is weird.
Girl Scouts is going well. Cookie sales are coming, so I'm getting prepared. Don't be surprised when I have Becca here writing on my blog selling cookies. She wants to go to the Disneyland trip that they have for big sellers, so we are going to be a bit crazy with sales this year. She did pretty well just at the end of the sale last year, so I hope she will get to her goal this year. She just has to sell 750 boxes of cookies for that...it can happen, right? Along with that Disneyland trip she would get a $200 "cookie card" that she can spend in the store on uniforms and GS stuff. That would be what I want for her. Girl Scouts stuff is expensive.
I had some goals that I blogged about at the beginning of last year, and since I started them on the blog, I figure I should at least tell you what happened with them.
1. Listen Better: Honestly, I think I achieved a bit better than I was last year at this time. I can't say that I'm perfect, just better. Becca and I have a better relationship because I listen to what she has to say. I feel like I spent over half the year waiting and listening to what God wanted us to do at church. It really helped to hear from Him and have it confirmed that we did what He wanted us to do. I still think I need to work on this, but I'm pretty sure I am better than last year, which is what the goal was all about anyway.
2. More Organized: Wanna know something funny? It took adding something else to my schedule to get more organized. Taking on the Girl Scout troop has helped me in this area tremendously. I know that someone else (besides my family, who are very forgiving) is depending on me to be organized. My calendar is full, but I'm not over-scheduling because I'm putting it on my calendar. I take out my phone when people ask me about a certain date to check my calendar to find out if I can actually do it. These things may seem simple and routine for some, but for me, I didn't do it before. I even added a new calendar recently that is online and will go to Tony's phone so that he can check it and add his stuff to it, too. It makes my life easier knowing what is going on with my family at a glance...now if only my phone hadn't broken last week...but I'm getting a new phone this week, so I'll be fine.
3. Feel Better: I actually do feel better. I'm walking some in order to get my body used to a bit more exercise at a time. I'm actually taking my meds (duh, that might work, huh?), and I'm keeping my temperature regulated so I don't have the relapse. The only thing that I still need to work on with this (beyond keeping up what I'm doing now) is to stop stressing out. As I become more organized, I'm becoming less stressed, so hopefully all of that will work itself out, too.
Those were the goals for last year. I'm thinking of my new ones for this year...I think that will be a different blog entry.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Advent
For the second year, my family will be celebrating Advent. It's an awesome tradition that helps my kids remember what the meaning of Christmas really is to us.
Two years ago, right after Christmas, while going shopping at the after Christmas sales with my mom, I came across this really great Advent calendar. At 90% off, I'm going to buy a lot of things that had very little reason yet (we won't talk about my shopping habits in this blog post though) but this one was an awesome find. I really have to take a picture of it...
Anyway, it's like any reusable Advent calendar thing, it has little doors for each day with the number for the day. I figured I'd use it, and I think it only cost me a couple of bucks anyway, so there it sat until Christmas season rolled around the following year.
Christmas lately (for the last 4 years), I've been decorating my house with a new theme every year. Each theme was based on a scent. Cinnamon one year, gingerbread...you get it. This year is peppermint.
Add the tradition of advent with my theme of the year and I had something in my little boxes that was a fun family activity for every night. Last year, that was how we decorated the tree. The kids made ornaments at least twice a week last year...it was a really full tree when it was finished.
This year I decided to break out old decorations and just add as we go when necessary. We may make one ornament a week. If the tree gets too full I'll put away some of the store bought decorations quietly after the kids go to bed at night.
Tonight, for the first night of our Advent calendar, we made candy canes out of chenille sticks. We talked about what the shape of a candy cane reminds us of. We turned it upside-down and talked about what words start with J. The kids eventually caught on and started to talk about Jesus. I love it when the conversation goes that way with only a little prodding. Ali and Zoe were talking about baby Jesus and how "Christmas is about him."
Some days we might read stories, some days make fun stuff, some days we might start early and bake something. I'm even thinking of a family outing this year for it. It's all about the family activity, and helping the kids solidify in their minds what Christmas is really all about. It's what the kids look forward to.
Maybe some day my kids will roll their eyes at me making them come open the little door and wonder why they can't go out with their friends for almost the entire month of December, but I will continue to be that mean, dorky mom who makes them go through the motions and tell me about what Christmas is really all about. It's a family tradition that I'm making up as I go along because I'm like that.
Two years ago, right after Christmas, while going shopping at the after Christmas sales with my mom, I came across this really great Advent calendar. At 90% off, I'm going to buy a lot of things that had very little reason yet (we won't talk about my shopping habits in this blog post though) but this one was an awesome find. I really have to take a picture of it...
Anyway, it's like any reusable Advent calendar thing, it has little doors for each day with the number for the day. I figured I'd use it, and I think it only cost me a couple of bucks anyway, so there it sat until Christmas season rolled around the following year.
Christmas lately (for the last 4 years), I've been decorating my house with a new theme every year. Each theme was based on a scent. Cinnamon one year, gingerbread...you get it. This year is peppermint.
Add the tradition of advent with my theme of the year and I had something in my little boxes that was a fun family activity for every night. Last year, that was how we decorated the tree. The kids made ornaments at least twice a week last year...it was a really full tree when it was finished.
This year I decided to break out old decorations and just add as we go when necessary. We may make one ornament a week. If the tree gets too full I'll put away some of the store bought decorations quietly after the kids go to bed at night.
Tonight, for the first night of our Advent calendar, we made candy canes out of chenille sticks. We talked about what the shape of a candy cane reminds us of. We turned it upside-down and talked about what words start with J. The kids eventually caught on and started to talk about Jesus. I love it when the conversation goes that way with only a little prodding. Ali and Zoe were talking about baby Jesus and how "Christmas is about him."
Some days we might read stories, some days make fun stuff, some days we might start early and bake something. I'm even thinking of a family outing this year for it. It's all about the family activity, and helping the kids solidify in their minds what Christmas is really all about. It's what the kids look forward to.
Maybe some day my kids will roll their eyes at me making them come open the little door and wonder why they can't go out with their friends for almost the entire month of December, but I will continue to be that mean, dorky mom who makes them go through the motions and tell me about what Christmas is really all about. It's a family tradition that I'm making up as I go along because I'm like that.
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