day to day

One of my more recently acquired friends posted about time and ever since I read her take on it I cant shake the words "time is a gift." Truth be told I have constantly felt that time is the heavy hand pressing on us to accomplish the impossible tasks set before us each day. Phrases such as "there is no time" and " that will take to much time" or even "I ran out of time" have left a thumb print on my brain since childhood. Time has never been considered a gift to me or even a friend. It pulls my skin, loosens my joints and gives me aches only "old people" should have. More than one night has been spent wondering where it all has gone. It wasn't until I searched my heart did I realise my mindset was in need of alteration. After much thought it has come to my attention that time is truthfully not my enemy. It is not marching across a field to attack me, time truly is a gift. Its presented every day with no strings, an open box with equally open opportunity's. A priceless power only the owner can keep or give. What are you using your time up on today? Is its worth it?

just a side note

check out my girls blog, she has been updating again

here is a quote

soooo Today I got on the Portland to coast web sight and viewed a hideous picture of my self in the recent race I took part in. To comfort me my mom said " that doesn't really look like you" and then my son followed it up with "yeah that doesn't look like you because you have small boobies." alluding to the fact the picture made them look much bigger. :) the other day he was listening to the Beatles song all you need is love and stated quite clearly that is wasn't true. I asked him what wasn't true about it and he answered with full confidence " because you only get love when your mommy needs it." Its nice to have a fan club, even if it is only 42 in, tall!

intollerance or allergy

WOW! man can I cay that again? WOW! mightn't you be wondering whats with the exclamations? Last week I ran into a tainted fry. Mind you I'm not talking about the "wow that fry looks like it came from a rotten potato" no tainted like, "this thing was fried along side shrimp." An inconvenience to most, but a true allergy to me. By true allergy I mean my body has been building up an army or histamine against those little shellfish since I was 5 or 6. The last time I remember eating crab was on vacation 21 years ago. After that I have had the pleasure of experiencing an occasional dance with death whenever I munch down fried food without thinking. When city girl raced me to the hospital (God bless her) back in April my reaction time was 2 hours. It had been so long since my last reaction I ceased carrying my epi pen and benadryl around with me. After a LARGE bill from the hospital, I am now never without them. Funny how that works. You see, a food allergy will kill you and an intolerance will make your life uncomfortable...but you wont die. It took me years to realise the difference between itchy hives from raspberries and shellfish causing anafalaxis. The intolerance I grew out of, whereas the allergy is still cursing me. Recently in Utah I came across my tainted fry. Tasty as it was I decided to put my burger down and go out to the car to fetch the necessary tools for survival. It surprised me how fast I felt the effects this time. It was 3 minutes at the most when the symptoms began to set in. My head was swimming and I felt dizzy. We reached the car and I hastily threw a benadryl down the hatch. By the time Bill and I came back into the restaurant my heart was beating hard' it was a matter of minutes before I would have passed out. I slammed down 4 glasses of water and another pill, epi-pens though useful have unpleasant side effect including shaking as well as having to visit your doctor to get a new one. It took 30 minutes total to feel better, but what an ordeal! 3 minutes is allot less than 2 hours, praise God for benadryl as well as friends who wont let me leave home without it.

phiew, Im finally cought up with my posting. No more from me till the weekend and then Im thinking it will all be pictures.

hows schooling? GREAT!

Three weeks into school and my routine is finally set. I measured out my time budget, cut the unnecessary things and have found 5:30am to be a fantastic alternative to staying up late. (yes I am catching up blogging but normally its not in my day to day)
The morning is the only portion of the day not filled with duty or exhaustion. Here is a sketch of the day..

5:30 get up
start laundry
start coffee
pick up family room gather dishes and laundry
do devotions
6:15ish kids wake up
I start breakfast
7:00 Pilate's
7:30 finish breakfast occasionally starting a load of dishes
8:00 school starts
phonics
literature
math
art
11:30 lunch
quiet time (mommy takes a nap while kids play in their room)
finish any left over subjects
start cleaning the house
vacuum
fold laundry
unload dishes
get something out for dinner and start it
let kids play outside or go to the park
5:00 dinner
5:30 jogging (this is my hour of alone time every day..and its fantastic!)
6:45 watch a movie with kids and hang out
7:30 bed time for kids
hang out with Greg
9:30ish go to bed rinse, repeat

yeah pretty boring but hey whatever gets the job done. My girl is powering through school this year. Last year we were all squirming and squiggling but this year she can actually sit in her seat as well as read more thoroughly. I am enjoying the fluffy addition of art. Its not necessary but man is it nice to have more fun things to do. I wish there was a good preschool close by that I could have the boys attend, Mr. Steel is determined to go away for school, too cute. I'm sorry if you eyes have burned out from boardroom..but that's all that's going on with me lately. Good,...and yet the same every day :)

campsight left me wishing for forsight

UTAH....not just the home of polygamy but also the birthplace of Morton salt. My husband, Mr. Bill, Mechanic Matt and City girl have been planning this trip for 2 years and so when it finally materialized and became a reality we had high expectations. My three kids stayed with my parents and we set out on the road. 15 or 16 hours later we pulled into a casino laden town, only to discover our KOA was so close that a person with sleepwalking problems might find themselves deep in debt by the time they awoke.

Now,... setting up tents at midnight might pose a problem for some, we had more than enough light from the neighboring casino as well as the trailer park a mere fence post away. A nightly killing of black widow spiders (apparently infesting the campground) was required as well as making sure the tent was securely zipped...we didn't want any stray cockroaches nibbling on fingernails during the night now did we?! Sleep came quickly and the nightly clamor of trains, trucks, bats, overhead jets and the random man beating his dog did not become apparent until the next few nights. Little more can be said about the time we spent at the KOA. Just remember friends pictures can be very deceiving, especially those that have been posted online with the aid of photo shop. The salt flats were a sight to behold. Never have I experienced such a hot/cold day. Standing on all that white made your legs shiver (the ground was like a fridge) and your upper body sweat. I spent the majority of the time under a pop up reading novels and drinking ALOT of water. We discovered quickly that no matter many years this race has taken place it didn't necessarily mean it would be well run. Nothing and I mean nothing went smoothly. Mr. bill and Greg finally got to race the last day after waiting in line for 3 days. No one followed the massive rule book they required you to read and worse the people in charge didn't even seem to care. It was by far the most poorly organized event I have ever attended. In all it was a wash..I enjoyed NOT cleaning, cooking, waking up at night, and running a schedule gauntlet from morning on. BUT, I missed my sweet kids, quiet mornings and a super squishy bed. City Girl and I were able to go shopping one of the days and if it weren't for her....oh the insanity! Next year we are going camping. It will be in the WOODS....and not at a KOA and defiantly not right next to a casino.
The three kids stayed miraculously healthy while I was gone. My girl didn't even suffer from her usual headaches. Too bad the animals didn't get the memo! Sparkles (the chicken) died. It happened to be my daughters favorite and when the time came to gather around the mini grave sight, no eye was dry. Greg and I made it a point to call and talk to the three every day, that particular phone call left me wishing I could fly home and hug them all!

Yes I know I am cheating...posting on a wednesday but I have to make up for sleeping all weekend. Yawn, Im still tired!

at the risk of sounding like a facebook update

Mamagriffith is missing her kiddos....especially after my youngest asked me not to go on my field trip because he already missed me. *sniff*

second week of school

Can you believe it? Two weeks and the house is still in order, the kids are still playing together, my sanity is mostly intact, and my work outs are still happening. I'm aghast! Please don't take this as bragging, its shocking to me this all has been accomplished......by......not......*ahem*....being on face book...*cough*

Yeah, I sit here on the couch today realising perhaps a little tooo much of my daily time has been spent reading other peoples updates, listening in to their wall to wall (admit it, you do it too) browsing through pictures of vacations you didn't take and commenting on status updates. SAD. Lets just say I'm on step 10 of a 12 step rehab for Internet surfing during daytime hours. The upswing of admitting I have a problem is having an empty laundry basket, clean counters, a pee free bathroom, three little beds made and dinner figured out before 4 pm. Gee that only took forever to figure out. My Girl is powering through school. This year is 100% easier than last. She can sit still longer, I know what is required, her reading is phenomenal and the first few weeks of school are review weeks (woot!) Now as far as Thomas is concerned, my ideal for him was Kindergarten,..my reality says pre-school work. Perhaps further on in the year I will find more time to sit with just him, but for now I'm not pushing it. How is your school year going? I would love to hear all about it!

6 years of trains and counting

Who doesn't enjoy a toy store? The little boutique type with beautifully hand crafted dollies and wooden toys, the kind gapetto would have owned, to be specific. A pleasant surprise upon adulthood is the realisation that peter pan was wrong. Growing up is not hinged upon bodily maturation, puberty and such. Its how far your mind has grown. I, for one, never grew out of toys. I LOVE them, as well as the zoo and the park. Having kids makes showing up to the park and going down the slide acceptable again...as opposed to this random stranger striking up conversation with someones toddler.

When my first turned one I bought her a Brio train set. It had been on my 'to get' list for so long my enthusiasm led me to think as all new parents do, that my child was obviously more advanced than others her age, therefore would probably be building her own tracks within days. It didn't play out exactly like that, but it was a decent investment. She still sits down and builds tracks with her brothers. Considering the fact they are ridiculously expensive, we have been careful not to allow the dogs to eat them along with avoiding bath time. (wood+water= soggy Thomas) I was disheartened when the station we owned stopped recording voices and blowing whistles. As bothersome as I found it, the realisation it was 4 years old, made dealing with the loss easier. Last year we scored a giant box of Thomas tracks and trains. 25 bucks bought me hours upon hours of happy kids playing as well as cousin and friend fun. I wont say how much everything else cost, just that it was well worth the investment. Who knows, perhaps when my kids grow up and bring their kids over, the grands can play with them too.

my life as an update

School started this year with a more than pleasant turn. All that work we did during the summer made our school year transition an easy one. My girl loves our new subjects (art and history) and I am finding my teaching skills have also improved. Thomas' kindergarten curriculum is a bit harder to work into the schedule, hopefully by next week we will be more on top of it.

My garden is at its end and I have to admit, its been a great enjoyment to me. My grandma shorty is a master gardener and I never understood her love for the ground until this year. The kids really got into it too, not to mention pulling up all the carrots and sugar snap peas they wanted. Ours is truly a hobby garden witch lends itself to an easy going feeling..aka I'm not freaking out if my kids have been milling around in it. There are those exceptions, like when Mr. steel decided to pull out all the flowers, roots and all, and throw them. These occurrences were pleasantly rare.

It was difficult to give up blogging and face booking for the week but I found it essential to my sanity. I'm facing the fact I have limitations. I cannot clean, cook, teach and face book! considering the first two are basic living stuff and the third is a must,..away the last shall go.(during the week days)

A recent occurrence is my drivers license. I took the test on Tuesday,...and failed it! hahaha. I think it would have disappointed me more if the price would have been higher than 5 bucks. The second time, yesterday, went a bit better. The DMV was more than crowded, in fact I sat for 1 and a half hours waiting for a turn and then was turned away for lunch. That was another hour in itself. I went to the library and rented a few books. Oh that I could draw on the ever deepening brain of my sister who loves teen fiction. I was lost in a dizzying array of book spines I couldn't read. My goggles stayed at home. Drivers license pictures already have a tendency to look like mug shots without the aid of eye wear. I DID pass...Greg stayed with the kids the whole time and I knew if I failed it again, the results would have been less desirable. :)

Only one week until Greg and I go on our vacation without kids! Do I need to say more? yeah yeah I am a bit nervous. It will be good for us though.

Yesterday we went to the park and played with friends. Playing at the park reminds me why I wanted to be a young mom. There are benefits for both decisions..having your kids late or early, I sacrificed some of the benefits of having kids late; planning, excitement, treasuring the moment, being financially secure, for; energy, youth, the ability to be silly and not care. Its a wash. Both are good. Its just what I personally wanted. It was fun to run around pushing kids on swings and chasing them. Past often motivates present decisions. When I came along my sisters had used up all the energy filled years. My parents really WERE too tired to push me 100 times on the swing. During play time dad would sit himself on the floor and play a game....then 15 minutes later he would crack his first snore! You can bet he never got teased for it..(sarcasm) But we were treasured beyond all else. When we got into high school they bought us new clothes. (believe me it was a big deal after shopping at thrift stores) They took us to the zoo and museums and treasured every bit of it. We have several albums to prove it. What AM I getting at? Nothing I guess. I'm just thankful for the energy I have now and am looking forward to gaining the experience and ability to treasure each moment with my kids as if it were in wrapping paper.

see you next week!!!

school is here, blogging be gone.

Its sad to say but I'm afraid for now blogging is going to be restricted to the weekends only. I knew it was coming, so here it is. Sorry to say there will be no cool updates about bla bla things except on weekends. Perhaps it will improve my ability to come up with earth shaking material. It was blogging or jogging....and since sitting by the computer tends to cause sogging, I voted jogging! see you around the block and on a Saturday.