One Step Report #5

Another week, another report.  56 steps taken in this first week of February.

A few highlights from the week:

We fed the sister missionaries dinner with less than 1 hour’s  notice, and on the craziest night of the week.  It was wonderful to have them in our home.

I decided that this whole One Step idea is ridiculous because I’ll never get caught up if I only move at this pace.  Then reality hit and I decided that taking one step is a whole lot better than quitting, which is not an option.  So I said a prayer and repented and One Step 2010 was back on.

This week was full of many steps involving me doing something because it was right, even though I didn’t feel like it or particularly want to.  I feel like those moments of decision are important, and I’m glad I chose the right thing.

I tried a new recipe .

I had fun sprucing up my living room .

I learned a lot of very personal lessons from my Heavenly Father.  It was a real learning sort of week.  I hope that this week I remember and implement those lessons so I don’t have to learn them again.

But the absolute highlight of the week was the activity our family attended on Saturday night.  I need to find the right words to write a post about it, but I’ll just say that it involved a courageous little girl, a lot of really great people, and a wish come true.

Tiffany Searle with Max Hall

And last but not least, today I had an idea that I’m really excited about it.  If it works, I can’t wait to share it!

I’m having a hard time getting the housework done without my kindergarten carpool.  Sounds silly, I know, but it’s a real struggle.  I’m hoping to do better this week, especially since my house is trashed and we’ve got guests coming for dinner tomorrow night!  Yikes!

Life is good.  I’m grateful for the gift of a new week. I hope yours is awesome!

One Step Report #4

Well, this week yielded 57 steps, for a total of 194 steps this month!  Wow.  I feel grateful to my Heavenly Father for helping me find so many positive things in my month.  I am grateful for a baby that seems to be back on her normal sleeping schedule, which is a very good thing for all of us.  I’m also mourning (yes, a bit of melodrama here) the loss of my kindergarten carpool this week.  I drive every day from now on.  The mother of the boy we carpool with has a new job and can no longer help drive, so I’m going to give her son a ride home for the rest of the year.  I’m happy to be of service; unhappy to have to load everyone up every single day.  This is my second straight year of kindergarten, and that mid-day pickup is a killer.  Oh well.

A few highlights of the week:

Finishing my valentine ribbon pillow .  It was fun and I’m pleased that I completed it on time.

Today I taught a workshop to a group of people in my Stake on the subject of food storage.  This is my other project, which I haven’t touched since the baby was born.  It went really well and I feel pleased with the results.  I’m also planning to jump back into working on the 10×10 blog .  I’ve got a lot of recipes to add.

Tonight we measured our kids on the board we use to mark and date everyone’s height periodically.  Now I have proof that I am still taller than my oldest son!  It’s always so much fun to see how much they’ve grown, and to me it’s another small piece of our family history.  The experience somehow turned into a contest to find a way to be taller than me, and so we ended up standing in a big circle and all jumping as high as we could at the same time, over and over again.  So silly, but fun and funny too.  Thank goodness I can jump higher than my 12 year old!  I’m pretty sure that in the next year I’ll have to acknowledge him as being taller than I am, so I’m enjoying my small advantage while I can (and wondering what it will be like to look UP at one of my KIDS… that seems so strange).

I spent a bit of time getting started on organizing our basement.  So far to go, but a start is a start.

I switched a couple of things around in my living room (things only I would probably notice) but they make a big difference in my opinion and I’m pleased.   I may post more on this later.

This week I started photographing my collection of vintage linens with the intent to have a fun little catalog of all of them.  I’ve wanted to record them for a long time, and this seems like the perfect way to do it (and a chance to learn how to take better pictures).  The first two are here and here .

Well, that’s about it.  I felt rather grumpy this week, which isn’t good.  Most of the time I was able to swallow it, but a couple of times I was a real grouch, and I’ve apologized to my family for it.  For some reason I felt like the month was ending, and I had somehow fallen short.  I look at my list, though, and realize how foolish it was.  I planned for 31 steps, and took 194.  That is something to celebrate.

Have a great week!

Dumping

I guess it’s been one of those weeks.  You know, the kind when although you can name at least three specific times when it was sunny, it still feels like it’s been gray all week.  So I’m giving myself permission to record 5 complaints and then I’m going to take a deep breath and move on (meaning, clean the house, or the kitchen at least).

1.  I’m not yet accustomed to what it means to have a bunch of almost teen-aged boys in my house.  I’m not used to the noise, the food, the mess.  I’ve got to figure this one out, but right now all it does is give me a headache.  Today when I offered some food to them to eat, I discovered later that they had just eaten the top layer off the ENTIRE pan!  Seriously?!  And then I thought of President Hinckley and how he said to just look the other way, so I did.  It’s still sitting there.  So are the dishes they left all over the place.

2.  I feel like I’ve been quilting my Rouenneries quilt…   FOR. EVER.  I decided to do a diamond quilt pattern on it, and it’s so full of flaws that I don’t know whether to cry at how imperfect it is, or to cry that it’s still not done.

Rouenneries quilting

3.  I should remember that the days when I want most to enjoy a bit of quiet, or a small space of cleanliness and beauty, will be the days when it is loudest and messiest.  Especially when you’re potty training a cute little boy.  You never know what sorts of things will happen.  We’ll just say they’ve been happening.

4.  Much as you love your children, is it OK to have times when you’re just not sure you can handle being in the same building with them?  I have one particular child who screams more than the other 7 put together.   Sometimes screaming children are more frustrating than other times, even when I know that the variable that changed is my tolerance level, not the screaming level.  But if I do go deaf early, I’ll know whose lungs caused it.

5.  I’ve said this a million times before, but I’ll say it again.  I really, really, really look forward to having my Heavenly Father explain to me someday why my hormone levels had to be so closely connected to my emotions.  In particular, I’d like to know why my body is wired for postpartum blues that last much longer than normal.  Sometimes I feel like I really need to understand it NOW, but mostly I’m resigned to understanding it someday when it probably won’t seem so important to me.  For now, though, I’m a little tired of days when you know that nothing out of the ordinary is wrong, yet you feel like crying or hiding or running away or some combination of the three.

OK.  I just dumped my 5 negative things.  I’m done.  Move on.  Life is good.  It’s the weekend, right?!?  Hope yours is a good one.

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