New job

For the past two years I have worked at the girls school.  It was just a few hours a week, hardly enough to file a tax return.  So now that I am done being PTA president and both girls are in school all day I decided to take a new job with more hours.  I am still working at the girls school, but this year as a title one aid.  I was a little nervous when the school year started and we were informed that if we wanted to have a job this year we needed to have either a two year degree or higher, or take a test to prove we were highly qualified. I had to take the test and I was terrified, but I passed and it even reminded me that I'm smarted than I think.
So I've been working for the past two weeks and I really like it, but it is kicking my butt.  I work with 5 different groups of kids, which means 5 different lesson plans.  It is mentally exhausting and physically exhausting keeping their attention and I only work half a day.  I really do like it though, and most importantly, I already feel like I'm marketing a difference for these kids.

Sometimes I wish I had a blog that always had new fun ideas and that tons of people looked at everyday and were always pinning my stuff.
And some times I look at these ladies blogs and think These people are CRAZY!  I just came across a blog that gave directions on how to paint your washing machine.  Really people?  Are we so desperate to be the perfect house wife that we have resorted to painting our washing machines,....... with polka-dots?!  Her husband must think she is crazy!   I've said it before I think that we all put way too much pressure on ourselves and have become competitive about being a good mom.  I think it is ridiculous.  Now I totally admit that I fall into the trap too.  I sometimes debate posting stuff I've made or done because I don't want to come across as showing off.  The think is, I love sewing and creating stuff for and with my kids.  I do it because I want to and I feel like some times these blogs are just doing it so they can post something.  Some times reading them just makes me tired.

What exactly is the small stuff?

So you hear all the time "Don't sweat the small stuff." So what exactly is the small stuff. I have some decisions to make about the girls, to keep them in dance or pull one out and put her in soccer and the other in a different studio. This may not seem like that big a deal, but I feel like it IS a big deal. Bri wants to try soccer and since she has to try out for her dance class next year it seems like the right time to pull her out, but I hate the thought of her not dancing, but on the other hand I never did sports and I sometimes wish I had. If we pull Bri from dance, then we want to change where Carly dances, but it's lots more money and she would have to pick ballet or tap, because we can't afford to do both. I think I've made my decision about all this, but I'm just really stressed about it all. I feel like it does affect them for the rest of their lives, and that seems melodramatic, but it did me.
We also have to make a decision about Spanish immersion. They offer it at our school and it seems to be all the rage to put your kid in language immersion, but I have some reservations about. Again I know this will affect the rest of her life and it seems a bit crazy to have to make a decision like that for a 6 year-old. She keeps changing her mind about it too, she currently says no, but do I let a 6 year old make such a decision.
See big decisions in small packages.
It's all giving me a headache.

Crush

Sorry for another slightly lame post but I'm sure you will forgive me because it has pictures of beautiful men.

I have a crush. I don't think I have been this obsessed with a celebrity since I was 12 and had a crush on the Newsies boys. My crush is Timothy Olyphant.

Isn't he beautiful? He has been in lots of things but no one ever knows who he is.

I fist saw him in Deadwood, it was an HBO series many years ago, where he played the sheriff of the old west town of Deadwood.

He has been in several movies since then and then last year he started doing a show called Justified. Again he plays a sheriff. It is so good, you should watch it. He has been doing the talk shows to promote his show and a movie he is in and he is just so cute. Half the fun is that my sisters are crushing on him too and we talk about him like he is Justin Beiber or something.

He is also in the movie Catch and Release from a few years ago. It is a good movie, he is very sexy, and has the best last line ever.

But, no one will ever beat the crush I have on this man.
So Sexy. I really love this man.

How often do you eat out?
I try really hard to cook on weekdays, but we usually eat out on Friday and Saturday. This last week though we have been bad. Last Thursday I helped all day at a school fundraiser and when I got home Jon went and got us In and Out. Friday was date night and Saturday we hit Taco Time. Sunday was a family dinner at my Mom's, by the time I got done with 3 Valentine parties on Monday I was exhausted so we went to Red Robin, We got such bad service that they gave us our meal for free. Last night Chick-fillet sponsored PTA night so we ate there. I finally managed to cook dinner tonight. I made meat loaf and it was good, I put cheese in the middle. I have no clue what I am going to make tomorrow. I don't mind cooking I just really hate trying to figure out what to make everyday. My sister in law is so good at planning out the meals for the week, but I'm just not that organized. Jon got me new skillets for Valentines day, romantic I know, but that is what I wanted. Most of our kitchen stuff I got when we got married which means it is now 15 years old. My friend says we should get to have a 'we stayed married for a long time so our stuff is old shower,' So we can get new kitchen stuff.
Now that I've rambled on...... Are your kids picky eaters. And, what is your favorite thing to cook. I need some new ideas. Share your good recipes.

Real or Fake

Last week one of my favorite bloggers decided to quit. I'm so very sad about this news as hers was one I really looked forward to reading. Seriously So Blessed, is a blog about a perfect woman living in Utah and raising her twins, she is LDS and her husband is perfect too. She was always telling stories about how wonderful her twins are, and how great her life is and how she feels bad for people who aren't as righteous and wonderful as she is. But it was all fake, but every story she told you could think of someone who really had done or said some of the things she blogged about. I'm not sure why she quit, we all keep hoping it isn't really true, but I will miss her as she was often a reality check for me.



Another blog I love to read is Soul Mama. Her blog is very real and that is why I love it. She is a Author, photographer, craft er, and mom, living in Maine. She and her family recently moved into a 200 year old farm house. The blog documents this family who are not farmers, but are trying their hand at it, as they figure things out, renovate their house, and raise their family. She is a little on the hippy-dippy side for me. She is very 'green' which is great, she makes her own bread, home schools her children, and makes or thrifts most the their clothes. I think these are all great things, but I could not keep up the life she leads. The thing I like about her blog is that you get the feeling that she does these things because this is the way she is, she doesn't think every one should be like her and she rarely comes across as preachy. You can tell she enjoys life and her children and husband, but she doesn't feel the need to gush about it and tell every one how lucky and how blessed she is every post.



There was recently an article on Salon.com written by a feminist atheist, who talked about how she is addicted to reading Mormon Mommy blogs. She says she likes to read about how their lives are simple and they are all so happy. I thought it was interesting because I read so many blogs that make me think 'these people are trying way too hard to 'look' perfect'. My life is pretty good, and since I have never been much of a scrapbook er, this is a great way to document our lives, but I try hard not to come off as sounding like everyone should be just like me, or that I think I am the worlds best mother. The past few years I have tried hard to be real, I feel like I spent a lot of years trying to please every one and to have people like me and I didn't like that person. I've been trying to be 'authentic' this past year and have made some big changes. I needed to be true to myself, and I'm starting to like me better now too. I hope you will all like the real me better too.

January Blues

We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to look through the rooms of our lives.....not looking for flaws, but for potential.~Ellen Goodman

A friend of mine recently posted this on her Facebook status. And I have been giving it a lot of thought. I really hate January. No matter how prepared I am for the post-Christmas let down, January still leaves me feeling down in the dumps. For a month we are bombarded with exercise and diet commercials, and organization tips. Try as I might, I will never be skinny and my house will always be messy. I don't always make resolutions, but one year I did make the resolution to 'Listen more.' It was one I actually kept and I learned a lot that year. I've been trying to decide if I should try one this year and after reading my friend's post, I think I will.

So I have decided to try to be more social. I'm sure anyone who knows me just laughed at reading this, thinking that I already am a social person, and that is true, sort of. I do love a good chat and am happy to have my sister and my good friend Jill to indulge me in these chats, but when it comes to going out or having people over, we are kind of hermits. I love nothing more than to spend my weekends curled up on the couch in jammies with my honey, so we really don't go out much and we rarely go out with other couples. Twice last year we were invited to dinner at friends houses, and went but never returned the favor. And just recently a friend invited us to a get together with some people I'd love to meet, but when she told us it was a bit of a drive I immediately thought I don't want to drive that far. So my resolution is to get out more. I have the potential to make new friends and hopefully become closer to friends I already have.

Playlist

I am probably way behind the times here, but I have just made an amazing discovery. Pandora Radio. Really it is amazing. For those of you even farther behind than me, it's an internet radio station where you enter in what music or artist you like and then they play music from that person and other music similar to it. Brilliant! Since making this amazing discovery I almost (almost) look forward to doing the dishes. It's great. So far I love my Glee station, but when I get sick of show tunes and Journey, then I switch it to my James Taylor station, who knew I was such a fan of 70's classic rock.
And.........
On the subject of music. In my family we like to make each other mixed Cd's. My sister was telling me about a mix Cd's she recently got and it was so depressing. This got me thinking about what my 2010 mix would be. My taste in music runs a few years behind and tends to include tiny bopper music, as I am forced to listen to Radio Disney, but here are some songs that I have liked this year.

Hey Soul Sister, Train (I know, Please don't hate me)
Lucky, Jason Mraz, Colbie Caillat
Fire Flies, Owl City
Smiling Face, James Taylor
Losing My Religion, REM
My Life, Billy Joel
Defying Gravity, Wicked
Seasons of Love, Rent
I Could Not Ask For More, Sara Evans
Love Story, Taylor Swift (Remember I have an 8 year old daughter)

So what would your 2010 playlist be? Really? I want to know!

Christmas Cards?

One of my favorite things about this time of year is Christmas cards, I know there are a lot of people out there that do not love them, but I love going out to my mail box everyday and wondering who I will hear from that day. When I was little I remember my mom would get a card from an old college friend and it always included what I call the "look how wonderful we are" letter, it would always make her so sad, so I do have some mixed feelings about the year in review letters. There are some letters that I totally admit to groaning as I read and entire paragraph about potty training a 3 year old and how they are the most gifted child ever born, but over all I enjoy hearing about my friends and family.

For my card I stick to some simple pictures of my family through the year. I started sending cards out several years ago to the members of my online book club, who lived all over the country and some of my family that lived out of town, but my list grows every year. This year I ordered 75 cards. Some of them will be included with neighbor gifts, and I don't receive near that many in return. Some of the people I get cards from, it is the only time I ever hear from them, but it is nice to know that they still think of us. So what about you, do you send out cards? I'd love to hear from you all. I know lots of people check out my blog, but no one ever leaves a comment , so even if I don't know you, let me know you're there.

My new favorite thing

A month or so ago my wonderful hubby got me a new toy, an itouch. I'm a little behind the technological times and have never had an ipod before. I love it. You might think that I promptly filled it with all my favorite music, but I have discovered podcasts. My new favorite thing is to find a nice shady spot under the misters and listen to my shows and play solitaire while Bri has her ridding lesson. I'm even looking forward to dance classes to start so I will have even more time with my shows. I've been working on a big quilt order and have to tie 7 quilts.I have 4 tops done click here to see them. I was a bit worried that the tieing would be very boring, but I tied one this morning and it was quite enjoyable because I had Ira Glass to keep me company. My favorite podcasts are This American Life, an NPR show, and another called The Parent Experiment. The Parent Experiment can get a bit naughty, but it is basically two ladies and a guest who talk about being parents, it reminds me of conversations I have with my best friend, and makes me feel normal to know that every mom freaks out a little sometimes. So cyber friends, do you listen to any podcasts that I should be listening to?

What do you do to relax?

Yesterday I threw myself a whooper of a pity party. Last week was a roller coaster to say the least and I struggled to stay upbeat all week. I think it all caught up to me yesterday and so when my washing machine broke down, while holding my clothes hostage, I broke down in tears. Then it rained, and ruined the dinner I had planned to grill, more tears. Thank heaven for Taco Time, and an understanding husband. Anyway once the kids were finally in bed Jon and I sat down to watch our shows, I turned on the lap top and started a marathon session of free cell, it made me feel much better.

A friend of mine once asked me what I do to relax. I like to play free cell, sudoku, sew or quilt, I also like to read. Reading saved my sanity during a particularly rough time in my life, but lately I'm in a slump, when it comes to good reading material. I basically need to do things that force my mind to focus on something else besides the problem that is plaguing me. My friend laughed because most of the things that calm me down stress her out. So what do you do to relax?

BTW, my washer is still holding the clothes hostage which is giving me huge anxiety, and the repair man can't get here till tomorrow.

Rainbow cupcakes and other things that make me happy

So I feel like me posts have been a bit lame and depressing lately, so today I give you a post that is lame and happy!
We got invited to have dinner with some friends on St. Patrick's day. We were asked to bring desert and this is what we came up with.

These rainbow cupcakes were really fun to do and the kids love them. They would be fun for Easter too.

And who doesn't love a good cupcake.

I also got to spend several hours a the fabric store picking out fabrics for some quilts I've been hired to do.

And of course the thing that makes me most happy,besides my Honey, my girls. And they are wearing cute new matching outfits that I made for them.

Happy Spring!

Who am I trying to impress

I'm generally known as a crafty person, which can sometimes be a problem. When Brianna was in Preschool, we always made cute crafty Valentines, ID bracelets for the whole class, homemade Valentines. I even kept it up into kindergarten. This year, I have been trying to think of what cute things I should do, but then I got thinking about it, and we would need 20 Valentines for Bri's school class, 15 for her dance class. 12 for Carly's class, and 10 for her dance class. I know this isn't that many compared to some you out there with multiple kids, but I wimped out and just bought the store bought cards. For some reason I feel so guilty about this. I know no one is going to be looking though the bags and saying "That slacker mom Alison only did store bought cards and I know she could do better." Frankly the kids only care about what kind of candy is attached to said Valentines (Pixi sticks for Bri, Conversation hearts for Carly, she picked, remember she is a Pica she likes chalk) But, really I'm feeling like a slacker. I know it's a problem. I need to just get over myself.

A Big descision

Ever since Bri started school I have tried to be involved at her school. For the past two years I have been very involved in PTA. Last year I was the Birthday Mom, I much bigger job than I thought it would be. And this year I have been in charge of Donut Dates. I also try to help where ever else I am needed, and because it seems like there is a core group of about 15 or so of us it seems I help out a lot. I find it very rewarding. Brianna loves that her mom is around so much, I have a great relationship with the teachers and secretaries and I have made some really great friends.
The past few months the PTA president has been teasing me about what a great president I would make. Yesterday she told me that they plan to nominate me for President. I am freaked out. On one hand I am very flattered that this particular group of women think that I could take on such a big job, I also think they don't know me very well if they think I can. I also worry that I don't have the social or leadership skills I would need to do this. I have never felt like I fit in very well in my church community so how will I be able to relate to these women, but on the flip side of that, maybe that is a good thing because I could attract the moms who aren't churchy. This would be a 2 year commitment, as I would be pres elect next year and the Pres then next year. I just don't know if I could really handle the stress that would be involved is such an undertaking. I also know what an important job this is. I know that Becky and the others have thought long and hard about this and do not take the decision lightly. I just don't want to let anyone down. And seriously I'm not old enough to be the PTA Pres.
I watched a movie with Carly earlier this week and there was a quote in it that really struck me. So much so that I added it at the top of the blog, I can't believe how much it relates to what I am going to right now.
I really hope I can find the confidence and fabulousness to pull this off.

Vacation?

I sit here writing this post from a lawn chair sitting in the middle of Zion National Park. (Wireless cards are great!) So You should all be jealous of me, right? Vacations are a lot of work! I spent the first part of the week running errands and doing laundry and trying to get all 4 of us packed. Jon was supposed to get home from work early so we could get an early start but of course didn't so we pulled into the campground around 11 at night. Luckily Jon's parents had gotten there earlier that day and so camp (I call a 40ft motor home camp) was already set up. Carly of course didn't want to sleep where we wanted to her to sleep and so she slept with Jon on a good sized bed and I slept on a couch about a foot too short for me. Today we wanted to get an early start on our hike but instead had two seperate meltdowns and had to fight Carly to wear socks, then so that she would leave her blankie in the motor home. We finally did get to our hike. We hiked to Weeping rock, only a half mile but straight up. Then we headed to Emerald pools. We managed to get to the middle pool and then headed down.When we got back to camp Jon promptly fell asleep on the floor and I took the girls down to the river where Brianna caught a frog. (she didn't want to kiss it to find out if it would turn into a prince.) So now I told Jon he owes me for the nap he got and I didn't. And to boot, I can't breath because my allergies are so bad. But honestly I really do love spending time with my girls. We didn't go on many vacations when I was little and I want my girls to get to see the things I didn't get to. Hopefully the rest of the weekend will be better. No more meltdowns and hopefully I will get so sleep a little tonight. We are headed up to the tunnel we are going to take the top off the Jeep and go for a ride. It ought to be fun. I hope you all are getting to to something fun this weekend, and that the Easter Bunny brings you something good. (even to those of you who think he is stupid)
I post plenty of pics when we get back.

Witness

You can ask any one in my parents generation where they were when Kennedy was shot they will tell exactly where they were and what they were doing. In my life I have had a few days where I feel like I have witnessed history. The Challenger disaster, Princess Diana's death, and of course 9/11. I didn't realize that Tuesday morning when I turned on the TV what I would be witnessing or just how greatly that morning would affect the world or my life.
Today I plan to spend the good majority of the day watching history being made. Whether or not I agree with his politics, today I am proud of my generation for electing a Black president. When I tried to explain to Bri yesterday why Daddy was home and why it was a holiday, it was amazing to think about how far we have come in such a short time. We still have so far to go, but with all the horrible thing that happen in the world, it gives me hope for my kids that they will like in a world were all are accepted anyone can be President. I remember watching other inaugurations and feeling very proud but today is even more special and I'm excited to watch history in the making.

I HATE Walmart

I have never been a fan of Walmart. They are too busy, to dirty and they have absolutely no customer service what so ever. I rarely go there unless I'm desperate. I think the money you save isn't worth the aggravation. My one exception is their photo lab. I like emailing my picture in and picking them up in an hour.


So today I had sent in an order and was going to venture out into the snow. The store I usually get things printed at no longer offers 1 hour photo so I had to go to a different one that is out of my way. I get there to pick up my prints and they ask me who took the pictures. I said a friend. They then told me that because it was a portrait that I needed to have my friend sign a release. WHAT? She isn't a professional photographer I told them. They don't care. I said I'll call her you can talk to her. No, she has to sign the release. I got the manager (which was a half hour process) No I still can't have my pictures until I get Jill to Sign for them. I was livid. I'm not proud of how I treated that lady, But. No where on the website or on my email confirmation order did it say I need to have a release signed to get my pictures. So Walmart sill has my photos and I will try some place else.

I'm never going in another Walmart. And I mean it.

Older = Wiser

Jon and I are constantly telling each other we must be getting old. We notice that we do things we never would have done even 5 years ago. Like listening to talk radio over music, and our sudden obsession with home improvement shows, and our interest in the stock market. One of the biggest things making me feel old is the election. I've always voted but I can't say that I was ever an informed voter. This year it seems that a light bulb has gone on and I realize that the way we vote really does affect my life. Eight years ago I probably would have gotten my political views from my favorite late night comic, or what ever the local media favored. It was basically a popularity contest. Now the thought of the younger generation of voters choosing a candidate based on who their favorite celebrity endorses scares me to death. But I was that girl not too long ago. This year I really have taken the time to find out more about what the candidates really stand for, I've watched the debates and tried to get my news from lots of different places. I even read up on the local candidates because they are the ones that really will have an effect on how we live. So I would like to think that I'm getting a little wiser in my old age.