Pay It Forward

Pay It Forward
Lucky You!
The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me!
My choice.
For you.
This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It'll be done this year (might take a little while).
4. You have no clue what it's going to be. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.
The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same.
The first five people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift from me!
Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!
Good luck!

I love Saturdays

I really think Saturday is becoming my favorite day of the week. At least Saturdays like today when there is nothing going on. Brian has been home working in the yard trying to get sprinklers set up in the area we are turning into a garden. I've been happily listening to a book on tape and cleaning bathrooms, folding laundry and doing dishes.

My house is usually overrun with friends. It's not uncommon to have 8 to 10 extra kids in my house and several more in our yard. I don't mind it and am actually grateful. I'd rather have my kids and their friends around so I know what they are up to. However I have declared Saturday to be a friend free day. At least as far as the house goes. They are welcome to play in the yard but no friends are allowed inside on Saturday. Keeps me sane and means a lot less interuptions as I attempt to get the house clean.

Oh and a special thanks to Porter Oliver for the great book recommendation - I'm really enjoying listening to The Lightning Thief!

Fit Friday

Yesterday I ate totally healthy all day long. But when I say all day long I mean ALL DAY LONG. I was ravenous yesterday from sun up to sun down. All I did was eat all day long. Not a single bit of "junk" food but when I totalled up my calories yesterday I was stunned by the total. I shouldn't have been since I was eating all day but I ate more than double the amount of calories I used yesterday.

What is so odd is that today I woke up and I could care less about food. I'm not even hungry. I had a bowl of oatmeal sweetened with peaches and half an orange. 232 calories. Yesterday by this point in time I had eaten 1000 calories and was about to eat lunch.

On a happy note I did a pilates DVD today. I haven't done pilates in a long time. I felt like I needed a change in my workout so I put in a Cardio Pilates DVD. I couldn't even break a sweat doing the cardio portion and the hardest pilates mat exercise on the video that I couldn't even do before was a piece of cake. Proof that all those Slim in 6 workouts I've done have paid off!

So here is to a Fit Friday after a very UNFIT Thursday.

A Fire With Friends

Despite the fact that is was a really warm afternoon Kimberly and the girls in the neighborhood wanted to build a fire. They gathered up a bunch of wood around the neighborhood and set to work building a fire. The first attempt went out. To get it started we ended up burning up magazines. I had to reassure all the kids that I don't keep old magazines and it was ok to burn them because I would just throw them out anyway. Did you know the Friend burns the most awesome blue, green!

Work Out Wednesday

It may take me all day to get my workout done at the rate I am going! I slept in this morning and can't seem to get anything accomplished today. The kids have early release and get out of school in 45 minutes so I really do need to get moving!

100 Book Challenge - 1/4 Of The Way

I'm 1/4 of the way to my goal of 100 books this year! If I keep up at the rate I am going I'll be at 150 books by year end. Not sure if I'll make it to 150 but I should easily hit 100! I've read a lot of "easy" reads and got a good start so I'm going to start a few "meatier" books.

Books I've Read in 2009

1. Blue Noon (Midnighter's Book 3) by Scott Westerfeld

2. Counting Blessing - Wit & Wisdom for Women by Kerry Blair

3. Tales of Beedle the Bard by JK Rowling

4. Snow: A Retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by Tracy Lynn

5. Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey

6. Diamond of Darkhold by Jeanne Duprau

7. Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter

8. If Life Were Easy It Wouldn't Be Hard by Sheri Dew

9. House of Glory: Finding Personal Meaning In The Temple by S. Michael Wilcox

10. Strangling Your Husband Is NOT An Option by Merrilee Boyack

11. How to Be An Extra-Ordinary Teenager by John Bytheway

12. Golden: A Retelling of "Rapunzel" by Cameron Dokey

13. Believing Christ: The Parable of the Bicycle and Other Good News by Stephen E. Robinson

14. The Parenting Breakthrough by Merrilee Boyack

15. Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food by Jessica Seinfeld

16. Briar Rose by Jane Yolen

17. The Five Love Languages of Children by Gary Chapman

18. The Proper Care and Feeding of Marriage by Laura Schlessinger

19. Mothering With Spiritual Power: Book of Mormon Inspirations for Raising a Righteous Family by Debra Sansing Woods

20. Dragonquest by Anne McCaffrey

21. The Four Laws of Debt Free Prosperity by Blaine Harris

22. Holy Places: True Stories of Faith and Miracles from Latter-Day Temples by Chad S. Hawkins

23. The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks

24. City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

25. Dragonsong (Harper Hall Trilogy, Book 1)by Anne McCaffrey

Maintain It Monday

Hooray!
For the first time in a long time my house is not a disaster on Monday morning. The upstairs is almost clean. The laundry is done. There are only a few dishes. The only room upstairs that really needs attention is the office. Too bad I can't say the same thing for the downstairs!

On the list for today:
Parent Teacher Conferences - 3 of them right after school
Treadmill - 40 minutes
Office - 30 minutes
Deposit to Bank - Hooray for a small condo that closed!
Milk, Fruit & Vegetables from the Grocery Store
Downstairs - 30 minutes

The kids get early out at 1:15 today so I better get moving so I can get all this done before I have to head to their conferences.

Savor It Sunday

Today has been a nice Sabbath day. The kids have all been getting along and it makes the day so nice. The upstairs was totally clean this morning when we woke up and so far it has stayed fairly clean. It maybe the first time in a long time my house isn't trashed on Monday morning.

After nearly 5 years serving in the Young Men's program Brian got released today. It was so nice that he didn't have to get up early for Sunday meetings and had no meetings after church. I actually made breakfast this morning for the family and Brain took Brett to church at 9 to set up chairs. I barely made it out the door by 9:20, 5 minutes later than my goal but we'll call it good since I made breakfast.

Brian got called as a ward missionary and as the Scout Committee Chair. He'll do great in both callings.

Brett is in the kitchen making pancakes. His favorite food to make. I'm convinced that both his legs are hollow. He can eat so much food and is always hungry.

Bryce, Kim, Brad & Kylie are over at the park playing. It's nice to have a park so close to our house and to have beautiful weather where they can go out and enjoy the park in February!

Oh Really....

Kylie just said to me:

"Jesus wants you to come here"

I'm thinking that Kylie really wanted me to come and she was trying to use a form of persuasion to get me to do what she wanted.

Scour It Saturday

Today is a house cleaning day. Due to Kim's birthday, not feeling well and just not caring my house has gone to pot! Today is going to be dedicated to getting the house in order. From dishes to laundry to bathrooms to vacuuming to decluttering... the list is long.

Good Food!

Great Food - Bad for my Diet!
Brian and I went out to lunch at Pancho & Leftys. The food was so good. We inhaled their chips and salsa while waiting for our enchiladas. Their lunch prices are really reasonable too. $15 for both of us including the tip!

Thankful Thursday

This week I'm thankful for:
Good health - I rarely get sick and am grateful for that fact.
Oatmeal - Seriously it's my new favorite food: just mix in some frozen fruit and it's like dessert, it fills you up and it's good for you!
Brian - He's been putting in long hours to keep a paycheck coming in for us in this crappy economy.
My handy husband - Oh I already mentioned him but on Valentine's day he spent the day putting new brakes and rotors on my suburban so it can pass the safety inspection.
Good neighbors - The Jenson's let us borrow their truck on Monday so we could head to the dump and pick up a load of topsoil to start a garden.
The start of a garden - We're finally attempting a garden, Brian worked a good portion of Monday afternoon to get a garden started.

Wash It Wednesday

My expectations aren't too high for today. I'm not feeling well and planning on taking it easy today. So far I've had 1 piece of toast and a glass of water with no desire for anything else to eat. My goal for the day is to get caught up on the laundry which has slowly gotten out of control over the last week. If I can get it all washed & folded and do a load of dishes I'm going to be happy.

Kim Turns 9

After school the kids watched the first part of High School Musical 3. We had an early dinner of Little Caesar's pizza for followed by cake and ice cream. Kim & I had to leave at 5:45 to go to the Care Home for the Activity Day's girls to sing in a program so we were rushing to squeeze everything in. Once home from the Care Home I headed to bed not feeling well and the kids & Brian stayed up late watching HSM3. Kim got an Ipod for her birthday which was a combined gift from us & her Grandpa Condie. Happy Birthday Kim - We are so glad to have you as our daughter!

Happy Birthday to Kim!

After a birthday breakfast of pancake puff & bacon I came into the kitchen to find this. Brian was playing with the 3 youngest and they were having a great time!

I'm now off to pick up the movie High School Musical 3. Kim is pretty excited it got released on her birthday! Tonight the activity day girls are going to sing at the care home and Brian, Brett & Bryce have Young Mens & Scouts so it's a going to be a hectic birthday night.

Happy Early Birthday Kimberly!

Kimberly is turning 9. Tomorrow is her official birthday but tomorrow is a little crazy so we went out to eat tonight at Wingers. Can you believe Kim has gotten so grown up? Where does the time go?

Scriptures by the Fire

Yesterday Kim and Kylie gathered a huge pile of sticks and kindling from the yard. They wanted to build a fire tonight and read scriptures by it. So we read scriptures by a fire. Poor Bradley is feeling sick and is already asleep for the night.

Valentine's Day Concert

For Valentine's Day we went to a Marvin Goldstein Concert. It was fabulous. He is an amazing performer and put on a wonderful concert. We took one of Brian's past clients with us and we had a wonderful night.

Fit Friday

This week has been the worst week I have had in a long time! I've felt like I was going to starve so I have eaten a lot. There have been several days I have eaten 3000 calories in 1 day. Almost double my goal of 1800 calories per day. I finally got back on track yesterday with a 12 point day. I'm going for 12 again today. I'm totally thrilled that I have stuck with the Slim in 6 program for 6 full weeks. Tomorrow will be the end of 6 weeks worth of working out 6 days per week. So although I haven't eaten as well as I should have I have stuck with the exercise. I've also lost another 2-3 lbs over the last 6 weeks!
Thanks to all my friends who have taken part and helped motivate me! Couldn't do it without your support.

Thankful Thursday

My uncle is a Dr. and was able to call in a prescription for Kylie's ear infection on Friday so I didn't have to wait at the Dr. office and thus was able to make it to the temple session we'd planned to go to
A vehicle that runs
Healthy kids
A body that is healthy and strong
Oatmeal - I used to hate oatmeal but now I love it and eat it almost everyday
A handy husband who can fix cars and lots of other things
A great library system - we go to the library at least twice a week to get books
Rain - It's raining and I love the rain
Costco - not good for my budget but I love shopping there
Books on tape - love to listen to them while I workout - makes the time fly by

Missionary Chauffeur

I volunteered to drive the sister missionaries around today. Kylie and I met them at the temple visitor's center this morning and have driven them around today. One appointment took us to SouthGate which is just 5 minutes from Uncle Philips so we stopped by to visit instead of waiting in the car. They are just a few minutes from our house this hour so we came home and will pick them back up at 2 and return them to the visitor's center. I've got to listen to a talk tape on CS Lewis and have enjoyed a day without feeling guilty for not cleaning my house.

Yes My Husband Reads My Blog...

How I get my husband to read my blog...
I've been asked by several people how I get my husband to read my blog. For me it's easy because Brian wants to read it. It helps him keep in touch with what is going on at home while he's off working hard to provide for us each day.
To make it easy on him I have it set up to automatically email him every time I make a post. One time I turned off automatic emails and he was sad that he was missing out on getting those updates. I'm lucky to have such a great husband who is interested in the day to day mundane things I do.
To set up automatic emails:
Click on Customize and then click on Settings. Click on email and then type in your husband's email address. Then every time you post anything it will automatically email a copy of the post to him.

Mother It Monday

Ah I've fallen down on Mother It Monday. Since it is Monday I thought I'd share a great book I just finished reading. My SIL Kristen recommended it to me several months ago and I finally got around to reading it!
Mothering With Spiritual Power: Book of Mormon Inspirations for Raising a Righteous Family by Debra Sansing Woods

This is a fabulous book and worth buying. The author chose 25 "mothering" scriptues from the Book of Mormon and relates them to being a better mother. A great exercise in likening the scriptures unto ourselves. It's a short, quick book to read and is packed with wisdom, advise and hope for being a better mother. As I read each scripture I marked them in my own set of scriptures to help me remember what what within the pages of this book.

Maintain It Monday

It's Monday so as usual my house is a disaster. That "day of rest" gets me every week. The kids have chores to do when they get home so I'm going to focus on what they won't be doing.

• My room
• Dishes
• All but 1 load of laundry
• Paperwork
• Bills

Once the kids get home I'll need to spend at least an hour helping them get their chores done right.

As far as "maintaining me", I've done a 70 minute intense workout this morning and I'm eating healthy. I should be finishing up 2 books today if I get a few minutes to sit down and relax.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday
B- Apple Pancakes
D- Mozzarella Chicken

Tuesday
B- Oatmeal
D- Spaghetti Pie*

Wednesday
B- French Toast
D- Girl's Night Out - Mac & Cheese

Thursday
B- Scrambled Eggs
D- Tortilla Rolls*

Friday
B- Oatmeal or Mush or Pancakes
D- Chicken Quesadillas*

Saturday
B- Pow Wow - Cereal
L- Grilled Cheese
D- Valentine's Day - Eating at Callows

Sunday
B- Cereal
L-Turkey Soup
D- Roast

* 3 of our recipes this week are new and come from the Deceptively Delicious cookbook

Banana Cauliflower Bread

Today's health creation was Banana Cauliflower Bread. I thought it was delicious. Brian thought it was good but needed honey spread on it to make it better. The kids wouldn't even try it. Fine by me I ate almost the entire loaf of it!

Kim wants to make the whole wheat macaroni and cheese recipe now complete with added squash or cauliflower. We're off to go see how that one turns out!

ETA: Again I loved it but I like homemade macaroni and cheese and my kids prefer it from a box. Kylie and Brad ate it, Kim said it was edible and Bryce gaged. Brian and Brett are off to a Priesthood meeting and missed out.

Deceptively Delicious - AKA - Cooking With Baby Food!

Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food by Jessica Seinfeld

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I actually love the concept behind this book. We try to eat healthy but I know none of us get enough fruits and vegetables. I've heard of adding extra vegetables to foods like spaghetti sauce and have tried that but now I have a lot more ideas of how to add vegetables to my recipes. I picked a dozen of her recipes to try and am going to experiment with adding vegetables to some of my recipes.

ETA: I spent 2 hours this afternoon making purees. I made the applesauce muffins tonight and I love them. I used whole wheat flour and used less sugar.

I really think they got the title of this book wrong. It should be called Cooking With Baby Food. As I'm sitting there in the kitchen running vegetable after vegetable through my food processor I realized I was just making homemade baby food.

My family is soon going to have all these things hidden in their foods. The purees are all made and ready to go!
zucchini
butternut squash
yellow squash
broccoli
green beans
cauliflower
yellow squash
sweet potatoes
carrots
pears
apples

Here is to healthy eating!

9 Missed Calls....

Tonight was ward temple night. I'm so thankful to have felt good this month. Last month I had that awful migraine and barely made it through.
When we got out of the temple I had 9 missed calls on my cell phone. I called home to see what the "emergency" was. Kylie has an ear infection so imagined she had been screaming... But nope that wasn't it. The Walkers were having a party tonight and it had started at 6:30 and why hadn't I picked up my phone! So I raced home and took Brett & Bryce to the Walker's house - 2 hours late for the party. On the way thanking them for sacrificing so Brian and I could go to the temple which is ultimately much more important than a party. There was dessert after the temple session at the Jack's home but I ended up with the 3 little kids in the car because they are too young to leave home alone. I ran in, said hi and grabbed each of the kids a cookie and brought them home.

Fit Friday

I got up early and worked out this morning. A really good 75 minute workout. Felt great.

I've been trying to eat more whole food, plant based foods.... Fruits, vegetables, seeds and whole grains. It's tough since meat, cheese and eggs are favorites of mine.

Tomorrow will be the end of my 5th week doing the Slim in 6 exercise program. One more week and I'll have done my 6 days a week for 6 weeks!

Photo Tag

Michelle tagged me so here is my photo:

The 6th picture from the 6th folder on my computer.
This is Kylie last summer who insisted she have a turn on the rock climbing wall at the Washington Community Center. We had just gone swimming so I threw Bradley's shirt on her so she had clothes on to climb.

Thankful Thursday

1. Fabulous Parent Teacher Conference for Brett yesterday - Every teacher said something positive about him: he's honest, hard working, a pleasure to have in class, wished more students had his attitude, etc.
2. Kylie is feeling better - no more "booger nose"
3. Kylie slept through the night last night
4. Books - I'm totally into reading again. 15 books so far this year and well over 100 new picture books read to the kids.
5. Exercise - I'm addicted to it. I feel so great when I exercise.
6. Chore charts - The kids have been cleaning instead of me!
7. Chili at Wendy's - My favorite thing to eat when eating out.
8. Fresh Pineapple - so yummy.
9. My treadmill - Thanks again Charlotte! I love to get on the treadmill and read. It's my favorite hobby.
10. Tommy - He's come over and played with Brett everyday this week.
11. Chess - Brett's new passion that sure beats video games in my opinion.
12. Chocolate Chip Pancakes - They were sinfully delicious at breakfast this morning...headed to the treadmill to burn off some of those calories!

Mr. Clean

Actually some work did get done on my house today! Brian did it. Brian has an accountability partner for work and has certain goals he has to meet. If he doesn't meet them he has consequences. Guess what the consequence was for not making all his calls? Cleaning the toilets! So this morning all my toilets got scoured. I like consequences like that!

Waste of a Wednesday

Today is going to be slightly crazy and I'm not going to get much done. I slept in. Kylie woke up during the night and I'm trying to focus on getting more sleep so I pushed the alarm back and didn't get up and work out. So it's not 9:15 and I need to go do my workout. By the time that is done and I shower and get ready for the day Brett will be home. It's parent teacher conference so I have to head off to those and then all 5 kids have dentist appointments today. So I guess in reality I will get 3 things done today: workout, parent teacher conferences and dentist appointments.

I won't make that mistake again

I did it! I finally sewed on all 15 of Brett's merit badges. Then I tried the sash on only to realize I'd sewed them on the wrong way! The sash goes on the right shoulder, not the left so if Brett wore his sash the right way his merit badges would be on his back. So I got out my seam ripper, removed them all and sewed them on again!

And this is not Brett's sash. The merit badges I sewed on are not sewn on very neatly or straight but at least they are finally sewn on!

Our New Chore System

Yesterday went so well. It took a good portion of my afternoon to help the kids learn and finish all their chores but I didn't spend my morning doing it all myself so it didn't take any longer than normal to get the house clean.

Here is what we are doing. I split all that work that needs to be done into 4 different lists. So this week Brett is #1, Bryce is #2, Kim is #3 and Brad is #4. Kylie wanted a number too so she is #5 but she'll always be #5. Everyone else will rotate so next week Bryce will be #1, Kim #2, etc. These chores have to be done before they can play with friends or have any screen or media time.

#1
Empty Dishwasher
Upstairs Bathroom
Downstairs Bathroom
Buggy Bathroom
Kitchen Floor Picked Up & Spot Mopped

#2
Load of Laundry – wash & fold
Carpeted Area – Living Room, Dining Room & Hallway

#3
Stairs
Entire Downstairs Carpeted Area
Meal Preparation

#4
Kylie’s babysitter & entertainer
Office
Yard
Garbage

I also typed up a list of what has to be done to clean the bathroom, the carpeted area, their bedroom, etc. so they know exactly what is required to pass the job off.

We also have "daily" jobs that must be done each day:

Before School
Blankets Put on Bed
Dirty Clothes taken care of
Prayers Said
Teeth Brushed/Hair Combed

Before Dinner
Bedroom Cleaned
Homework Done
Put Away Clean Clothes

Before Bed
Say Prayers
Brush Teeth
Read for 15 minutes
Read Scripture

In addition I made a seating chart for the table and for the Suburban. They'll rotate each week so we have no more fighting over who has to climb to the back seat or who gets to sit by Kylie. They'll all get a turn in each spot.

Everyone gets a one on one "date" with mom the week they are #1.

We also have a points system. Each child gets 50 points each week which can be redeemed for prizes or cash. If they pick up things that others leave out they get to add a point to their total and deduct a point from the person who left it out.

A day with no screen time or media = 25 bonus points.

Setting Table
#1 Plates, #2 Cups, #3 Silverware #4 Misc.
Everyone clears and loads their own dishes plus 3 other things.

That's it! It's all typed up on one page so everyone knows what is expected of them. We'll see how day 2 goes!

Miracle on the Hudson

Just had to share this:
Rex Babin's best interpretation of 'Miracle on the Hudson'

Teaching Kim to Cook

So one of my new goals is to teach my kids how to make some basic foods. They each have a week where they are in charge of helping with meal preparation. This week is Kim's week. Sunday she learned how to make chocolate chip cookies. Last night she learned how to make whole wheat pizza. It was really yummy! Good work Kim.

Tackle It Tuesday

Today's Tackle It Project is to sew on all the scout patches and merit badges. I'm such a slacker when it comes to scouting uniforms. I'm going to get them done!

Slow Start Monday.... Again

Why are Mondays so hard?

Kylie is sick so I was up with her for an hour and a half last night. One of my goals this week is to get enough sleep so I pushed the alarm back until 7 and slept in instead of getting up to workout. I've been working on my to do list this morning for an hour and a half (payroll, thank you notes, budgetting, bills, etc.) Time has just flown by!


Before the kids start to come home at 3:

• Workout for 1 hour
• Read my scriptures
• Do the dishes & clean the kitchen
• Prepare FHE lesson
• Type up point chart & money charts for new Chore System
• Run to the library & scout store

ETA: At the rate I'm going I won't even get this list done by 3. It's one of those slow days where I think I'm moving in reverse or stuck in neutral!

ETA: I just got ready to head out to the library and scout store and found Kylie sound asleep in the middle of the living room floor. There is no way I'm going to wake her up so I guess I'll go to the library and scout store tomorrow.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday
B-French Toast
D-Pizza

Tuesday
B-Fried Eggs
D-Potato Soup

Wednesday
B-Pancakes
D-Hamburgers

Thursday
B-Bagel Sandwiches
D-Turkey Soup

Friday
B-Omelets
D-Mozzarella Chicken

Saturday
B-Aebleskievers
L-Grilled Cheese
D-Spaghetti

Sunday
B-Cereal
L-Cream Tuna
D-Roast

Savor It Sunday

Today has been a fabulous day. I'm happy and content. Great feelings. The kids are all getting along great and I hear them out playing together nicely (wonder how long that will last?) It's always nice to actually feel the spirit at church. I'm embarrassed to admit that most of the time I don't. Attempting to keep 5 kids quiet and not disrupting others tends to zap me of the ability & desire to ponder, listen and feel anything during Sacrament Meeting. I set a goal to not let the kids keep me from listening and feeling today and I succeeded.

Kylie has a runny nose. I didn't want to send her to Sunbeams needing it wiped every 3 minutes so after Sacrament Meeting she and I came home. I had a Time Out For Women video I had wanted to watch for a while so I popped it in the DVD and Kylie & I laid on the couch and watched it. We'll I watched it and Kylie cuddled up beside me and had a great time being snuggled, loved & tickled. She made it for almost an hour and then I filled up the bath and let her take a bubble bath for the last half hour of the DVD.

Today I'm working on Chore charts. I've been such a slacker in the chore chart department. I've been reading another great book that has finally motivated me and given me some great ideas on what might work as far as chores go. So the goal for the afternoon is to get everything typed out and ready to go for tomorrow. Growing up we had A, B, C & D charts that we rotated every week. I just realized that what I'm attempting to do is almost exactly what my mom did when we were little.

The book I've been reading is another book by Merrilee Boyack The Parenting Breakthrough has given me some great ideas and motivation to be a better mother to my children.

Right now I'm focused on the questions: What do my kids need to know before they leave the house? What do I need to teach them so they can be independent, self reliant adults who move out of the house and take care of themselves? This month I'm focusing on 2 things: Laundry & Cleaning Bathrooms! Vital life skills!