Write A Little - A New Year's Resolution

The kids' Nana made afghans for all her grandkids. Here are my kids and a couple of their cousins all wrapped up in their Christmas gift.

Ok, before I do my "write a little post" I just wanted to say how truly relaxing my Christmas was this year. I actually lost track of which day of the week it was because I was so chilled out. I got some awesome homemade gifts from my kids, jewelery from my husband (a real shocker) mixing bowls and oddly enough a flash drive (which was secretly on my "I hope Santa thinks to give me one of these for Christmas list." My parents gave me the cookbooks I have been salivating over and my in-laws gave me luxurious sheets. We got tons of fun games to play with the kids. Thanks everyone for all the great stuff but my favorite gift really was the lack of fighting between my kids for a few days. Oh, we are back to the bickering but there were a couple blissful days.


I know it's cliche to talk about New Year's Resolutions. I really do think we should be making and reevaluating goals throughout the year. But I just can't help looking back over the past year to evaluate how I measured up to my yearly goals. I'm also looking ahead to see where I want to take myself this year. I also believe we are better able to visualize and remember our resolutions if we write them down. There is something so permanent about the written word that I feel as if I am drawing up an agreement with myself.

Last year's resolutions
Stay in better touch with family and friends. Thank you facebook and blogging for helping me connect and reconnect to so many people. I really feel like I actually accomplished this goal. Mission Accomplished

Read my scriptures daily: I had a really good run in the summer when I read daily with my kids. It was a good experience for all of us but 3 months does not a year make. I am going to having call this goal a redo.

Start writing again: Two years ago I became so sick, I actually stopped writing. In a way this is how I figured out something was really wrong with me. At the beginning of this year as I continued to bounce back from surgery, I vowed to write again. I am happy to say I started writing for a couple magazines again and started a writing group. Mission accomplished.

Lose 15 pounds: Hmmm. This seems like it would have been easy. But I am an inconsistent person and I failed miserably. At least, I maintained instead of gaining. Redo

Become a more emotionally calm mother. I am not sure I accomplished this although I do feel more at peace with mothering. I have found more joy in my role as a mother even if I can't seem to keep my temper in check as often as I would like. I am going to call this a success in progress.

2009 New Year's Resolutions:

Read my scriptures or the ensign everyday. I really think I can do this if I throw a little Ensign in the mix.

Lose 15 pounds Actually, I am determined to lose 10pounds by February. Tom and I are going on a cruise and I refuse to wear a swimsuit without losing some weight.

Become a more patient person: sometimes I am really impatient. I am looking for inner calm this year.

I want to double my writing income:

I want to finish the fairy ABC book I am working on with my sister.
I want to get my basement cleaned out.

I will try something new this year. Last year I tried sushi and learned to paint. I believe we should all try something new every once in a while. It keeps our minds young and enlarges our perspective. Good luck with your goals. May you find some success and not buy too much guilt if you have to call them a redo next year.

Peace On Earth

Somewhere buried underneath the wrapping paper and baking with the gingerbread cookies; somewhere struggling to be heard above the kaching of my credit card buying presents, somewhere is the peace and the sense of Christmas I have been searching for all month. I really wanted to find Christmas this year. The last few days I have struggled with this overpowering feeling that I am just not making it work. Part of my problem is that I don't want to give into reinventing myself and my family into a service, christ-oriented family for a token few weeks. I want the spirit of Christmas to last beyond the new year. I want this drive to reach out to others in thanksgiving and love to last once the Christmas lights come down. I have to admit that Christmas lights are one of my favorite parts of Christmas. The warm glow of a well-lit home sparkling against the snowy night tickles me happy. But how can I keep that sparkle?

This year Tom and I decided to cut back on presents. I also decided to cut back on activities that took me away from time with my kids. In many ways I have enjoyed a more peaceful season because I knew that each thing I participated in somehow involved my family. Today as I listened to the beautiful Christmas program at church I reflected on what peace on earth meant to me. I started to realize that maybe I was looking for something this Christmas that I already have in my life.

I do not believe that we will have peace spread to every corner of the earth in the immediate future. But I have come to realize that peace can be found in the joy of everyday living and in a personal relationship with our savior. There are few moments of physical peace in my life. I do, however, soak myself in those sparse, quiet moments. Yet, over the past several months I have found peace in many ways; a peace that can coexist in the midst of screaming meltdowns, bad days, flat tires, and whining screaming child moments.

Last year I had a serious illness that caused me to reevaluate much of my perspective about parenting. Over the past year, I have learned to become less of a martyr and more of a mother and a partner with my Heavenly Father in raising my children. Although I have awful parent days, I have found my peace in mothering. I want to be good at it. I want to raise my children, I even enjoy my children. My divine role as a mother has brought me peace.

I have also been trying to reach out in service to those around me on a more regular basis. The total joy this has brought into my life has brought me large measures of peace. I still have a long way to go in this department but I look forward to it with a new eagerness.

At times I have found immense peace from reading the Book of Mormon. Whenever that book is open and I am reading, I cannot doubt its veracity.

As I reflect upon the moments of peace I have felt recently, I realize that the spirit of Christmas does not have to be a grand event every year. Sometimes it is just finding peace in a beautiful Christmas song or cooking with your children or opening a homemade gift (I am actually really looking forward to the homemade gifts from my kids this year.) or remembering that Christ did come to the earth, he was here, he was resurrected and he did atone for our sins. Sometimes that knowledge is peace and hope enough.

Talented Thursday - A talented family

My new favorite toy is a plastic storage bin. I almost invested in a snow fort kit for $20 from L.L. Bean. I am glad I made do without. Today I handed over a green storage bin meant for gloves and hats and an old baby wipes box and look what my wonderful children made after two hours of work in freezing conditions. They say they still have more walls to build. I may just have found the perfect winter break activity.



In addition to their snow fort capabilities my family totally surprised me this week with their independance. Sunday night I came down with a horrible migraine(I am getting really sick of these things) In addition to the migraine I caught Tom's flu bug. Sunday night was absolutely horrible and I spent most of it on my bathroom floor. Monday morning brought no relief from the headache and extreme exhaustion. There was no way I was getting out of bed. Tom immediately jumped up (eventhough he had slept very little) and got the kids ready for school and dropped off at school. Lia was an absolute angel all morning. At 10:30 she climbed in bed next to me and slept until Tom came home at noon to check up on us and feed Lia. When my kids came home they were surprisingly good. Isaac made dinner for everyone (with mom directions from the other room) still I am pretty impressed he made spaghetti and broccoli on his own. He was so impressed with himself he made his own omelet the next night and today he made mac and cheese for his and Lia's lunch.

Rebecca was also an enormous help on Monday as she helped her Dad shovel the driveway and filled all the neighbor's goodie bags. It was amazing how great my family was on Monday. Of course I woke up Tuesday morning (late) and Tom said hey don't the kids need to get up? I guess I only get one sick day. But at least it was a good one.

Write a Little -- Need a little help

I am working on a virtual communities article for Wasatch Woman magazine right now and I have hit a writer's roadblock. Eventhough I pitched this idea I am stumped on what direction to take. What info do you think is the most interesting? what's new, what's safe, what are some good sites, how do I make money from blogging or how do I glam up my site? I'm just trying to narrow down the topics I am going to address with the article and want some feedback. So please share so I can write away.

Talented Thursday -- The Woman in Us.

This morning I woke up to an overwhelming dream. In my dream I had just been made the head server of a very fancy Italian restaurant. It was a huge promotion that I wanted. unfortunately I was also trying to juggle my kids who were at the restaurant that night, I was trying to figure out how I was going to fit college classes into my schedule and the chef had apparently just flew the coop so I was trying to cook up spaghetti for a huge passle of people. My dream ended to a woman calling to make a 10:45 p.m. dinner appointment. I had just asked the owner what we should do when I woke up. I had slept in 30 minutes which meant we were behind schedule for getting to school on time, again.

I have thought about this dream all day. The wierd part is I have had dreams about this particular restaraunt before. I was a measly server in those, but still overwhelmed. Somehow I knew in this dream I could handle all these tasks just not at that exact moment. I thought, "that was a wierd dream" until I realized that in real life I am the head server and the head chef and the mama and the appointment keeper and a student. All these things are important and somehow I am more capable of juggling and balancing then I was a few years ago. I do deserve the promotion I gave myself in the dream but somedays the woman in me is just a little tired and overwhelmed with all of it.

As I thought of this post today I thought of all the talented women I know and love who are master jugglers. There is something empowering about being a capable woman and yet at times we are so likely to feel like we are failures because we just can't make it all work at the same time. This is a hip hip hooray to all you other talented women out there who are trying to make it work and a reminder that you should just say no to to that ridiculous 10:45 p.m. appointment. There is a limit and we deserve a break.

I would also like to give a shout out for for my sister's new art web site. She is one of those jugglers trying to teach her children, make a living for her kids and overcome enormous personal obstacles. Check out some of her work here.

Talkative Tuesday -- Snow Addicts

I am absolutely amazed. I have to beg my children to go out and play in the summer, spring, and fall but come snowfall I can barely keep them inside (not that I want to). My children have been waiting impatiently for the snow, practically begging the powers that be for snow, talking about snow constantly while I have been expressing my gratitude for the obvious lack so far. I really hate to be cold and wet. Last night's snowstorm had Lia looking for her snowboots and coat during the windy blizzard like conditions occuring during the pitch dark of night. She was literally walking out the door to play in the storm. That is how much my kids love snow.

This morning I woke up with a full plate feeling overwhelmed, wishing I could clear everything but snowman building from my calendar. Somehow my wish came true and I found myself outside at 10 am playing follow Lia's snow trail through the front yard and build the mini snowman and kick it down. Her snow games are a little odd. Yes, I was cold and wet but I was grateful I didn't have to tell her to wait until Mom was done with all her "stuff." She was so happy to be wet and cold and for a few minutes I remembered why that white fluffy cold stuff is so magical.



Finally, we went back inside where I cleaned and spent the rest of the afternoon trying to figure out what to get Tom's employees and partners for Christmas. I am still trying to figure it out. I have to come up with cool but economical gift baskets by Saturday. So if anyone has a great idea let's hear it. I also got to watch my friends two kids and they just cracked me up all afternoon, they are so cute.

Well, as soon as Becca and Isaac got home from school they were out in the snow again. I think it is hilarious how they were trying to sled down the driveway which is pure ice. This was not a big snowfall but there was no way they were going to miss a chance to use their sleds. Poor Rebecca slipped and fell at least four times. Her new warm waterproof and suprisingly stylish snow boots are unfortunately slippery as snot. Why can't anyone come up with the perfect snowboot.They played for a good 2 hours and I watched happily from my office window where I have direct access to the warm breeze from the heating vent. It was a perfect afternoon.

Friday's Favorite Find

I have been waiting all week to share my new favorite website on my blog. I spend hours looking at cooking sites and looking up new recipes. It's an addiction really. This week I ran across this scrumptious site that has really cool recipes and even more delectable photos with every recipe. It's beautiful. The link is also under my discover list as tastespotting. Enjoy!