Day 4 of the 20-day Journal Challenge

Assignment: Write about a time when you were so happy. When you were so sad. Did you learn anything from those experiences?

Shortly after I had Emma, I remember being so filled with joy. I loved caring for my sweet little girl and her busy older brother. I felt so lucky to be able to stay at home with them full time and be a part of each milestone.

I had taken good care of myself during my second pregnancy, so I had a smooth recovery. I regained my energy quickly. Being physically healthy made it possible for me to keep up with 2 kids under 2. I was truly blessed.

Fast forward a few months.

I don’t remember much about this time other than being weighed down and so, so tired. I wasn’t myself. I couldn’t find pleasure in my life and I hurt all the time. I lost weight and physical strength. My sleep was erratic. After Rick witnessed me getting into a verbal altercation with a complete stranger in a parking lot one night, he urged me to get checked out. I was diagnosed with postpartum depression.

It took several months to find the right help for me. Once I found the best medication and a great counselor though, things got better. The fog lifted.

I learned (much later) that depression isn’t anything to be ashamed about. I also learned how important it is to accept help. Yes, we are very quick in our culture to take pills for anything that ails us. I didn’t like to be a part of that pill popping group. But, in this case, medication was an essential part of my recovery.

Day 3 of the 20-day Journal Challenge

Assignment: Imagine that it’s exactly ten years from today, and describe what you’d like to be doing and what you’d like your life to be like.

When I’m 43, I hope Rick and I are living in our cabin up in the mountains.
He’ll only be working 10 shifts a month in the local ED.
I’ll be staying busy serving at the temple,

reading great books, hiking my property,

and spoiling my grandbabies.

Since Thanksgiving will be just around the corner, I’ll be making final preparations for the extended family cruise we’ll take over holiday. This time, we’re heading someplace warm…

Day 2 of the 20-day Journal Challenge

Assignment: What do you like to do in your free time? Don’t just list, explain why, too.

Man! These journal writing prompts really want me to get personal. If I answer honestly, I’m going to come off looking really boring, lazy, and selfish. Instead, here’s the response I’d give if I were the ideal version of myself:

In my free time I enjoy going for long runs through the nature preserve so that I can meditate and rejuvenate my spirit. On warm days, I work in my flower garden and take fresh bouquets to some of the widowed sisters in my ward. My piano is never neglected. I love to sit down and play Chopin, Debussy, and Brahams to welcome my children home from school. At the end of the night, it’s hard to send the kids to bed. Sometimes I want to read the classics to them for hours! To be fair to my husband though, I spend the rest of the evening rubbing his shoulders and listening to stories from his work day. I never grow tired of them!

Are you ready for the real response to this prompt?

Free time? Really? Well, I guess I have time when I choose to ignore stuff I should be doing and I do something else less productive. Can I call that free time? I have lots of examples of what I do to procrastinate.

I enjoy watching TV shows on Netflix after the kids go to bed. This is usually accompanied by a bowl of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. I’m working on season 1 of Monk right now because it’s on instant queue. Rick and I are waiting for disc 2 of Community to arrive in the mail. I haven’t laughed so hard at a show since 30 Rock, and that’s really saying something.

When Rick works late, I don’t want to watch TV because it’s more fun when we’re together. Instead I get on YouTube or Facebook and waste time there. I used to stalk blogs, but I found that it brought me down to see all the productive things the good mommies were doing with their time. Who needs that kind of pressure?

If it’s daytime, and I sit still for longer than 10 minutes, I have to take a nap. I’m really good at it too. My favorite spots are the couch in the basement because it’s cool and totally dark. I also have a fondness for my bed, though it’s hard to get out of it once I get in.

The last thing on my list of idleness has to be making playlists or listening to Pandora.com. Tonight’s playlist: Christmas Faves. I can literally spend hours listening to music and building wish lists on ITunes. Perhaps I should have been a DJ instead of a teacher.

So, I guess I’m not hurting for free time too much. Look at all the idleness I’m able to squeeze into the day. It’s pretty impressive when you think about it. Have I inspired you yet?

Day 1 of the 20-day Journal Challenge

Assignment: Write about your day. What was the best part about it? What was the worst?

Beep-beep…beep-beep…beep-beep…THUD! At 5:10 this morning I hit the snooze button for the last time. Why is it always so hard to wake up on Monday mornings? Why does my husband have to keep the house so darn COLD all the time?! What happened to my 4:45 wake-up plan? These thoughts, and many others, kicked around my mind as I stumbled through my morning routine.

As usual, Jake was a bear to get up for seminary. We managed to beat my early bird seminary student to the church though. Neener-neener Paul!!! On another happy note, 11 out of my 14 students showed up for class this morning, impressively on time. We were slow to warm-up, but ended up having a pretty good discussion about Doctrine & Covenants 46 (gifts of the spirit). More on that topic tomorrow…

Once Jake was successfully dropped off at junior high, I raced home to wake Miss Emma. To my surprise and delight she was awake and dressed! We had a quick breakfast, and then I drove her the 60 yards to the bus stop – HA!

On a typical Monday morning, I would have immediately gone back to bed. NOT TODAY! Instead, I stayed awake and practiced singing and playing for a Christmas concert I’ll participate in on December 4th. I’m part of a women’s group that will perform for 45 minutes during our church’s annual Interfaith Nativity.

For 3 hours we sang and laughed and talked and sang. I was disappointed in my lack of singing confidence and vocal range, but I enjoyed all the beautiful Christmas music and tight harmonies. It reminded me of old times with my pals Whitny, Alli, and Annie. Oh! How I miss those girls!
When I got home, the dog and I ate a quick sammich before I launched into my lesson planning. The greatest accomplishment of my day: finishing my seminary lesson BEFORE Jacob came home from school. Wahoo! That hardly ever happens.

Now, can you guess what our lesson is on tomorrow? Yup. We’re going to talk about journal keeping (hence the blogging). I am repenting of my blog-lessness so as NOT to be a hypocrite. I will include myself in the 20-day challenge to my students to journal each day. Who knows? Maybe this will turn into a permanent habit. Stranger things have happened.

The day is not over so I can’t absolutely choose a best and worst part. I hope the best is yet to come! Maybe the best will happen this evening as I dine with my hubby at Zia’s on the hospital’s dime (it’s recruiting season). As for the worst part of my day, I’d have to go with missing my morning nap. I have a feeling I’ll be paying for that later. I promise not to take it out on my family though. Until tomorrow…

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

It's the most wonderful time of the year (for parents). School's in session and Mom as her "me time" back. The kids are getting out the door early! The sun wasn't even up for Jake's first day photo. Doesn't he look thrilled to be up at 6 am?

Emma gets to sleep in an hour longer than her brother. She still managed to run late for the bus though. This was the only picture I could get of her before school:

Fortunately, she was still smiling after she got home. In fact, both kids reported that they liked their teachers and felt it was going to be a good year.

Several friends from my ward celebrated the first day of school with a tasty brunch at Scrambler Marie's. From left to right you'll see Cat, Angie, and Kelly:

That's my neighbor Emily with the two little boys. My friend Anita is on the right.

Susan is holding the sweetest baby ever, her daughter Kara. Jacob is her next oldest child on the end.

All in all, it was a pretty productive day. I washed 6 loads of laundry, read my scriptures, decorated my seminary classroom for 4 hours, and made dinner. Today was going at a pretty good clip too until I picked Jake up from football practice. He had been pushed from behind and caught his fall with his left wrist. It was giving him quite a bit of pain. I had my nurse friend Cat (see above picture) take a look and she suggested we have it looked at. After a few hours of icing it without improvement, we decided to have it checked out at the hospital by Dr. Dad. He didn't think it was broken, but decided to get a second opinion anyway. The other doc suggested we go ahead and x-ray it, but that was inconclusive too. Ultimately, they decided Jake may have a scaphoid fracture, so they splinted his wrist. He will have to be re-examined in a couple of weeks to determine additional treatment.

So, that might be the end of Jake's football career. He's pretty disappointed too since the coach told him today he was going to have him play first string defensive end at their first game next week. This also affects his participation in P.E. and orchestra. Fortunately, his writing hand is okay, so he won't miss out on all that 7th grade school work!

Birthdays, Blessings, and Bruises

Rick "celebrated" the big 3-6 today (although we're using the term loosely). When the clock struck midnight, turning Monday into Tuesday, Dr. Saunders was still at work dealing with crazy, drug-seeking patients. He didn't get ready for bed until 2:30ish. When he went to climb in, he had to wrestle our geriatric dog out of his spot. Poor guy.

After snoozing his alarm clock 10 times (and missing a meeting), he rolled out of bed at 10:30. He spent some quality time with the sick computer until we forced him to open his birthday gift.

As always, we labored over what to get for him. We knew we couldn't go wrong with a purchase from Costco, so we bought him a cache cooker. Now to find the time to go camping...

Jacob and Emma have their first day of school tomorrow (Wednesday). Rick seized the opportunity to give the kids a father's blessing. It's always such a neat thing to see the Priesthood in action! Since Rick had to go to work at 1:00, we hurried over to a little Mexican restaurant for a birthday brunch. We ate like it was our last meal. Miraculously we could still take down the fried ice cream dessert they gave him for his special day.

You may not know that Jacob is a big 7th grader playing on the football team this year. He's been in training for a few weeks now, and really enjoys it. Now that the boys are in pads though, things have gotten kind of rough. Check out this kid's bruises!

Isn't he such a tough guy?

Next post: A report on the first day of school!

Remembering Toni

My sister-in-law Toni died last week. It was quite sudden and it rocked the entire family. I will miss her greatly.

Several thoughts about Toni have been kicking around my mind since I returned from Arizona. I want to remember her, because she did so much during her short time here.

Toni had a great sense of humor.

She had to be quick to laugh because she was married to Mark (haha), and because she had two busy boys that kept her hopping. She would kind of mutter things under her breath or add a sarcastic comment here and there. She had the kind of dry sense of humor that I love!

She could throw a party.

I still remember some of the bashes she threw for Mark and the boys. From lights, to food, to decorations, Toni did it with flair. Everyone always had a great time.

Creativity was her middle name.

Toni possessed a myriad of talents. She played the piano, wove baskets, painted pictures, carved amazing pumpkins, and decorated her home like a pro. She worked most of her married life but still managed to give time to her artistic side too.

Toni loved animals, especially dogs.

Her passion for toy poodles started with Sable, a pup she had for 17 years. Later, her doggy family expanded. She and Mark bred toy poodles for a while. My kids have fond memories of holding the new little babies. Some were too special for Toni to part with, so her "pack" expanded to include 5 little poodles.

She was extremely thoughtful.

When it came to special occasions, Toni had it handled. She never seemed to forget a birthday or anniversary (a trait that particularly impressed me, as it is one of my faults). We always received cards or unique gifts carefully selected by her. She would shop months in advance to find just the right thing for her little nieces and nephews. My kids knew that Aunt Toni loved them because of her close attention to detail.

Teaching was her hidden calling.

Toni was a very capable woman, in many areas. I remember when I was a brand-new bride and Rick and I got an invite to eat dinner at her house. I offered to "help" with the preparations (but I didn't know what I was doing). Poor Toni had to give me a lesson on how to properly wash red leaf lettuce in order to make a salad. She was patient though, and gave me specific instructions so I could do it just right. Ha!

She had deep faith.

Toni was born and raised in the Catholic church. Her religion was very important to her and she brought her boys up to share her beliefs. I've always respected her for holding fast to her faith. She worked hard to provide a good foundation for her family. As I watched my nephews work through their grief this week, I saw some of the things she taught them. They are a testament to her hard work.

Many people were influenced by Toni.

Thursday night was the viewing. For 3 hours, family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and church members poured into the funeral home to pay respects. Everyone had been touched by Toni in some way. As I sat and listened to people quietly talking around me, I heard someone wondering aloud if anyone would come to her own funeral. It then struck me that Toni knew and affected many people. I know that she continues to influence people where she is now. I look forward to the time when I can see her again.