Sunday, December 16, 2007

Long Nights, Long Weekend


Kolby on Sunday afternoon

Well this weekend has been very interesting. On Friday Kolby complained that his cheek hurt (at night). We questioned him and he said that he was ok it just hurt a little. He continued to play and we didn't think much more about it. Kristen then went off and partied with some of her friends, and I got the boys ready for bed. Teeth brushed and kisses given the boys went up to bed. I had to work really early in the morning so I took advantage of a quiet house and went to bed early. Around ten I awoke to a crying Kolby. He said his tooth was hurting and it woke him up. I gave him some medicine and he went back to bed. I thought that it was safe to go to sleep again. Just as I was drifting off to dream land a cry rang out and I jumped up and ran to Kolby's side. After comforting him he let me know that he missed mommy. I told him that she would be back soon. We both went back to bed and as I was closing my very tired eyes Kolby started crying again. I went into his room and picked him up and brought him back in with me. The rest of the night was spent with Kolby crying and me trying to comfort him. Kristen got home around 3am and took over the comforting duties. I then got up at 4am and got ready for work. That day Kolby was feeling better but we didn't want to take any chances so we found a dentist that worked on Saturday. I took a couple of hours off work and we went in to see the dentist. The appointment went fine Kolby told the Dr. where he hurt and they took X-rays of the area. Everything looked normal, but as a precaution we got a prescription for some antibiotics. Well that night Kolby woke up a few times but it was a lot better than the night before. I awoke to the sound of a laughing Kolby. I got up and went to check on him and he was playing with his older brother. Upon hearing me he turned around and gave me the cutest lopsided smile you have ever seen. You see the whole side of his face had begun to swell and it forced the right side of the face down while the left was raised in a I feel great smile. We gave him his medicine and we all got ready for church. Now I know what you are thinking. Why are you going to church instead of the doctor? Well first of all our dentist goes to our ward, along with at least three other dentists, two oral surgeons, five or six doctors, several nurses, etc... After Sacrament the bishop and several other people gathered around Kolby and and decided that he had a problem not in his lower jaw but in the upper jaw. Our dentist Dr. Paul Sadleir opened up his practice today and took out one of Kolby's molars and cleaned up the problem. Kolby was so brave and strong, and Dr. Sadleir proved again why we love him so much. He helped Kolby feel secure, safe, and comfortable. This weekend was tough, but we did learn a couple of things from it. Kolby is a very brave and strong boy. We have some of the best friends, and we have some excellent dentists. Kolby is doing great tonight thanks to Dr. Sadleir in Auburn, and Dr. McIntosh in Edgewood


Not feeling so well and a little scared

Kolby and his tooth

The pesky molar

Dr. Sadleir, Kolby, Kris Sadleir
just after the removal.
EXCITED FOR THE TOOTH FAIRY!!!!

Friday, November 30, 2007

The Organization Challenge is Over.

It is time for the organization challenge to end, and for those of us who have entered, to do our final update. I have say I am not sure I will even qualify for the challenge anymore. I definitely was unable to accomplish the goals I set for myself. I am still struggling with my health. I really wanted to complete this challenge and finally have my stuff in order. I spoke with a friend the other day and she gave me some great advice. "Let it go" she said. I was holding on to the idea that I could still accomplish all that I have on my list, even though I am ill. And I was struggling with the fact that my list never got shorter, just longer. Thus the great advice form my friend. I need to learn to let things go and focus on the necessities. So with great resistance I had to let my ideals go for the office and come back to it and a later date.

The room however looks absolutely smashing. We had to clear out the room for new carpet so when we put it back together we only put back the necessities. I still have some boxes that I didn't go through that will be nicely stored in another closet and taken out one at a time for some sorting and filing. I did get rid of at least half of the things in the room prior to the carpet replacement, so I did accomplish a lot. And now the room will be ready for guests during the Christmas Holiday.

So its up to you Organizing Junkie to decide whether I actually accomplished my organization challenge or if I will have to enter again next time. I really appreciate the challenge and the push it gave me and I know that with better health I would have absolutely accomplished it all.

Before Pictures:again I am sorry for the sideways pictures


After Pictures:






Here are some questions answered.
  1. My biggest challenge was my health. I really could not summon up the time and energy to perform the job as I would have liked, and I did not overcome it yet. I also had a problem with the papers. It is always a problem for me. I got rid of a lot but kept more then I wanted because I never know how long to keep things.(like health insurance payment records)
  2. The biggest change I have to say was the realization that I really can spend time on projects in a normal day. I had a few days when I really did some great organizing and it made me realize that I could do this every week. I could accomplish a lot if I keep that in mind.
  3. I threw away over three over flowing boxes of junk. Plus many other boxes. Then I re-organized my closet to fit some unfinished boxes in there nicely. And then I found new homes for the rest. Mainly another closet that is closer to the purpose of the items(games in the hall closet next to the play room).
  4. There will be quite a few differences in my life. One being that when I have guests over for the holidays they will have room to sleep and call their own. Also clutter crowds me, this will give me less stress and more peace.
  5. I wish I could say that I deserve to win because I did an awesome job, and left no stone unturned, however that is not the case. I did make a lot of head way and the room looks great, as do many other contestants, so I will trust Organizing Junkie to do the correct judging.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Grumpy Gus!!

We have our own Grumpy Gus at the house. It doesn't matter what we do for him. He is grumpy. He can watch a movie of his choice, and still he is grumpy. Who is our Grumpy Gus?

Blake


Note: posting this put a smile on his face, even if its short lived.

Six days Later and.....

Nothing to show for my organization challenge. I have done nothing. Not one little bit. I am still feeling ill and I have had absolutely no energy or physical ability to get to work in my area. In fact the rest of the house is a disaster. So here is my plan and hopefully I will be feeling good enough to accomplish it.
  1. Get the rest of the house in order again. I have to do this. This is how I work. If the rest of my house is decent then I can focus on this room and I won't feel guilty.
  2. I will not be clearing out this room entirely. One reason is that I don't want to move the desk, just to put it back again and also I just cannot afford to have the STUFF clog up the rest of my house. I have some room to move in here and I think that it will work out fine.
  3. Okay, this is where I get lost. I don't know where to start. I know that a lot of my mess is papers lots and lots of papers, and this will take up most of my time, but how shall I do it. I need suggestions. Shall I tackle it first? Should I clean out the rest first? And can I finally get everything into files? I don't know what to do.
  4. I will need to get rid of all the boxes and find places for the items.
  5. Hopefully I will finally buy a filing cabinet and some other storage solutions for the closet. I want to pack this full, but in an orderly way.
  6. Who can help me? Well, I will need the help of my husband. He will need to watch the kids and act like I have gone shopping. I will need either and hour a day, or sessions of three hours. I will also need his big strong muscles to move things for me. And I am sure that I will run into some things that I will need his advice on. It would be nice also if I was able to hire a babysitter a couple of times. I would love to find an Ethel, you know a partner in crime, so if I have any takers I would love to come to your house next.
Anyway this is my rough plan. I hope this illness of mine has not gotten in the way of my goal. Will 24 days be enough?

Friday, November 2, 2007

Halloween Fun!

Here are some Halloween pictures.
Sorry that the pictures are sideways



Thursday, November 1, 2007

Organizing

I love to organize. It is something that gets me all excited and makes me happy. I love to read books about organizing and all the tips and tricks to get your life in order. I do not however have a completely organized home. One of the blogs that I have discovered recently is called I'm an Organizing Junkie and she is hosting a 30-day Organizational Challenge for the month of November. I have decided to take the challenge. I am not sure if I will be able to complete it because I have been feeling a little under the weather lately and am low on energy. I need something to motivate me though, I have had this project on my list for a while and I am hoping that this challenge will push it to action.


My 30-day project is my office. We moved into this house in April and this is the room that has never been fully unpacked. I am not too embarrassed of it though. I know the reasons it looks this way and if others have a problem with it- its their problem. I do however know how much better life will be with a de-junked, organized room. So here I go. Cross your fingers that I can finish it in one month. Here are the Before pics (and sorry that some are sideways I am having some computer issues at the moment.) By the way, I will be posting more on this project in the future so if you want to read more click the label: Organizing.


Wednesday, October 17, 2007

A new nephew!!




Finally there is a cousin from my side of the family. My older brother James just had his first child last week. His name is Hayden James and he is so cute. Don't you think? I am so happy for James and Joan (the new mommy of course). They are going to be such great parents. Only problem is I have not had a chance to hold this sweet babe yet. A couple of states distance us, but I hope that I will see them soon. I feel the need to hold a newborn. Congrats on the new addition to the family and send more pictures when you can.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Finally posting, and what's a successful day?

So I know I wrote in my disclaimer that I would be writing more often. And then I don't write at all for quite a while. I guess I got busy. I really mean to write and I have a brain that is constantly composing. However, blogging is not on the top of my list. Sorry to all those genius bloggers out there who I am trying to rub shoulders with. I absolutely love to read blogs, they are so interesting, its great to know that there are others out there who are kinda like me. And then there are those truly amazing people that I will never be like, but one can dream. And its just seems to me that a lot of the blogs I like to read are by people who love to read books. I love to read books and it is great to get all these new ideas from others.

Part of the reason that I haven't been posting is that I am really trying to have a successful productive day. And it takes me forever to accomplish what others may do before 9:00 a.m. A successful day for me is full of simple things that make a huge difference in the house, but does not come naturally to me. It will be embarrassing to admit these things, but here goes. A successful day will be one that has completed these tasks.

  • Make Beds
  • Tidy House
  • Do ALL Dishes
  • Tidy Kitchen
  • Read Scriptures
  • SHMD (shower, hair, makeup, dress)
  • Exercise.

Easy for some, totally difficult for me. I may have to just take exercise out of there and put it in another goal category. I never get the exercise in.

Anyway what do you consider a successful day?

By the way this is only phase one of my plan, once I have these down I will add other things to the list. Cross your fingers.

Monday, October 8, 2007

A new dream

Well friends the time has come for me to say so long to an old friend. It is weird how life situations change and things that you look forward to and dream about change. For years I had a dream about owning a wonderful car. I read about it in car magazines and hoped that it would come to the States. Then in 2005 my dream came true the Lotus Elise was introduced to the US market. I flew to Salt Lake City and purchased my dream.



Well flash forward a few years, and the dream car that I thought was the coolest car in the world still is. The problem is life happens and priorities change. My kids are getting older and have more activities, and I can't take them anywhere in my car. So I decided to say so long to Elise. She will be leaving me in the next few days to make someone else very happy. Now don't be too sad for me I will be just fine. It is always hard to say goodbye but it is for the best. Now you may be asking yourselves, how is he going to fill the void in his life. Well I have found a new car. It is not sporty, or fast, but it will hold my family and it gets better gas mileage. I am replacing my car with a Toyota Camry Hybrid. My new car should be here sometime within the week.

Friday, September 21, 2007

Ever have one of those days?

Ever have one of those days where no matter what you do, or how hard you try, things go wrong? That was today for us. Every time I would turn around today I would find something new to conquer. I was trying really hard today to get the house in order, it has been a mess lately. And today was going to be the day that I was going to have a completely successful day (more on that in an upcoming post), but it did not come to pass. Here are some examples:

Every time I tried to sweep the floor Taylor would do one of the following: throw more food on the floor, spit out the food in his mouth, spill water, walk in the pile, take the broom and sweep himself (aka spread it out all over again) or insist on being held. I wish I had three arms sometimes.

I was stirring the cottage cheese before I placed it in my dish---spilled it out all over the counter.

Tried to finally take the toys up to the playroom and out of the mountain building up in a hallway downstairs----Taylor throwing them out of the laundry basket that was to carry them all

Almost (but not really) got in a wreck, because I just couldn't remember to look right.

And last but not least, I made the kids eat the cookies outside because I did not want any more crumbs on the floor. And Taylor misjudged the step.

School

Schools in and its hard to get used to Blake being gone all day long. Our life has changed now. We can no longer go to the zoo in the middle of the week (not that we did before, but we could have). We also cannot go to his favorite place for breakfast, unless we go extra early. The other thing that has changed is now I have to find more things to do to entertain Kolby, without Blake around he gets bored quick. Of course he plays with Taylor, but its not the same. On one of his first long days at school I did nothing all day. I didn't know what to do with myself. I am sure I can get a lot of things done in that time, but I am used to squeezing things in between the trips to pick him up. For instance last year I would take him to school, come home put Taylor down to a nap and scramble to get things done like shower and do some laundry. Once Taylor was up off we would go to pick Blake up. But now I have the whole day to shower, pick up and do all those things Homemakers do. Which means I don't know what to do with myself. I am sure I will figure it out eventually, probably in time for summer. Oh well life is a journey, and its great!!



Written awhile ago, posted today.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Lucky Number Seven

Well we all woke up this morning fairly early. You see it was Blake's birthday. He is our early riser, he will wake up early in the morning ready to go. I have even gotten up for work at four in the morning just to find Blake watching tv or playing his video games. I eventually had to buy him an alarm clock, not to wake him up but to keep him in bed. I set his alarm for seven and he knows that he is not to leave his bed until then. Well since today is a special day I let him get up at Seven, ha you thought that I would cave but I didn't.
Kristen and I were ready this morning. At the stroke of seven we heard the pattering of feet as our two oldest came running to our room ready for the start of a party. We all went down stairs and into the family room. Blake's eyes scanned the room for his presents. He looked back at me in shock that there was not a present to be found. I quickly explained to him that presents stop at seven. A look of horror flashed across his face as he quickly looked to mom for aid. She quickly explained that there were still chores to be done even though it was his birthday. His room tidied and bed now made he came back down stairs to find his presents.

Seven wow he is getting old

Taylor can't believe that the presents are not for him

Focused on toys

Time to play (after school)

So Blake got to unwrap some presents and play for awhile before school. Then we sent him off with a backpack full of cookies to share with his class. We asked him what he wants for his B-day dinner, and he said Mac-n-cheese with hot dogs in it (yum).

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Disclaimer

So, I know that I asked Isaac to start this Blog because I really wanted to be a blogger. But I guess you can't be a blogger when you don't blog. A friend of mine who has a wonderful blog (Calamity Jane) told me she checked our blog but I don't post much. I responded by saying "I don't have a lot to say." So, why do I want to be a blogger if I don't have anything to say? Maybe it is so I can fit in, be a part of a group. I don't know. And in truth I write a blog or two in my head everyday, I just don't get it on the computer. "And why is that?" I ask myself. Probably because I think that my blogs would not fit into the "Group", they may be stupid, my grammar may be awful, my sentence structure non-existent, or I may portray a person totally different than my real self. Well I have decided to throw caution to the wind. I am going to start blogging more often.

And this is my disclaimer:

The content in the future blogs are purely the opinion of one very imperfect person on one particular day. These opinions and views may change at anytime. They are not meant in any way to harm, offend or criticize anyone. If they do, the author is extremely sorry and would love to kindly give an apology to any who deem it necessary. The blogs are written by a LDS person trying very hard to be a good person. If the said blogs portray something else please forgive the author, remember the author is not perfect. With this said, please enjoy the future writings and feel free to comment whenever you feel the need.


Good Bye, Caution. Here I come.

Good days bad days and fair days

Mondays are well known for being the worst days of the week, and this last Monday was proving that perception correct. Kristen had come down with a bad cold, and the boys were crabby. Blake is still trying to adjust to all day school. Kolby is board out of his mind because everyone else at home is feeling ill. Taylor has a cough and is whining like crazy. Even the weather was conspiring against us. It had rained all morning, and the sky was still gray and foreboding. Something had to be done, but what. Who has the power to turn this disastrous day into a great day? This sounds like a job for Mediocre Man (all the good super hero names were taken). Leaving Kristen and Taylor to fend for themselves, Mediocre man throws his two sidekicks into the Man Van, and heads off for adventure. We head south looking for anything that will change the course of this dreary day, and then it happens. The clouds part and the sun makes a triumphant appearance, shining over the city of Puyallup ( if your not from Washington good luck with the pronunciation). We quickly arrived at the fair grounds and found a small lot to park the Man Van. Before we even got within the gates the sights, sounds, and smells came crashing down on us. My two sidekicks were now full of energy, and ready to tackle anything that the fair had to offer. We soon found ourselves in Silly Ville a part of the fair for young kids. Our first Ride was the Super Slide. For this ride you have to climb about a mile of small kid sized stairs all the time carrying a burlap mat that you slide down on. By the time we got to the top I had all three of the mats and the boys were doubled over and panting. Blake was first to go and you could hear his screams of joy for miles around. Kolby and I were next. He didn't want to go alone so I carried him down with me. Unlike Blake's trip down, this one was not filled with joy and excitement, though the cries were heard for miles around. After the tears stopped we found a ride that Kolby was fine with.

The boys were actually excited for the ride. This one is like the teacups it goes around in a circle and you can spin it until you puke. I had to watch Kolby's eyes and stop when I thought that they would spin out of his head. I finally found out that if he focused on me he would be fine and we could spin at alarming speeds.



They love driving, and this car is just slightly larger than mine.



The boys on a boat


Kolby sat next to me on this one

Everyone loves fire trucks.

Blake went alone on the Roller Coaster


They both had fun on the airplane


Our last ride brought us to new heights. Kolby loved the Ferris Wheel, but blake found out that he doesn't like heights.

After all the rides were through it was time for dinner. We started to walk the park to see if there was anything that the kids wanted to eat. There was a lot of choices from cheese burgers for $11 to $8 hot dogs I was happy when the boys said the wanted Taco del Mar. We got back to the Man Van and rushed off to get burritos and chips. We finally got home and quickly got ready for bed. That is the story of turning a bad day into a Fair day.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Climbing Mountains

Hey all, yesterday we had a joint birthday celebration for Blake and Kolby. The family gathered in from the four corners of the greater Seattle area. We met at the Super Mall (in Auburn) and began our quest to be the first family to climb Mt. Hood and Mt Rainer. The problem is the real mountains are really big and we are all out of shape so we decided to cheat a little. We went to The Wall at the Mall.


Blake climbing like a pro.

Kolby reaches the peak of his nerve, and will go no further.

Me against my big brother, and the victory goes to ME.

Kristen is so good she climbed without shoes.



Zach, Garrett, and Katy all did a great job.


After our hard day of climbing we came home for dinner and presents. When everyone was full and presents were played with it was time for DDR. At the end of the evening I was crowned the Lind Family DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) Champion!!!