What A Week

Did I say what a day? Who was I kidding? The entire week was much too eventful for me. However, as with all difficult times, there were things remembered and lessons learned.

**Really big companies make really big mistakes that cause really big headaches
**Tights are fun
**My house gets really messy when I'm depressed
**I love my mom
**The miracle of life is truly a miracle
**I like doctors that believe in Heavenly Father
**Spending money makes me feel better*
**No matter how bad things are, Clara makes me smile and laugh (always)
**It could be a lot worse

So here's to a better week. As they say, onward and upward.

*My "extravagant" shopping spree resulted in two pair of tights. Someone stop me, my spending is out of control.

What A Day

Wake up at 6:00am to get work done before Clara gets up. I have to run payroll for my client with 400+ employees (payroll lady on maternity) and since we're in the middle of changing the PTO policy, I have to manually calculate and reset employee's balances. Program I log into remotely not working. Can't get the PTO out of the way.

Clara wakes up at 7:30am. She peeks around the wall, smiling at me. I think she thinks I don't hear her open her door so she tries to hide from me.

Take Clara to play at her friend's then drive 10 miles to the post office, hurrying so I can run my other errands and make it home to work for a little bit prior to picking up Clara.

Realize my wallet is at home.

Drive home to get my wallet and return to the post office.

Run other errands. (Remind me not to go to Wal Mart when I'm in a hurry, because some of the cashiers are never in a hurry).

Try again on the PTO, takes twice as long as I planned.

Eat cookies for lunch that a friend happened to bring by.

Put Clara down for a nap, less than two hours until payroll is due, that I haven't even started.

Clara cries her head off. She hasn't cried like that forever before a nap. Of course she does today.

I sing to Clara until she's calm, wishing I was more calm.

Less than an hour until payroll is due.

I realize I can't do payroll at home (last time I ran the interface the day before).

Call our ADP rep (who I told we didn't need this time) and he runs the interface.

Create payroll batch, make changes.

Submit payroll.

20 minutes later, nothing.

Call ADP. They tell me there's an error and they fix it.


20 minutes later, nothing.

Call ADP. The previous girl forgot to submit it.


20 minutes later, review payroll register (over an hour past our original submittal time).

Hmmm, four doc's were receive an extra $1k - $2k. I overrode their regular salary with that amount. Whoops.


Call ADP. They adjust the four problems for me and send it on its way.

8 minutes later, receive revised payroll and accept.


Now I have less than two hours to fix dinner, clean my house and make sure Clara hasn't forgotten I'm her mom.

Clara helps me clean the house (kind of) so we can go play at the park. She loves the slide. I love the weather. We play until dark.

Who needs dinner? Overrated. We snack on peaches, apples, cheese, beans and tortilla chips.

HOA Meeting at my house. The "quick" meeting lasts over an hour.

Glad payroll is over. Wishing that was the only thing weighing me down today.

Really glad not every day is like this.

And super duper glad Clara is around to make me smile.

Conversation while brushing her teeth:
Clara: Why you sad?
Me: Sometimes I get sad because I wish I had another baby.
Clara: (HUGE smile on her face and totally excited) Mom, it's okay, I will buy you one. (smiling even BIGGER) I will buy you a new baby, okay?

Pumpkins Everywhere

So, the pumpkin carving party I went to... My friend Erin that I used to work with has an annual pumpkin party. I haven't been since I was pregnant with Clara. I'll do the math for you - that's three years. Not that I didn't know, but this year was a reminder of what I've been missing out on the past few years. An Erin party means perfect attention to detail, good food, pretty and tasty treats and plenty of laughter.

These poor unsuspecting people had no idea where this picture would end up.

Karen, Erin and I - we all used to work together. Now Erin is the only one still with the company.

I knew if I didn't plan ahead, I'd spend a few hours just to decide how to carve my pumpkin. Before I went, I made up my mind to make a ghost pumpkin. Simple and cute. I carved Mr. Ghost at Erin's, then painted it a few days later. Two days after that, I was making breakfast and Clara said, "What's this?" I turned around to see her shoving her finger in black mold. Sweet. Mr. Ghost's brains rotted out before Halloween ever came close. But you do see how cute he could have been, right?

Fall

I love October through January, like a lot. I look forward to it all year long. This year, I made a list of all the reasons why I love this time of year... Conference, cooler weather, Jason's birthday, Halloween, soup, my birthday, Thanksgiving, caramel apples, Clara's birthday, Christmas, lots of family time (and lots of family birthdays), New Year's Eve, goals, long sleeved shirts and sweaters/jackets, treats. See that? All three of our birthdays are in there plus my favorite holidays.

This past week I have really gotten a taste of fall: pumpkin cookies, pumpkin painting, pumpkin carving party, COLD weather and butternut squash bisque (somehow I managed to find the best recipe in the world and it was so, so good). After not having Jason home at his normal time for the third night in a row, I let Clara dress up in her costume, we made sucker ghosts and then I laughed at her running around in her underwear. It kept me from being mean mom and instead I tried to embrace Clara's imagination. After all, she's not always going to take her train to grandma's house and never leave our house.

Yuma

It's funny to see the reaction when I tell someone I'm headed to Yuma. No matter how hard they try, their expression clearly asks, "What on earth are you doing in Yuma?" Well, 90% of the time, it's something related to my cousins. They are fun and at either of their houses you are surrounded by fields. Which is why I get excited for every opportunity to go spend time with my Yuma cousins. This time, it was for Kyle's reception and as usual, I wasn't disappointed.

On top of that, I got to spend over 4 hours visiting with my dad in the car. Jason couldn't go and my dad couldn't leave early with my mom or go to California with her afterwards, so my dad and I drove together. Anyone that knows my dad knows he works about 18 hours a day and sleeps about 6, if he's lucky. So I'm not sure who else in my family can say they've spent that much time with my dad in a day, let alone one-on-one time with him, in a long time. Lucky me, 'cause my dad is pretty cool. We talked about politics, parenting, the IRS, work, addiction, Uncle Bob and Aunt Zelia, my grandmas and of course we laughed at Clara. She sang to herself and read books out loud for a long time and my dad told her he could listen to her for the entire three hours and it wouldn't get old. I'd have to agree.

My dad was worried they wouldn't have good food. I asked him if he's ever been at a Suzy party and didn't have good food. Doesn't exist. Not everyone gets the roach coach at their reception. Mmm, Yuma has some of the best Mexican food ever.The weather and setting was perfect. Not that men need a perfect environment to sit around and talk. Or stare at each other.

The desserts were great. But my favorite thing on this table was the giant pear. Too bad I don't steal. Otherwise it'd be in my house right now.

Oh, and of course, the pretty little couple.

Lights

At the end of January, our kitchen light burnt out. It was a fluorescent light and it really hadn't worked the right way since we'd been in hour house. So when I bought new bulbs and it still didn't work, I wasn't upset, but we couldn't afford to fix it. I decided I wanted to wait and get real lighting instead of spending money to replace a not-so-great light. I would rather go without than spend money on something I don't like. Little did I know it'd take nine months to get lights in my kitchen. Luckily most of that time was summer so I had extra sunlight while preparing dinner. But still, cooking in dim lights makes me grumpy. I'd turn all the lights around me on, sometimes even the light above the stove. Finally, last month Jason's cousin came and put our new lights in. It cost way more than we thought it would but before I let it bother me, I turned on the lights, sat on the couch and told Jason about nine times how much better it looks. It was well worth it. Any time of the day, it's like Noon in our kitchen. I love light. It makes me happy.

BeforeDuring

After

Canning Queen

One thing that has taken lots of my time over the last several weeks is canning. Last year I canned peaches for the first time with my mom. This year I did twice as many and my lovely mother helped me with all of them. I paid attention too so in the future I won't need her to tell me what to do (although that doesn't mean I'm relinquishing her from her physical help...) Then I decided I was the canning queen so I did chicken all by myself. Homemade canned chicken is great. It looks ugly but it's good, versatile, a good food storage item and simple to can. I wanted to do beans, but before I could start, a friend of mine (thanks Camille!) got me a giant box of pears (it was at least 40 pounds) for $12. The pears were very ripe so we had to do something soon. That night Jason and I stayed up way too late and canned almost everything. What we didn't get done, Clara helped with the next morning.

This was my first experience with pears. They are definitely a lot more work than peaches, but in my opinion totally worth it for home canned, 16 quarts to be exact. Plus, it's only once a year and I'm pretty sure Jason had lots of fun helping me until 2am. Now that is good quality bonding time.

I've decided canning is addicting and it makes me feel prepared, self-reliant and domestic. Although once I flipped through the Ball Canning recipe book and saw the endless things to can, I realized I have a long ways to go to become a canning queen. Maybe someday.

Tantrums

I'm still catching up, and last week didn't help. But rather than waste a post complaining about the chaos, let's rewind to the week before Labor Day weekend and complain about that. :)

Every year, Jason's family has a huge family reunion, very affectionately referred to by all involved as 'The Reunion'. It's always in the same place and always the same weekend. It's not just his parent's family, nor his grandma's family. It's his great grandparents and their descendants, all her siblings and their families. This year not quite 300 people were there and I am pretty sure that was on the low side. Enough history, back to my tantrum (yeah, me, not Clara). I love camping, but the week before the reunion I sat staring at everything on my plate for the upcoming week. I had a lot going on and I was certain there was no way I'd fit "preparing for a weekend of camping" on there. I told Jason I didn't want to go, and he asked why. He wondered what the big deal was. It wasn't really that I didn't want to go, I just didn't want to deal with the stuff I normally deal with that makes it a big deal. The "big deal" was: 1.) planning the meals for the weekend (I might love to cook in my modern kitchen, but being limited to an ice chest and a little camp stove dismisses that love ever so quickly and dampens my excitement for meal planning), 2.) gathering and doing necessary food prep prior to leaving (i.e. measuring out oil, we don't have room for my 2 gallon bucket), 3.) cooking while camping (see #1), 4.) doing dishes while camping (I dislike this more than cooking while camping) and 5.) unpacking all the clothes, food and camping gear upon returning home. He didn't understand what the big deal was, so my only option was to throw a tantrum. I kindly (very kindly, even with a smile on my face) told him the only way we were leaving Friday is if he did everything I normally do. I did help plan the meals and I did give him a list of things we needed and things that needed to be done (including food prep type things). I was able to get all my work done by Thursday night and I packed mine and Clara's bags. Then I left the rest to Jason. I'm pretty sure this "deal" (what is a one-sided 'deal' called? :)) is how I'll expect all subsequent camping trips to be. Jason got all the food ready, he helped cook and do dishes all weekend long and when we got home, he helped get everything put away so it didn't sit in our front room for a week. All his help plus being in the mountains, spending time with family, making new friends and being free from a cell phone and computer made for a fantastic weekend.

The highlights...

I tried to bring "healthier" snacks and these veggie straws were great. They are made with spinach, potato and tomato puree and are good. I wouldn't replace my fresh vegetables with them, but it is a good alternative to potato chips.

Ever seen a grub? Yeah, me neither, until now. Nasty. This thing was about as long as my ring finger and fatter than my thumb.

Bad, blurry picture, I know. But good story: This was during the egg toss and Clara was not looking when the egg was thrown at her. She was however, holding her hand in her shirt and amazingly, the egg landed right there and she kept it from falling to the ground.

On Saturday afternoon, the three of us went to Greer to fish. We sat in the car for an hour waiting for the rain to pass.

When we went back to the lake, there was a perfect rainbow that ended in the lake. It looked awesome. If only cameras could capture what the eye can.

The lake was so low Jason wasn't sure which way to fish.

The only thing Clara loved more than her headband was fixing it herself.

There is a community breakfast on Sunday morning. All the men (and Janet's little angel girls) make the breakfast.

Poor little Clara isn't used to such uneven ground. She was running, tripped in a huge rut, bruised and scratched her leg on the other side of the rut and then smacked her face in the dirt.

But mostly, she was the happiest girl alive.

Not sure how she conned Kylie into doing this...

But I'm guessing it was similar to how Kinley conned Clara into doing this...

Gotta love the family picture that every single kid is looking at the camera. And Kevin is trying to kiss Terell.

I love fire. It keeps me warm, it's fastening to watch and it completes camping for me. Every year there is a huge bon fire and then a talent show. This year the fire was awesome. I couldn't stop taking pictures of it.

Jason's grandma made an afghan for the raffle last year. I wanted it so bad. But I'm pretty sure I could only afford a few tickets so I didn't have much of a chance. This year I bought a bunch and won. Yeah, hooray. I love the random colors and I love having something with sentiment. It's priceless.

Don't ask

And just in case you're wondering why I looked so good, it's because other than washing my hair with baking soda in a sink, this is what I used to shower all three days...

PS Now I know why I put this post off for so long... finding, editing and uploading the pictures took over two hours.

No Complaining

I started a post Thursday night explaining that I found it funny my car battery died that evening, only hours after I spent a good five minutes telling a friend how absolutely wonderful my car is. With over 126k miles, I've never had any problems beyond routine maintenance. If I thought the irony of that was funny, imagine my laughs on Friday when Jason called telling me something was wrong with my car, most likely the starter. Now if only it hadn't been the day before I was to take my car to Yuma, but I really can't complain.

Let me tell you a little story. In the past year or so my car has had a few days where it wouldn't turn over when I tried to start it. I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the clutch engaging the right way. Most of the time this happened, we were in quite the financial predicament. We could barely pay our bills and car repairs would obviously have complicated the problem. I remember one morning after the car wouldn't start I said a quick, begging prayer to let my car run until we sold our house in Utah. I'm pretty sure I went so far as to say, "I don't care if it blows up the day after the house sells, but PLEASE let my car run smoothly until then."

So you see, my prayer was answered. My car didn't blow up, just needs some work, and it's been over a month since the house sold. What a blessing. And that is why I can't complain.

Q&A - Pictures

Q: If a picture is worth a thousand words, what are a thousand pictures worth?
A: Lots of time, a crying child, a paranoid husband and two lightening shots.

Back during one of the last lightening storms we had (8.31.2009), I discovered a feature on my camera. I can just hold down the button and it takes picture after picture. It's neat, especially when I'm too lazy to set the manual settings for a cool lightening shot. Unfortunately, Jason didn't want me outside so it was making Clara scared. He kept telling her I was crazy. I was on my covered porch... what are the chances? Anyway, multiple times I'd hold the button down and take about 50-75 pictures, give up, release the button and within 10 seconds, some incredible bolts would rip through the sky. I guess if that's my luck perhaps I should've been more concerned with my safety like Jason was. I took several hundred pictures. I got three with lightening in it, but one wasn't even worth uploading. The second one below isn't that impressive as far as lightening, but I love that it made the sky so dark blue. I love seeing lightening in our big desert sky. It's almost as beautiful as our sunsets.
The next day, my mom watched Clara and they had the following conversation:

Clara: My mom was being so stupid last night.
Grandma: What?
C: My mom was being so stupid last night.
G: That's not very nice, Clara. We don't ever call people stupid.

After I told my mom about the picture taking, she realized Clara meant crazy instead of stupid. Even then, not sure I'm okay with Clara telling everyone her mom was being crazy last night...