The Week

Okay, I might have been slightly dramatic in my last post about this past week. The Controller at my client was on vacation and they asked me to work every day. I agreed and started dreading it a few weeks ago. Then on Sunday night, I had a little mini anxiety attack. The thought of dropping Clara off somewhere four days in a row made me want to vomit. Not because Clara doesn't like my mom (she loves her), not because my mom is anything less than the best (she's the best), just simply because I didn't want to be away from my little slice of sunshine for four straight days. However, I sucked it up and this week really wasn't all that bad. Not ideal, but not the torture I anticipated. Some things that kept me sane:

:+: I only worked 7-8 hour days. Normally I work 9-10 hour days. Getting home between 5-6 made a really big difference on my mood at the end of the day.

:+: Clara. We would pray every morning to be happy. Every day, the time flew by and we were both happy campers. When I would get to my mom's, she'd always say something to make me laugh.
M: She told Steven, "It's okay. If I get sad, I just think of the camels and it makes me really, really happy."
T: She got married then went to everyone to shake their hand and say, "Congratulations." (Can you tell we've been to four receptions in the last few months?)
W: She greeted me at the door, full costume (i.e. princess dress), bbq sauce on her face and exclaimed, "I love these chicken bones." (They were pork ribs, which my mom tried to explain to Clara, but she didn't believe it).
R: "I love my testimony. I do."

:+: This is going to make me sound like a prima donna, but oh well. My dad used to always call me that so I might as well live up to it. I have known about this week for a while and I knew the hardest thing (aside from my emotional issues) to deal with would be food. I rarely, if ever, make dinner on the days I work. Eight pm is just a little late for me to eat dinner. Yet I didn't want to go out at all. Plus, I rarely, if ever, eat lunch out. I always bring leftovers. So I decided I'd bribe my lovely mother to make us dinner. I told her I'd pay her extra if she would make us dinner this week. She agreed and so we ate like royalty every night. Pork roast, lettuce wraps, ribs and coconut chicken curry (Mom, I need this recipe, it was SO SO good). What's better than eating good food? Not having to go grocery shopping, not having to prepare it and not having to do the dishes.

:+: Knowing it was temporary. I don't know how others do this week after week. I didn't mind that I didn't do an ounce of housework all week, because I have all weekend and next week. If I had to do this week after week, neglecting the housework wouldn't be okay.

:+: Taking Friday off. I took the day off for a wedding that was moved to Saturday after I requested the day off. However, I didn't exactly volunteer to work after the wedding was moved. I am so glad I didn't. We're planning to have a fun day tomorrow.

Not too bad, but I'm glad it's over.

Pictures & Thoughts

Last week was a good week. Somehow I felt less busy/crazy/stressed than normal. Somehow there seemed to be more time in the week than normal. Somehow I think it had something to do with an errand I did on Monday that wasn't exactly convenient. Awesome.

Here's a recap of my week...

It began, as most weeks do, at my parent's house on Sunday evening. The little girls played football. (Clara wore the tutu).
Then they dog piled. (Several dog piles, no tears).
The babies made sure to look cute. (Grandma made sure they were happy).

Steven came over for dinner on Monday so I could feed the missionaries since Jason isn't home when they need to eat. (That night I was incredibly grateful for all four of those missionaries; it was a good evening.) My brother Tom had a birthday. (What, you didn't know I have a brother named Tom? I didn't either, but he shows up for Sunday dinner every now and then).

I made crackers. (Too much information about that here). Clara and I went on a little hike. (My camera was on a site visit with Jason - thank goodness for cell phones).

Jason went on a site visit. (So I didn't have my camera).

Clara, Lily and I met Jason and Dan for lunch. (For a year, I've found excuses why we can't meet Jason for lunch.) We had a short visit with the Pickett's. (Why does it seem I spend less and less time with friends these days?) Clara ate a giant sucker. (This world has a serious lack of oversized candy; what a shame).

We enjoyed a shopping spree made possible by the one and only, Anj-shla. (Jason and I are in the middle of a spending freeze {one of us made this plan, the other one is being forced to follow} so shopping was particularly fun). Then, the week ended where it began, enjoying life with family and my parent's. (More tutus, more football, more fun).

This time, however, we celebrated Steven's birthday. (He does not like pictures, oh but I was sneaky).

I only wish I had another lovely week to look forward to. Instead, I'm dreading the next four days. In fact, my anxiety is making me sick. I talked to Clara about having a good attitude about it and looking forward to Friday when we get sad. However, no amount of attitude adjustment is going to make me miss this sweet little face any less every day. (Especially when funny comments accompany the sweet face, like, "Hey, I'm Steven!" immediately after putting Steven's hat on).

Things could be worse, that's for sure...

Cracker Crazy

I mentioned that I made homemade graham crackers with Kiri. This past week, Clara and I made homemade wheat thins and cheese crackers. I kind of lost it a few months ago and got really annoyed trying to find overpriced snacks that aren't filled with a hundred ingredients I can't pronounce. I snack a lot and that's usually when my healthy diet visits my unhealthily eating because let's face it, I don't always feel like munching fresh fruits or vegetables. I needed to find a healthy alternative that was budget friendly. Have you been grocery shopping lately? Yeah, that combination doesn't really exist, so I decided to make my own snacks. I stopped buying processed snacks for the most part and waited a few months to get the energy/courage to make my own. Here are my observations and conclusions:

Graham Crackers
Recipe: Mesa Cannery
Difficulty: Not difficult. Hardest part was rolling them out, but it wasn't too bad
Taste: Taste was very good but I would recommend white wheat instead of red. It had a lot of sugar, so it tasted a lot like a cookie and it was soft.
Would I make them again? Yes, although next time I will roll them thinner and cook them longer to hopefully get a crunchier texture. I also might try to substitute some of the sugar

Wheat Thins
Recipe: The yellow cannery cookbook
Difficulty: Simple, five ingredients and rolled out perfectly (maybe too perfect... they were a little too thin)
Taste: It was good, a little bland but very crunchy. I sprinkled salt and onion powder on top. The onion powder burned so next time I will add more salt and some seasoning to the dough instead of sprinkling on top. Also, I would make them thicker, they were really thin.
Would I make them again? Definitely.

Cheese Crackers
Recipe: From here
Difficulty: Easy to make if you have a food processor, not easy to roll out. In fact, after three failed attempts, I just rolled them directly in the pan, next time I'll use a very floured surface
Taste: Super good, but SUPER spicy. The recipe calls for 1 tsp cayenne and 1 tsp black pepper. That's a lotta spice. I used about 3/4 tsp of each and next time I'd use no more than 1/2 tsp of each.
Would I make them again? Yes, but I am going to experiment with the recipe until I find the blend I like. Like maybe a little more cheese and substitute some of the white flour with wheat.Wheat thins = pretty; cheese crackers = not pretty

So tell me, tell me, tell me, what snacks do you make from scratch?

Proper Education

Dear Husband,

Thank you for educating our three year old daughter on the subject of water treatment plants. Now every time we drive past this structure,
she excitedly exclaims, "That's where all my pee pee and poo poo goes!"


Love,
Wife

Top Ten: Visitors

We had visitors last week. Kiri, Adalyn and Jacob. Top ten reasons we loved having them around...


10. Week of sleepovers
9. I had a friend to keep me company at night
8. Experienced the Tempe library (and probably wouldn't have without them) - it's pretty awesome
7. Zoo (the beautiful weather was a bonus... at least they got one day of sunshine!)
6. Made homemade graham crackers for the first time
5. Clara got to play from the moment she woke up (which was usually around 6:15am...)
4. Kiri and I think way too much alike; it's nice having someone around that understands the way my mind reasons and my definition of logic
3. Clara went to Tucson for her first time and played with more cousins (I didn't get to go... I'm still a little sad about it)
2. We made it a point to plan things instead of just hang out at home
1. Reality got put on the back burner

Number one reason I'm sad they are gone? I have to go back to reality and make up for my laziness this past week. It sure was fun while it lasted.

PS Lest you think I only take pictures of my golden child, I felt the need to add this disclaimer. I took plenty more pictures of Adalyn and Jacob but only posted the discreet ones since Kiri's blog is private. If she doesn't want to share her kids with the world, I won't either. :)

When We're Rich

When we were in the poor house, Jason and I would always say, "When we're rich..." The list kept accumulating things we'd like to do or purchase once we were on stable ground and were in a position to pay our bills and save money. None of the items on the list were extravagant, just $20 here and $40 there that we didn't have the money for.

Fast forward to now where we are back on stable ground. We're no longer in jeopardy of not being able to pay our bills. However, I still say, "When we're rich..." and many of the things that landed themselves on the list before, are finding their way there again. I hadn't really thought much about this until this week when I found myself in a place with lots of people that spend an obviously large amount of time and money on their appearance. As we were driving away, I told Jason I hate being at things like that because all of my insecurities from high school come back to me. I look and feel so homely compared to these people. I did in high school and I still do. Anyway, the following conversation ensued in the car:

J: If it bothers you so much why don't you do something about it?
A: They spend so much money on their hair, clothes, make up, etc. We can't afford that.
J: Well, then let's buy that cheaper house (we had gone to look at a house prior to the event) and then we can afford it.
A: Then I would be insecure about my house. I want both. {Thinking}. Um, actually, I guess it doesn't matter how much money we have, I still wouldn't spend any more on my appearance than I do now.

That's when I realized my problem isn't lack of money. Before, that was just my excuse. The truth is, I don't wish I had more money, I wish I wasn't so passionate about budgeting and hording money. I wish I could go spend money like 'them' and not once consider the prudence of the situation. I wish I didn't cringe when I spend money on something I don't need. I wish a price tag didn't determine my opinion on clothes. Sometimes, I wish my idea of frivolous spending was more like other people. Since I don't wish these things that often, I will instead conclude that some of our plans for when we are rich will never come to pass because the amount of money I have doesn't, and never will, define prudence. Besides, is being homely really all that bad?

Glitch

Apparently blogger thinks 1+1+1+1+1+1=5.

Look at the number of comments on my last post and then look at the number blogger says there is.

If I can't count to six, I think it's safe to say my career is in danger.

I've checked it 10 times.

Am I crazy?

Lately - With Pictures

Jason's parents stayed with us last weekend. I didn't want to eat out Friday night so I bought ingredients and wrote very descriptive instructions for Jason to make dinner. That was clearly not his idea of fun, but the dinner turned out great. That night I was so exhausted I fell asleep on the couch and woke up a few hours later (one in the morning) to Jason and his dad laughing like teenage boys. Between the camera on his parent's new computer and trying to hit the golf fans in their Wii game, not more than a minute passed without laughter. Clara loved having "brama" and "brampa" Penrod sleep by her (... in the bedroom down the hall).

Saturday we picked oranges at Ryan and Kathryn's. Oranges are lovely. Right?Small price to pay for fresh squeezed OJ and playing with these two little lovelies.

The big girls spend 2% of their time picking up oranges, 5% of their time squeezing their own juice and the other 93% of their time dressing up. Not surprising.

Today I got to go to the temple thanks to a very thoughtful person. Then Clara and I met Angela for lunch before I took Clara to the eye doctor. I didn't think there was anything wrong, but when she's looking at anything with a lot of detail, she brings it super close to her face. Just to be sure, we went to get her little eye balls checked out. I took her to my friend (sorry Matt, but having a doctor for a friend kind of makes me feel old). Most of the patients are elderly so everyone in the office loved seeing "a miniature patient". She did great and was so excited to tell Jason that "Map (I must not pronunciate very well) looked at her eyes with a light and he moved her up in the chair". She checked out just fine so apparently she's just really interested in the intricate details. It sure is nice having a friend in the business...

My Charmed Life

I loved today.

I live a charmed life.

... Woke up when Clara climbed into bed with me and said, "Mom, I love you" while holding my face between her two little hands (she puts an accent on love and it's darling).

... Friend over to "can" 40 pounds of chicken. Never got canned. Chicken was a little nasty and we only saved about 1/2 - 2/3 of it. So this doesn't sound charming, BUT! I was glad that the experience and the cost was shared and that I had good company through it all.

... Felt like I accomplished a lot that didn't have anything to do with work. Did a favor for a friend, made an appointment for Clara, canceled our cable, made my bed, did the dishes 45 times (almost), read books with Clara, made cookies, gave Clara a haircut (best one yet), played hide-n-seek and other random games with Clara.

... Enjoyed dinner at a friend's house (not having to cook is spectacular).

... Squeezed 22 quarts of OJ. It's times like this that I'm grateful R&K like to share.

... The Honey helped me squeeze the OJ. Every last little, orange orange. All the while he amused me by saying things he knew would impress me. Such as, "We're using the FIFO method" as he would slide the previously cut oranges to the front of the counter so he could place the recently cut oranges behind.

Now if only I didn't have to wake up in five hours...

Heaven on Earth

Yesterday I took Clara to my mom's because I had to go into work. It was around Noon and I decided I should never go into work at Noon on a beautiful February day. As I walked to my parent's front door, all I could think about was the warm sun shining above me and the green, lush grass below me. Right then and there I decided that tomorrow {today}, Clara and I were busy from about 10:00am to 11:15am. We had some important things to attend to. We had a swing to glide on, some grass to lay in and some sunshine to enjoy. When we arrived, I decided that approximately 1000 sf of my parent's front yard that we spent over an hour in is my Heaven on earth. (Well, for about 8 months out of the year, anyway). I don't think there is anywhere else I'd rather spend my free time. Cool green grass and big trees for shade if it's over 85* and comfy lawn chairs to sit in the sun if it's under. So peaceful. So relaxing.

{Clara says, Look Mom! I am ice skating!}