Your Honor, I Plead Guilty

There is so much guilt in life. It just comes to us, uninvited. And with all it glorious compounding nature, it just adds up, no matter how little it was when I discovered it had snuck in. Not only that, I’m a mom and with that comes a whole new world of feeling like I’ll never add up. Needless to say—I deliberately avoid unnecessary tasks that are notorious for creating guilt. Scrapbooking, for example (guilt, guilt, guilt!) or maybe setting a goal to quit eating chocolate for lent (guilt, guilt, guilt!). Blogging is like unto attempting to abstain from the cocoa bean bliss. I feel guilty. I know why I should keep my blog updated—so many people who are dear to me live so far away and I’d love to share my life with you. I have several dear friends and family who are faithful orthodox bloggers—I am not. Let’s just say that blogging (consistently) is a funsucker in my life. I love to live in the moment, take lots of pictures, laugh until I cry, talk for hours with my friends, read, snuggle, etc… Taking the time out to blog about it makes me want to poke my eyes out. Alright, so it’s not eye-poking worthy, I guess. But I don’t want to apologize and commit that I will be better because I know I will fall off the wagon. Why can’t we all just live next door to each other? Humph.

I’ll humor myself and just try to catch up. By the way, “catching up” is guilt-speak for “I haven’t been ‘good enough’ in the past and now I’ll try to rectify my actions by overloading this post with way too much content just so I can sleep more soundly”. Word of the day? Assuage. Can you use it in a sentence please? Let’s assuage Miriam’s guilt by quickly scrolling through the forthcoming pictures and skim the captions. The not-so-distant future may not hold another blog posting, so get it while the guilt is hot!

This was a "choice" Alli moment. She was helping me clean the banisters (note the pink rag) and she found a book and gt distracted. I'm such a softie for literacy that kids can get out of almost anything if they are reading!
This is Nick showcasing one of Alli's preschool games--scooba diving for words. He's hot stuff in skin tight plastic!

Alli wasn't actually too keen on wearing the "mask". It squished her eyes shut!

I try to take as many pictures to capture family work ethic. Here she is helping to clean up the toys in an efficient way. She comes up with so many creative ways to get stuff done!

Here's another golden moment. She's efficient, que no?

We didn't get to go sledding at our favorite park as much this winter...I guess we almost still could since it WON'T QUIT SNOWING around here!
Ahh... wintertime love! My life is wonderful, what else can I say?

Here is our Sunshine with her two best buds. I love when they all come over to play, they crack me up! I do trip on my tongue trying to get them straight, though (their names all rhyme and are only differ in one consonant).

Have I ever mentioned that Alli does NOT play with toys? If you are reading this and know that her birthday is coming up, please, please, please look closely at the picture above. These are typical items that entertain her. That's an old car we found buried in our garden patch (she doesn't use it as a "car"), a teeny mirror, a glittery fuzz ball, marbles and gem-like beads, and a keychain light that is broken. Hmmm...does she play with that expensive doll I got her for Christmas? Barely. What about the Potato Head? Nope. She doesn't want to play with all the food and dishes in her kitchen set? Not really. Save your money and bring pom-poms. Trust me on this one!

My mom made us matching aprons for Christmas with our names on them. She also included all kinds of goodies to bake together, including Alli's favorite, Rice Kirspy treats. She told me today, "I'm homesick for Mama and Papa's. Their house is so fun and they always have Rice Krispy treats and yummy breakfasts." She's a girl who knows what she wants...and is learning how to cook them!

Thanks for humoring me. I really do love reaching out across the web to all of you in these posts., I just wish I wasn't so prone to guilt trips. I've racked up a LOT of frequent flyer miles!

Artistic Outlet

One of the ways we try to make our together time special is to go on “Family Dates”. Last week we had so much fun at Color Me Mine, an open studio for painting ceramic pieces. We chose to paint teacups for yet-to-be-planned tea parties.

Nick was super meticulous to attain the drippy look along the rim of his cup.

Alli’s teacup went through several phases during our hour and a half session. She loved being there with just the three of us doing what she loves to do—paint. The final stages of her cup were completed using a mixed palette –as in she mixed all the colors on her palette.

I had fun experimenting with the different techniques they had displayed—mixing paint with soap and water and then blowing bubbles, combined with taping off sections to get a clean striped look.

We highly recommend this activity as it is appealing to such a wide audience and it allows for time spent with one another talking and creating something beautiful and memorable.

Being a Woman of God

Recently, I have seen the need to reassess where I am, spiritually speaking. This introspection resulted in a goal to define and become a Woman of God. Based on my study of what others have said, I will share what I believe a Woman of God to be. The following are ideals, mind you, and are by no means areas that I have perfected.

A Woman of God:

• Has knowledge that God blesses her each day with His love. She feels His love and identifies His hand in all things. She knows that she can turn to the Rock and Anchor of her faith when life seems anything but stable.


• Serves God, others, and self—in that order.


• Loves. She nurtures and finds opportunities to create an environment friendly for growth and views mistakes as part of the growing process.


• Cherishes the knowledge of the sanctity of marriage and family life. She supports honorable men—whether they are in her family, civic leaders, or church leaders—and she does all she can to uphold a decent society where men are free to excel in their capacities, free from the filth that so easily besets virtuous men.


• Is willing to sacrifice and not gloat about the perceived “loss”, thus becoming a martyr.


• Understands that no amount of time in front of the mirror will compensate for the inner beauty that radiates from a woman of God. She knows that her body is a wonderful gift and she will not be dissuaded to embrace the worldly belief that she does not “measure” up (or down).


• Is empowered with unshakable confidence in the gestalt (the smaller elements that are unified to make up a whole that cannot be understood by inspection of the individual parts) of God’s plan for her life.
  

In my quest to become this ethereal being, I want to know what my friends and family think of who a Woman of God is.

**What is an attribute that describes a Woman of God?
**Do you have a female role model that emulates these attributes? Who is she?

Update

I am a lackadaisical blogger (I love that word and all it's nuances). We have been busy living life and have failed to chronicle our adventures.

Here is a generic update on our goings-on:

1. Halloween was a blast with Alli living out her dream of being a witch and cackling the night away.

2. Miriam's birthday was spent in the company of her lovely parents who came all the way from The Land of Enchantment to spend time with us. Those birthday celebrations were in addition to a fun jaunt to a romantic getaway in Midway with Nick.

3. Miriam has not yet been summoned to Jury Duty (fingers crossed!)

4. Nick has started attending Toastmasters to improve his public speaking abilities--his constant drive to improve himself is inspiring!

5. We are getting ready for winter...and we still hold to the desire to have the ability to hibernate as the cold sets in.

All in all, we are happy and healthy and have a renewed goal to be a better blogger family!

Civic Hesitancy

I am proud to be an American, as goes the song which is in tune with my heartfelt sentiments. However, I’m NOT excited to serve time as a juror. The judicial branch of the U.S. government is a blessed operation and I fully support justice in all its forms. Let it be known that I dutifully sent in my acceptance form yesterday, but I dragged my feet all the way to the mailbox. My assigned dates are anywhere from October 1 through December 29. Wow.

"You said the loud part soft...

...and the soft part loud." That is a quote from Simpson's that used to crack my sister, Rachel and I up. What cracks me up now is how aptly it applies to having a four-year old whose social skills are all but absent. The odd timing and volume choice for many of Alli’s comments made in very public places gives me discreet hysteria for prolonged periods of time. Good golly, I can’t let her know how funny it is to laugh at something inappropriate like gas, burps, silly names…oh it all goes back to bodily functions! I guess I’m exposing myself as somewhat immature in confessing my mantra for coping in all situations I’ve been in, “Gas is ALWAYS funny”. I was a teacher of both first and sixth graders—gas had to be funny or I would have gagged all day long. I was a sister missionary surrounded by 180+ Elders—after sitting in Zone Conference all day after a starchy Mormon lunch, gas had to be funny. I’m married to a healthy male—need I say more?

I digress in overly focusing on flatulence.

Back to Alli’s awesome comments… She has this thing with Asia. We have a world map that we use occasionally when we try to pop our Happy Valley Bubble and think outside the box. Asia is the biggest and brightest on our map. For a while she thought our neighborhood was inside Asia. Now she wants to live in Asia after she’s married. So, when we went to the Storytelling Festival and she was delighted to listen to a talented Japanese woman (who btw was a guest on Mr. Rogers, may he RIP…he’s dead, right?). The next woman who got up was a vivacious Southern African-American woman. Right after the applause died down, she turned to me, and in a not-so-soft voice said, “She’s from Asia too, huh Mom?!” Wow, stifle those snickers, because it’s not funny! ;D


She was all too delighted to visit the Hogle Zoo and their new Asia interactive community!

This is an awesome first day of Preschool shot, aye? She's a doll!

I've been tagged!

My amazing, wonderful, and lucky-to-be-related friend, Samantha (my sis-in-law) tagged me in her latest post.

8 facts....
1. I am married to a man who makes it easy for people question if we are still on our honeymoon. We love to breathe the same air and we start to miss each other if one is gone away for several hours. I hold to the opinion that when we are made fun of, it's just jealousy because everyone wants to have someone the way Nick and I have each other.

2. Alli is my tangible sunshine. She is a daughter only God could give to me. My love for her grows even when I thought I reached the limit.

3. I am blessed to have frequent moments of quiet even in the middle of the day because God knows me and knows what I need. I am not ashamed that I get to take naps on days when I am too tired.

4. I read the last pages of books…but keep reading even knowing the end. I guess it’s my way of feeding my desire to know what life will be like for me in the future.

5. I buy fun paper and fabric from all over…and rarely use it. Everyone needs something to collect, right?

6. I have bare front room walls because my vision doesn’t fit our budget and I prefer visual sterility to bankruptcy. If only we relied on a barter-based economy, I could cook tasty food to pay a savvy interior decorator.

7. Speaking of tasty food…I could eat rice and beans everyday until I die.

8. I can’t replace sentimentality for practicality. I know that my scriptures are worn and torn and have no room to write anymore notes, but the new scriptures I bought remained closed and rarely read. I know that I could sleep with any small blanket that would scrunch up just right under my arm, but my Grammy made my baby blanket that I still sleep with. I know that I could completely clean my bathroom mirror, but that would mean erasing the love notes Nick has left for me in dry-erase marker.

***This “8 Facts” tag can be passed along to anyone waiting to create a post but lacking direction in what to blog about. Or, like myself, anyone who has fallen so far behind in summer blogging even thinking about chronicling the past couple months seems overwhelming and a simple and undirected “8” theme is sufficient.***