So, I have a full day workshop this Saturday for which I still have to plan and prepare the material. And what am I doing instead? Updating the blog. Somewhat indicative of how I am trying to re-prioritize. Even the blog comes before work.
Well, it's been a while. Life is good. Work, the cancer that it is, has been forced into remission since finding out in June that Britt and I are expecting our third child. Hooray! We are very excited. It is our first planned pregnancy. Soon after finding out that I was pregnant, rampant thoughts of, "What were we thinking!?!" ran through my head as I moved back and forth from the couch to the bathroom. For two and a half months straight, I didn't leave the couch except to vomit in the toilet.
And it came to pass...
I feel great now. And couldn't be more excited that we are having another girl!! I just hope she is as sweet and cuddly as her older brother and not sassy and cruel like her older sister. We are still on the search for a few good names to take with us to the hospital. I'm not due until March 3, but Britt and I have the hardest time settling on a name. Cora is 2 now and Britt fesses up that he still doesn't really like her name.
Other than that bit of news, not much has changed. We still live in Globe. We still own an enormous dog. I still work part time training teachers for Gila County. Britt still works as an accountant for Freeport McMoRan. Our kids keep growing and we love watching them learn and play. Here are just a few photo highlights from the past few months.
In June, we spent a few days in San Diego with the rest of Britt's family. And took the kids to Sea World. I'm embarrased of my daughters sleeveless shirt. And that isn't my love handles sticking out. It is the waist band of my shorts. And notice, Calan never, ever takes his "marfer" off.
In September, the kids and I spent a week in Seattle visiting the Hendershotts. Ketsy was a marvelous hostess. And within 2 days, my kids were acting so ridiculously spoiled that I was going crazy and I'm sure we were driving Ketsy crazy too. I love my sis. She is an amazing person, friend, mom, and sister. I look up to her in every way. Plus she is super cool!
Seattle was beautiful! The weather couldn't have been more perfect.
Halloween this year! Calan is the Red Power Ranger with his "marfer" and "mo-eagle" (not to be mistaken for a mohawk). Cora was nice enough to wear her homemade poodle skirt.
Ok. So it's been a while since I've updated the blog. It seems as though I have had over 6 months worth of really good excuses why I haven't posted anything. But I came to realize that all of the important things I feel like have been doing are meaningless unless I reflect on them and learn from them. And what exactly have I learned? Well, I have been spending hours and dollars on things that aren't as important as I thought.
EVENT #1: October 2, 2008
It started out relatively innocent. I allowed an Enrichment Activity to take priority over Cora's 1st Birthday. I spent a lot of time researching everything I could about water storage so that I could share my knowledge and enthusiasm for self-preparedness with the sisters in my ward. For myself and the five other sisters that came, it was a pretty good activity. We celebrated Cora's first birthday a day later and the lack-luster of the party was forgettable. I'm not saying that I would throw a Disney Princess party on her birthday if I could do it over again. But my daughter deserves more love and attention that what is convenient for me to give. I did manage to bust out the video camera but the file is too big.
EVENT #2: Christmas Season 2008
It was the first year since getting married that Britt and I have been able to go to the cabin in Greer and cut Christmas trees, a tradition that my family has kept up for as long as I can remember. It was snowy and beautiful. We found a great tree. It was the beginning of a great opportunity for our little family to establish an atmosphere of love and celebration at Christmas time. However, it wasn't to be. The ridiculous havoc that Christmas season creates overshadowed everything enjoyable. Our beautiful, fresh tree was only half decorated by Dec. 19 because of the outrageous efforts I made to impress my coworkers (late night and early morning of baking cinnamon rolls and coffee cake), pull off an enormous canning activity (we canned over 2000 lbs of food), avoid DI Day (don't even get me started about DI Day), and help the ward get ready for the annual Christmas Party (what little decorations the tree had were ripped off to decorate a tree at the party). All this ends, just in time for us to pack up and spend a long sleepless week at the in-laws. Oh! and some Christmas cards didn't get mailed out until Jan. 8. Merry Fishmas!!
EVENT #3: Starting Spring Semester
The Spring was developing into a lot of great opportunities at work and at home. In addition to the regular "to do"s at work, I was going to be able to teach my very own workshops. Britt and I also had a plan to landscape the house by mid-February. Planning and scheduling is so fun because it promotes hope and excitement for the future. I was enthusiastic about keeping busy and meeting goals. In no time, work "to do"s sucked the hope right out of me. And I grew so tired of being away from my family on Saturday's, and asking friends, neighbors to babysit my kids during the week. It all came crashing down when Calan spent two days with a raging fever and rasping cough. I realized one Saturday morning that I was facing a choice of meeting my obligations at work or meeting my son's needs. Why did I find this so difficult to deal with? If you asked me any normal day, what was my highest priority? I would, without hesitation, tell you that caring for and loving my husband and children are the most important thing in the world to me. And after bailing out of work, and spending the day in urgent care and filling a prescription, I was still edgy and snappy because of guilt.
Lesson Learned: My family is more important than any other work I could choose to do. Watching my children learn and grow and be happy brings me more satisfaction than any evaluation or assessment could. It doesn't happen everyday, maybe not even every week. But the precious moments I spend with my little ones and watch them try and learn new things, I will cherish forever. Calan's latest catch phrases include, "How many times do I have to tell you?" and "That's STUPID!!" If that is what my 3-year-old is gleaning from the example I set in our home, I have some serious changes to make. And Cora, well, she picks up on anything that makes big people laugh at. Here is her latest.
Now what? Well, I have a few unanswered questions for myself. 1) How do I bury this burning desire to be important and change the world? 2) How can I enjoy my time at home and still feel like I have a brain and am continually improving it?
We finally moved in (a month ago)! I just haven't had a chance to update the blog, which is good because I refuse to be a slave to the blog.
NEW ADDRESS
2381 N Agazziz Terrace
Globe, AZ 85501
The house is basically finished, but the "to do" list never ends. One headache replaced with another.
And, because I am a glutton for punishment, I started a new job back in July. It was quite unexpected and really bad timing, but I felt it was necessary to take on in order to keep my sanity. Britt will tell you that statement is enough to prove I've completely lost it. Anyway. I teach and coordinate professional development workshops throughout southern Gila County. I know it's hard to believe...me teaching teachers. I didn't ever say I was totally qualified for the job. It has been a pretty steep learning curve. But I love it! Most of what I am doing right now is teaching teachers how to have fun with math as they teach it to kids. I didn't realize how much I miss MATH. Call me a nerd, I don't care. I LOVE Math! In fact, I'm designing a t-shirt for myself that declares that very thing. I'll be sure to take a picture when I get it made.
I have really been enjoying the nifty little functions on my camera these days. We have had some spectacular sunsets recently. So I had to capture one from right out our back door.
We also had a wonderful 4th of July in Show Low with Britt's family. Mike (an in-law) has an extensive collection of karaoke songs. So we all had some embarrassing fun with that. We were also able to see a long fire works show. We left before it was over because we couldn't sit through anymore. It just kept going and going. But, in my boredom, I discovered the fireworks setting on my camera.
I took the first picture at about 8:00 am and the second picture at about 7:00 pm on Wednesday. The crew is putting in long days, especially Nat. Things are definitely moving right along. Oh! And according to our concrete guy, the front corner of the garage is ready to support a sky scraper. It's awesome being able to envision what the finished product will look like. And although stressful at times, I'm having fun picking out cabinets and countertops, flooring and paint.
Day 8: Relatively uneventful, aside from some tractor repair issues and our weekend backhoe guy disappearing off the face of the planet.
Day 9: The replacement backhoe guy...super nice and did a great job. He just underestimated the size of the footings under ground and ripped the front corner of the garage off as he was digging the water trench. So, I am learning so much about the construction process and reinforced concrete. Concrete and rebar...whoever invented that is an allstar. Like strawberries and cheesecake. They make an incredible combination.
It seems to me that the hardest thing we've come up against so far is having a backhoe operator on hand. So, by the time we build our next house, I have decided that I am going to learn how to drive and operate a backhoe. It sounds like a pretty decent part time job for a stay-at-home mom, right?
All in all, this whole house project has really got me wound up. So much that I often feel as though I will snap. If you ask a few of the concrete guys or Nat, they'll say that I already have snapped a couple times. But yesterday, I got a little frantic after the garage got ripped up. I had to get the backhoe returned to the rental place full of gas, otherwise it is a $25 pick up fee and $6.50 per gallon for fuel. Well, in an effort to save $75 and relieve my itch for learning how to operate heavy machinery, I climbed up on that backhoe, locked the boom, raised the bucket just right, and headed to the gas station. I even drove about 200 yards on US60. Just as I locate the gas tank, I realize I had left my purse in the truck parked back at the job site. So, I'm not sure what lesson I should learn from this. Leave it to the boys to do men's work, or ditch the purse and carry a man-wallet. It's an internal struggle. My pride says," Don't tell me what I can't do." But then my feminine nature speaks up and says, "You really are not cut out for this line of work. You're better off refining your homemaking skills at home." So my best compromise is, "At least, do your hair and makeup and carry your cute purse while you drive the backhoe to the gas station. Then everyone that sees you won't think you are a nasty backhoe man with a long ponytail."
Jack has joined the family. And so far it isn't so bad. Of course, I have spent a total of maybe 20 minutes with him. But he's alright I guess. He is actually really good with the kids. Calan absolutely loves Jack. They are best buddies.
We also started on the house! Woohoo! I never new that there could be so many errors/complications.
Day 1: After trenching for 1 hour, the guys hit solid rock.
Day 2: A chunk of money later, they rent a Hammerhoe and dig the whole layout of the house, just in time for the inspector to say it is 9.5 ft too close to the street.
Day 3: After backfilling yesterdays work, they dig it just right. But the lot is too sloped, so we had to change up the foundation plan a little and step the garage down eight inches.
Day4&5: I guess not much can go wrong while concrete dries.
Day 6: The Backhoe we rented for the weekend sprung a leak after 2 hours of digging and we managed to cut the neighbor's phone lines.
Now on Day 7, things seem to have settled down, for now.
