10.22.2012

Dressing Your Truth

I want to tell you about something I found.

It's a program I stumbled across various times over social media in the last little while: Dressing Your Truth.  A couple of my friends completed the program and raved about it, posting links to other stories and getting me curious enough to sign up for the free video course.  I thought I knew what I was getting myself into.  Couldn't hurt, right?

By the time I watched the fourth video I was surprised and, frankly, impressed.  I don't buy into personality profiling in general.  BUT I've been thinking a lot about different types of beauty, especially how to combat the damaging and demoralizing messages circulated in our society.  I don't think there are many women on earth who believe they are beautiful - AND WHY NOT?

Well.

Before I could even finish the online video course I bought a membership.  There was sale going on and I bought in at the last moment. I'm glad I did.

On the surface, the program looks like a "buy this, wear this, do your hair like this" type of program - which is fine too - but it's about so much more than that.  It's about recognizing the good qualities in different types of people, focusing on the beauty in all of us.  It's about how we can truly celebrate our differences.

The biggest change I've noticed in myself since completing Dressing Your Truth is confidence.  It's something I've always struggled with (who hasn't?), and I've been really pleased with my own results.  I feel so much better about everything when I'm not worried about how I look, or act, or decorate.  I'm more inclined to do things the way I like to do them.  I'm more aware of my strengths, what I have to offer. I know that I'll love the clothes I buy and they won't just sit in my closet at home.

Right now I'm thinking about buying Carol's parenting book that comes out tomorrow.  Shocker, I know.
I've been profiling people in my family and understanding them better.  I'm working on changing my behavior toward them.  Now I just want them all to read and watch so we can talk about it together!

So ... there you have it, folks.  If you're interested at all I am DYING to talk about this! Ask me anything!  Borrow my book!  Discover and Live Your Truth!

10.19.2012

Dinnertime

Liam plays
MG eats
Slice cooks (Japanese food)
I take freaky pictures.  This is as far away as I can get with the DSLR and this lens....

10.18.2012

Rome wasn't built in a day

.... but it could have been destroyed in one.  With modern machinery, that is.

We got a letter a couple months ago requesting our presence at a public hearing discussing the zone-change of a lot across the street from us.  It was the lot adjacent to the ever-busy McDonald's, and the people in charge planned to raze the house and extend its building/parking lot.  The motion passed, which we were glad about, because the current state of the McDonald's parking lot is hazardous to say the least.  There are near-accidents every single day in that intersection.

(I've been saying forever that they should just open another one with a PlayPlace in Roosevelt.  It would alleviate the parking problems here, provide a place to play for little ones in the winter, and do very well financially, I'm sure.  Why does no one ever ask me about these things??)

Three weeks ago we saw some equipment parked on the lawn, and the next day the house came tumbling down.  Within a matter of minutes.

The garages of these two houses touched each other.  Building code what?


Our neighbor Donna watched with us.  She's lived on the same corner for over fifty years, and has seen quite a bit of change in this little neighborhood.


By evening everything was cleaned up except the concrete, which took another couple days to break up and rip out.  Even the massive pine tree was reduced to a log and moved over to our property.


Now they're forming and pouring more concrete and preparing to building on, making lots of noise and causing more problems in the already cramped space.

Hope it helps!

10.17.2012

The Sleep

For most of my life I was a sound sleeper.  Like, fall asleep and wake up in the exact same position sound (although not "sleep through a fire alarm" sound).  I've always been a side sleeper and for several years would lie on one side to chat, then roll over to sleep.  It was a perfect system.

Then things got crazy.

I shared a bed with various sisters growing up, so sharing wasn't a big adjustment when I got married.  But when I got pregnant and spent a month in Japan, my sleep life was ruined forever.  I tried new things: extra pillows, back sleeping, stomach sleeping, hanging limbs off the bed.  Something might be good for a night and never again.

Now after two pregnancies and babies, I still can't get back to my old side-sleeping self.
I also can't sleep anywhere but my own bed.

Over the last year Slice and I have slept on futons, guest beds, hotel beds, condo beds, hide-a-beds ... with and without babies waking us in the middle of the night.  It doesn't seem to matter for me.
I get annoyed by lights, noises, covers that aren't heavy enough, pillows that strangle me (thyroid issues).  Slice sleeps soundly while I toss and turn all night.

This weekend after a couple of particularly bad nights, Slice put it succinctly when he said, "It's so weird! You can nap everywhere but you can't sleep anywhere!"

Isn't that weird?

(And ANNOYING?)

10.14.2012

from Sweetwater, PC

I'm sitting in a condo in Park City listening to the Veggie Tales version of Esther (Sabbath-appropriate Netflix fare, not so easy to come by), realizing it's been a week since I posted.  Oy.

MG is doing better, although her previously wonderful sleep schedule has been thrown under the bus.  She wakes up at night, she cries when we put her down, she takes short naps, she is tired and whiny all day!  Especially now that we aren't at home!

Also, I haven't had a bruised tailbone since a 7th grade sledding injury and .... you know how it is. We never appreciate our perfectly working bodies until they aren't working perfectly anymore. 

My parents have a timeshare in Sweetwater this week (they've been here almost annually for 10 years) which they couldn't use until Tuesday evening, so we snatched that right up.  There's a pool, hot tub, Comcast, and shopping 20 minutes away.  Perfect!  We got here last night, spent the morning watching Felix Baumgartner break records (Holla Österreich!) and the afternoon with Grandma Sharp in downtown SLC.  We attended church in the building where Slice and I held our wedding luncheon, which was cool.  First time I've been back.

Some cell pics to prove it.

someone tell me when Liam will stop closing his eyes when he says cheese...?
SPEAKING OF CELL PHONES,  remember how I love my Nexus sooo much? Or rather, used to?

The past few months it's been freezing up, shutting off at random inconvenient times, not turning on, not staying charged, cracking on its face.  Okay, that last one was my fault.  But still - we are due for updates and therefore, on the hunt for new phones. 
I'm leaning toward the newest version of Slice's phone, because it is unbelievably cool, although I will admit I sometimes step back and think, "Do I really need this??"
Short answer: need is a strong word.  No I don't need it, but holy cow YES it is useful.  And I've used my smartphone more than any other single thing I've ever had, hands down. So I'm gonna say the money was worth it.

That's all.

10.08.2012

bruised and broken

I've never considered myself a klutz, but after the last two years I'm starting to rethink.

Friday morning I picked up MG and started downstairs for her nap.  I slipped and landed on my tailbone, mostly underneath her, I thought.  But I couldn't calm her down for half an hour.
I gave her a dose of ibuprofen, rocked and sang and snuggled her, and got her to sleep a few times.  As soon as I put her down in her crib she started wailing again.

Eventually she fell asleep in the crib and I started making phone calls: Slice, mom, Dr's office, mom.  (See how I am?)  I decided to wait until she woke up, see how she was acting, and take her in to the clinic if I needed to.  She woke up crying until I picked her up.  I set her on the ground and she was fine.  Then she tried to move ... and started screaming again.

I took her in.
We waited an hour for Dr. Staker but I couldn't complain; he wasn't even supposed to be there.  He checked her out (screaming!) and ordered X-rays, which took another hour (much more screaming!).  This was the worst part.  They had to hold her legs out in order to get good shots from the hip down, and I couldn't be in there with her.  They had to take more and more X-rays without a diaper, on the other side, etc. etc. It seemed to take forever.

Finally the word: broken left leg, just below the hip.
A cast for this injury would be a living nightmare - and because the fracture is still stable, we won't cast it unless we absolutely have to.  MG only has pain when she moves that leg so I just try to keep her immobile. All things considered, she's doing all right.  It could have been a WHOLE lot worse and we are counting our blessings.

Plus, I have some nice bruises.

10.06.2012

Picture

I keep looking at this:


 And I just keep seeing this:


They grow up so fast.

10.04.2012

while she's awake

It's been over a month since MG started crawling, and we all know what that means ... more work for Mama.






10.03.2012

while my little one sleeps

I'll tell you about MG's sleeping.

One day a couple months ago, I put her down for a nap at 5:30 in the evening.  She was exhausted and ornery after only two short naps that day. I figured she'd sleep for a couple hours, then be awake another couple hours before we put her down for the night.

She woke up at 7:30 the next morning.

That's been our schedule ever since.

MG is now taking two 2-hr naps a day and sleeping from about 7 pm to 8 am, or later.  It is BLISS.
She loves to sleep!  She'll sleep in a pack and play pretty much anywhere, if it's semi-dark and there is some white noise in the background.  In Cedar she was so tired she didn't wake up when we turned on the light. (See above.)

So ... we finally put MG in Liam's room at night.  We've tried a few times before, but after this week, it's a done deal.  MG sleeps just fine - Liam's the one sneaking into our room at night (multiple times) for no reason.  I guess he just wants to be carried back to bed.

Hooray for sleep!  And for my girl!

10.01.2012

Cedar

I learned something last week.

You people who have kids, who also have parents/siblings close by who are begging to watch said kids at the drop of a hat, for any length of time - YOU PEOPLE HAVE IT SO EASY.

Last weekend Slice and I drove our little family to Cedar City, Utah, to visit Slice's parents who moved there in January.  We don't see them often, obviously, so they were more than happy to play with Liam and MG while Slice and I went out on the town.

We went out on the town!

Thursday afternoon we went to Les Miserables.  Box seats.  Awesome.
(I cried.)

Slice didn't know anything about it, so I got to explain some things and tell him about Uintah's production years ago (that rotating stage!).  It totally took me back to our honeymoon and Phantom of the Opera at the Venetian, and how I wish we had more opportunities to do stuff like that.  Too bad we live out in the middle of nowhere.

After the very looooong play, we got back to visiting with the parents and lounging around.  We basically watched TV for the next two days, except when we went swimming, playing at the park, and eating.  Also, when Slice and I got out two more times without kids!  What a life.






Moral of the story:  we'll be returning to Cedar soon.