Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Something to be thankful for: May 2017

May 1-Oh man, we were lazy today and it was awesome. I'm thankful for lazy days.
May 2-Took Frank to the airport for an out of town trip.  On the way home I stopped and did some window shopping and just enjoyed the nice day.  Then I had a burger for dinner and finished up the painting.  It felt like I accomplished a lot today.
May 3-We got out of work today a bit early which was good because I had a headache...but the day ended up being pretty relaxing and nice.  I took a nap and worked on the kitchen project once I was feeling better.
May 4-Women's conference with Doneen today.  I always love Women's conference and today was no exception.  It's such a nice break and uplift.
May 5-A second day of Women's Conference awesomeness.  Elder Stevenson of the Quorum of the 12 spoke as the concluding speaker and it was great.  He talked about the use of internet and social media.  I should do better about sharing my testimony.
May 6-Going to see Guardians of the Galaxy with my boyfriend tonight. :-)
May 7-A beautiful spring day and time to lay in the hammock and read
May 8-Friends who care about me and text me when I'm not feeling well.
May 9-I'm thankful for my pretty flowering bush outside.  I love my flowers!
May 10-Today I took dinner to a family that is having some major health issues.  It made me realize that I should be grateful for EVERYTHING.  So many people have worse problems than me.
May 11-Lunch with mom and dad is back on track now that my school job has ended for the year.  I really enjoy doing this with them.
May 12-Today I got botox.  I always dread it and look forward to it at the same time.  It really has made my migraines tolerable and so it is worth it.  I'm also grateful that my insurance covers it!  It's way expensive and I don't think I could do it without insurance.
May 13-The annual Mother's Day get-away to Park City was today.  I got to spend the day with Lori, Rachelle and Maddy.  It was way fun!
May 14-We are off to Alaska today!
May 15-Saw the grandkids today!  I also saw Branden and Amber, which I love so I don't want to seem like I don't care about seeing my kids as well as the grandkids. :-)  They both totally remembered me and weren't shy at all.  Yay!
May 16-I spent the day with Isabelle, Kaylee and my son Ryan today while the rest of the group went up north and did a zipline.  We took Kaylee to therapy and school.  We went to the McDonald's play place for awhile.  We had ice cream cones. We played dinosaurs in the dirt outside the apartment.  I loved seeing Ryan and how cute he is with the girls as well.  He's a good uncle. It was a really nice day together.
May 17- Just thankful to be here with Branden, Amber, Isabelle, Kaylee,  and Ryan.
May 18-Today is my sister Danielle's birthday.  She is a tough cookie.  Life hasn't been easy for her but she always has a good attitude and faith in God.  She is a great example to me and I am thankful for her today.
May 19-Thankful for another day in Alaska. I'm gonna miss these people!
May 20-We attempted to hike this morning but it was too cold.  So afterward we went home to the apartment where we just relaxed, played dinosaurs, took a walk to the library and enjoyed each other's company.  It warmed up and turned out to be a delightful day!
May 21-We made it home safe and sound.  I'm thankful for air travel that makes going to far away places like Alaska possible. I'm also thankful for Nyquil because I have a cold.
May 22-I got a lot accomplished today!  I'm thankful for my washer and dryer, my vacuum, my dishwasher...all of the modern conveniences that make cleaning house so easy.
May 23-I'm thankful for a gardener husband!  He puts a lot of time and effort into his garden and we always enjoy the harvest.  He's trying some new things this year so that'll be fun!
May 24-I'm thankful to work with enjoyable people
May 25-I'm thankful for a fun, funny and talented hairdresser.  I let her chop my hair off today!
May 26-We actually got invited to someone's house for a barbecue!  It was nice. I'm thankful for people who reach out.
May 27-I'm thankful that I can spend an entire day working on projects that are important to me.  I also went to garage sales with a couple of gals in the neighborhood and had a great time.
May 28-I'm thankful for Frank and the fact that we have been married now for 29 years.  It hasn't always been easy, that's for sure, but he's a good guy and I'm so blessed to have him.
May 29-Frisbee golf with the family
May 30-Today I am especially thankful for Amber!  It's her birthday today! She is a wonderful addition to our family and we love her so much.
May 31-Today I am thankful for good allergy medications!  Both Carter and I have had a rough time with allergies this year but it is much improved with the allergy medicine available these days.  Especially the eye drops! Thank heaven for the eye drops!  Of course, I'm not as thankful for the cost (I just spent $80 this morning for medicine for both Carter and I) but it's better than just suffering.

Sunday, May 28, 2017

Garage Sale finds

I went to garage sales on Saturday.  I don't really need anything, obviously, but I'm always on the lookout for some cool thing that I can't resist. And I mostly go just for the fun of being with friends.

Before I left Frank said, "Have fun.  Don't forget...we don't need ANYTHING"
HA!

We have been thinking about buying a bike for Carter so that he can have it when he goes to college in the fall.

He's been looking at new bikes and was hoping we would help cover the cost.  But after visiting Alaska and seeing poor Daniel get his bike stolen only days after buying it, he now sees the wisdom in perhaps getting a used bike that might be less enticing to a thief.

So we told him we would get him a used bike for his birthday.

I saw a pretty nice but well used mountain bike at one of the garage sales and immediately called Carter.  He and Frank came over to see if it fit him and it did and we bought it!  It's a little early but he now has his birthday present.

I also found some cool vinyl records that I bought for him.  In my excitement to give them to him I totally forgot that his birthday is a mere 5 days away.  So when I got home from the garage sales I gave them to him.  He loved them!  And then Frank was like,"why didn't you save those for his birthday?"
and I was like "WHY DIDN'T I SAVE THOSE FOR HIS BIRTHDAY??"

Dangit!

So I yelled, "Hey Carter, those are a birthday present.  Those count as a birthday present!"

He responded, "No way!  It's not my birthday! They don't count"

Well, too bad my friend.  They count.   But I still wish I had waited.

Maybe I'll steal them from his room and wrap them and give them to him again!


Thursday, May 25, 2017

What can I say...

Blogging has sort of fallen by the wayside lately.  I've been busy painting the kitchen and other stuff that isn't exciting enough to blog about.
I have been taking pictures of the kitchen project and I will one day do a huge blog post about it.  That way I won't forget and be tempted to do this again.  Just kidding. I'm sure I'll do it again or something very similar because...I'm me.
My house is in a horrific state.  Even if I clean the kitchen in the morning, by that evening every available surface is COVERED in tools and junk and who knows what.  It's kind of exhausting.
The drawers and other kitchen stuff are in 3 different rooms so those rooms are also a mess.
But, I know this phase is temporary (please let it be temporary) and so I just try to ignore it the best that I can.

Here are some of the other things I've been doing:

I've been growing out my hair for the sole purpose of braiding it.
Yes, I love braids and my hair is never long enough to braid so I decided to just grow it out and have a dang braid!
The last day of the long(ish) hair

Alas, within the last couple of weeks my hair has been falling out by the handful.  It's quite frightening actually but I'm assuming it's the "change of life" or some such nonsense.  Being a woman is tough.

Anyway, I realized that the braid was never going to happen.
I now have all these baby hairs growing in and when I pull my hair back (say in a pony tail or *braid*) I have all of this hair sticking up like a lions mane.

So, today I chopped by hair off again.  I should probably accept that I am a bob kind of person.

As I was taking these pictures of my hair for the purpose of this blog, I was struck yet again by something that I've been dealing with for awhile: I hate my face.

Me, trying to get a picture of the new hair while not having to look at my face in the picture.

I'm not saying this to get my friends to be all like "Oh, Debbie, you're still pretty" or whatever nonsense they might say...I mean it.  I just can't seem to come to grips with the whole aging thing. I never thought it would bug me but it really does.  If I had tons of money I might end up looking like one of those hollywood people who have had too much work done.  Actually, I don't think I would because I'm too afraid of looking like that.  I'm willing to stay "natural" even if I hate it just so I won't be a laughing stock.  Also, I would hate to die on the operating table getting a face lift.

How did this chubby, wrinkly thing become my face?  I know, I know: cake, bread, sun, years.  fine.

My mom is kind of obsessed with looking younger and it's getting worse as her dementia worsens. I went over there the other day to find her putting ice on the "huge bags under her eyes".
I can only imagine that this will be me someday, considering that I already think bad thoughts about the huge bags under my eyes...I just don't put ice on my face yet or talk about it publicly (unless you count this blog, which I don't) Ha!


On to other subjects!

I removed and washed all of the cushion covers for my outdoor furniture.  It was surprisingly easy to remove and replace the covers...I thought it would be a nightmare.  And they washed up so well!  No bug guts whatsoever were left after the washing. Sweet!

I replaced them all today onto the newly power washed couches (thanks Frank!) and they look so good.



The bugs can now feel free to die on them again tonight. sigh.


The view of my lovely backyard from my lovely, temporarily clean, couches.


Frank also cleaned the table and chairs, Go him!

I will now sign off and go do something useful like dishes.
I also got new glasses and they are not bifocals 
...so yeah, still winning the aging game in that area!



Monday, May 22, 2017

Problems that aren't real problems

Here's the thing:  I am one of those people who does not like stuff all over my countertops.
In my perfect kitchen there might be one thing, perhaps a vase of flowers, on my counter.
The rest of the space would be clear of any clutter.

In reality my counter has all kinds of stuff on it.  And I don't seem to be able to change it.

These are the things that are always on the countertop:

Paper towel holder
Toaster
Blender
fruit bowl/banana hook
drying mat for dishes




The paper towel holder doesn't bug me that much.  In my last house I hada rod that hooked to the underside of my cabinets which I liked but it was apparently too hard to work because no one ever changed the paper towel roll but me.  At least this one is easy enough for the guys in the house to work. *sigh*

The toaster drives me nuts.
The cord is too long and also too thick so I can't hide it away.  The crumbs! Ugh.  Today I actually took the toaster outside and shook it with all my might. Then I attacked it with the air compressor. I washed the outside thoroughly and then when I brought it back in...it left crumbs on the counter.  Why is this?
I used to put it in the cupboard after use but my family rebelled.  They want it out and so it is out.

The blender.
What an eyesore.
But it gets used at least once a day...usually more than that.  It's really not worth moving it that many times to have it off the counter for the time that it isn't in use.  Plus I don't really have a place for it.  It still bugs me.  I know if I put in in a cupboard I would hear complaints.
You can see in the picture that the pitcher portion of the blender isn't there. That's because it is on another part of the counter...drying. ugh.

Fruit bowl/banana hook:  It is currently empty but it usually has apples and bananas (I just got home from being in Alaska so we need groceries).  I don't mind how it looks when full of fruit but during garden season it doesn't hold enough so I end up with the bowl plus a big stack of tomatoes all over. Dislike.
I'm thinking of getting  banana hook that attaches to the cupboard and can be folded away when I don't actually have any bananas.  I would still have the fruit bowl but maybe I can put it on the table and force myself to keep the table cleaned off!  It's important to have dreams.

Drying mat: Well, this one is tough.  I almost always have something drying on it.  Maybe because I'm too lazy to dry the items and put them away immediately.  Today I had it all cleaned off (as you can see in the picture...ignore the towel there. ha!) and within 30 minutes I had refilled it with pans and knives that can't be put in the dishwasher.  Plus the blender is almost always there drying between uses.  I keep thinking I'll make a different mat that matches the kitchen better and fits the whole space since what I usually do when drying dishes is place a towel along side the mat since the mat is too small.

In addition to these items I can often find other things on my counters: dirty dishes, mail, other various papers that need to go elsewhere but haven't yet, medications and items that need to go out to the recycle bin but no one wants to do it so they sit on the counter.

You would never know by looking at my kitchen that I hate clutter and want to have clear counter tops.

Never!

That's today's installment of problems that aren't really problems.

Saturday, May 6, 2017

Location, location, location

I am the kind of person who usually folds and puts away the laundry right out of the dryer.  I don't like to have baskets or piles of laundry around.
However, with all the painting I'm doing and with how torn up the house is, I ended up letting a basket of laundry sit in front of the dryer for several days.
I finally decided to put it away one night.
I was putting Frank's stuff in his drawers straight out of the basket and then anything that I found of mine, I would put in a little pile on the corner of the bed.
After all of his stuff was sorted out, I grabbed the pile of my stuff to take to to my closet.
When I lifted up the pile of clean clothes I looked down and there on my bed was a big caterpillar.
Big.  
He looked all squishy and was moving his freakish worm-like body around ON MY BED.

I freaked out and started yelling for Frank to come.
He was like "it's a caterpillar...so what"

But here's the thing.

Caterpillar in the garden=kind of cute bug that has the potential to be a moth or lovely butterfly
Caterpillar on my bed (and also apparently roaming around in my clean laundry)=gross, disgusting bug that is totally freak out worthy

He got rid of the bug for me and I pondered whether or not to strip my sheets and rewash all of the laundry I had just put away.

Lesson learned.
Stop painting long enough to put the laundry away immediately!

I am willing to  happily coexist with bugs if they will just stay outside where they belong.
Ha!

Ew.

Monday, May 1, 2017

Something to be Thankful for: April 2017

April 1- Conference in the morning at Candice's house.  Then off to visit Jennifer Frank (we've been friends since High School!) for the afternoon.  Sitting by a gorgeous pool and chatting was the perfect end to this day!
April 2- Just more relaxing for me!  We went on a little nature hike which was beautiful.  We sat by the pool and talked.  It's my last day in Arizona and I have loved every minute.
April 3-I drove home to Utah today.  I made it safely despite getting to drive through a blizzard (in April).  I enjoyed the drive and everything went smoothly so I'm thankful for that!
April 4- My tulips are blooming!  It's Frank's 5 year anniversary: he is cancer free 5 years today!  SO thankful for that.
April 5-Today I am thankful for my sweet granddaughter Isabelle.  It's her 4th birthday today and I miss her so much.  I get to go visit in May and I cannot wait!

April 6-Today is the start of a 3 day vacation with some neighbors.  We saw some beautiful areas and did some little hikes.  I'm thankful for a beautiful world that I get to enjoy!
April 7-Beautiful scenery and hikes in southern Utah.  Fun day!
April 8- Today we went to Bryce canyon for the first time. Wow, it was so gorgeous and unusual. I love seeing new beautiful places.

April 9-We had Rachel, Claudia and Charles over for dinner.  I love seeing these great kids and the good things they are doing with their lives.  All three of them will go on missions soon. I just love these kids!
April 10-Today I spent the whole day cleaning house.  I cleaned the bathrooms, the kitchen, vacuumed everything and did laundry.  I love a clean house and I am so grateful that I am able to spend time at home just doing these domestic things. I know I've been blessed to be a stay-at-home mom when many others can't do it.
April 11- Today I got 4 new windows! Yay!  I love that my bathrooms are now private (privacy glass woo hoo!) and that the window over the kitchen sink is functional and pretty.  I often wished I could open that window but it was broken.  Now I can get the wonderful spring air while in the kitchen.
April 12-I worked today and I just have to say that I really like the people I work with.  It makes work so much more fun!
April 13-Today is Kaylee's birthday!  I'm thankful for Kaylee in my life!

April 14-I bought a hide-a-bed couch a few months ago so that I can put it in my office/guest room.  I'm excited to finish up that room and also be able to have a place for guests (poor Hannah has gotten used to sleeping in the front room on the couch).  Today it was delivered!  And the exciting part? It's green!

April 15- Frank replaced the drywall in the kitchen and made it look pretty easy too.
April 16-Easter! I'm so thankful for my Savior Jesus Christ!
April 17-I'm thankful for beautiful weather outside today.
April 18- As we drove home from work, Lori pointed out the beautiful Lilac bushes.  When I got home I realized that I have two of them in my backyard!  I cut a few branches to put in a vase and they are beautiful and fragrant!
April 19-Today Frank and I worked on installing the new beadboard backsplash.  I think it's going to look great.
April 20-I'm grateful to work with fun neighborhood friends.  It makes the work day so much more pleasant!
April 21-I got to have lunch with a gal here in the neighborhood that I have a lot in common with and it was a nice little break. (Thanks Shari for always fitting me in!)
April 22-This morning I got a massage which was painful but also awesome.  My headaches have been so much better lately and I'm really grateful for that!
April 23-Carter got called to be a primary teacher and he seems fairly excited about it.  I'm grateful for his willingness to serve.
April 24-We got out of work early today (YAY!) and then I got to go to lunch with Beverly (a different friend in the neighborhood) which was really nice.
April 25-Frank helped me by painting the corner of the backsplash where the counter is so deep that I could only do it by actually climbing on the counter.  I was in pain from a long day and from hours of painting and when he chipped in, I wanted to cry it made me so happy.
April 26-Our power bill came today...it was 13.00!  Loving our solar. :-)
April 27-Work with Laurel and Lori.  I really like those two gals!
April 28-Went to Doneen's to celebrate Daryl's graduation from BYU.  I had a hard day so I wasn't that excited to go, but I went anyway and ended up having a great time with my family. Yay!
April 29-Got to attend the adult session of Stake Conference with Dallin H Oaks presiding.  It was a great meeting and I felt the Holy Ghost testify to me that I am loved by my Heavenly Father.  I don't know why I always need reminding, but it always helps me when it happens.
April 30- Stake conference followed by the afternoon at Doneen's house to celebrate Mark's farewell before he goes on a mission soon.  I love my family.