Friday, February 20, 2015

I don't make my bed...and I am still a productive member of society!

Several months ago, I read at least 4 different articles/blog posts by women about why they make their bed and how that sets the tone for their entire day.  I totally get what they were trying to say, but somehow articles like that can sometimes get under my skin and start to make me feel guilty.  I think women are far too good at comparing themselves to others and feeling like they don't measure up (See the quote just below by President Uchtdorf.)  So this post has actually been simmering in the back of my mind for months.   

 "God is fully aware that you and I are not perfect. Let me add God is also fully aware that the people you think are perfect are not. And yet we spend so much time and energy comparing ourselves to others - usually our weaknesses to their strengths. As a result, we never celebrate our good efforts because they seem to be less than what someone else does." - Dieter F. Uchtdorf                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

I don't make my bed.  Or at least not very often.  I usually try to make it on weekends.  But Monday-Friday, it doesn't happen.  I get up before my husband on weekdays.  I read for a short while (about 20 minutes...that helps me maintain my sanity).  Then I get myself ready for the day.  Then I cook breakfast, wake my children, feed my family, get us all ready and the younger girls and I leave by 7:45 for school/work.    I work all day (as a teacher), pick my kids up, cook dinner, help with homework, supervise piano/violin practice, escort them to lessons, listen to my youngest read, read to all three, get them ready for bed and tuck them each in.  I am an imperfect mom, but I love my kids and they know it.  I feed them two healthy home cooked meals nearly every day (they usually eat school lunch...we all prefer that!).  I read to them, play with them, talk with them and listen to them.  I lose my temper more often than I would like.  I pray with them.  I teach them.  My kids know they are loved.  Sometimes they tell me I am the best mom ever. Other times, they tell me I am the worst mom ever.  Pretty sure that all comes with the territory.  I try to be helpful and kind to other moms, other women and people in general. I fall short more often than I would like. I read A LOT.  I don't sleep enough.  I try to keep the living room and kitchen clean most of the time...these are the rooms we spend most of our time living in and the two rooms that guests are most likely to see.  So I put my emphasis there.  However, on Saturdays, we all work together to clean the whole house.  I work full time and I think/hope I am a pretty good teacher.  Not perfect. But good. I care deeply about my students and try to give them the best education I can.

After my kids are in bed, I almost always have some house work to do and even more school work to do.  I am not a lazy person. I just put many other things ahead of making the bed. I have friends who always make their beds that are very organized and are wonderful mothers and wonderful women.  I have friends who probably never make their beds and whose homes are lived in ...and they are wonderful mothers and wonderful women.  Ultimately, there are so many demands on our time, that we are all doing a juggling act.  Which balls I choose to juggle may be different than the balls you juggle...either due to choice or circumstance.  And the balls we juggle now may not be the balls we juggle in 5 years or 10.  But in my experience, all of us are trying to juggle our own balls to the best of our ability.  I sure appreciate it when I drop one of my balls (which happens far more often than I would like) when someone helps me pick it back up and helps me get it back in the rotation. It isn't helpful when others notice I have dropped a ball and point it out to me and demean my juggling ability.   

I love this quote:  
When it comes to hating, gossiping, ignoring, ridiculing, holding grudges, or wanting to cause harm, please apply the following:
Stop it!  --President Uchtdorf

And this goes for far more than just whether we make our beds/keep a clean home.  This expands to include whether a woman chooses to educate her child via private school, public school, charter school or  homeschool.  (I know well educated children who have used each of these methods...and women who have prayerfully sought how to educate their children who have decided on each one of these methods.  What is right for my child may not be right for yours.  Or even what is right for one of my children may not be right for all of my children.)  This includes moms who breastfeed and moms who bottle feed and moms who do some of both. This includes women with no children, 1 child, 3 children or 8.  This includes women who work and women who stay home. This includes the decision to vaccinate or not vaccinate your child.  (I don't want to start a debate about vaccination.  But I do want to say that people who decide to vaccinate are trying to protect their children, not poison them. And those who choose not to often have legitimate reasons...a prior negative reaction or other reasons.  They are not crazy and their children don't deserve to die because they weren't vaccinated.  That's all I will say on that. I know and love people on both sides of this issue and it isn't as clear cut as many believe.  So can't we choose to be kind and assume that most parents are doing the best they can in their situation?) This includes whether you choose to vote Republican or Democrat or something else.  We can choose to disagree without being disagreeable.  We can help others to juggle their balls even if their balls differ from our own.  If we all chose to be a little kinder, this world would be so much better.  And it isn't even that hard, really.  So make your bed tomorrow morning.  Or don't.  I don't care.  But do hug and kiss those you love and say a kind word to someone you meet.  Because those are the things that really matter.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

I love this!

For Christmas, I gave Alfredo a frame that says Panameno on it and has frames for family pictures.  Our very talented neighbor, Eric, made it for me.  I just love it!  It is hanging above our couch in our living room and I seriously love it!  I think I might have mentioned it before, but I didn't post photos on my blog about it so here it is:

I also LOVE the photos in it.  They were taken by my friend Carey, and they turned out great.  I don't think I have posted them on my blog yet either.  So look for them coming soon.

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Haircut and nails

On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in January, the girls and I went to my friend Heidi's house.  She cut and highlighted my hair and did the girls' nails.  I didn't get great photos of this, unfortunately, but we had a great time.  (I got better photos on my I-pad, but I am technologically challenged and can't figure out how to upload them to my blog.)  Heidi is so talented.  She was my 2nd counselor in the RS presidency and I love her dearly.  Now she is Ella's teacher in Primary!  :)


Michelle's nails...thumbs have flowers, other nails have stripes

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Bday/Valentine's Day

Alfredo spoiled me for my bday.  We went shopping on the Saturday before my birthday.  He bought me three wonderful new shirts.  I love them!   Then he arranged for me to go to my neighbor/friend Ione's house on the morning of my birthday to get a massage.  It was wonderful.  My neck and back had been really hurting for a couple of days and it helped so much!

I took the day off work to relax and to take Michelle to Kennedy Junior High to sign her up for classes.  Alfredo and I were going to go to lunch, but he ended up being extremely busy at work so I did a little shopping instead and then visited a good friend.  She has a 6 week old baby, so I got to hold her baby for an hour while I visited with her.  Then Alfredo took our family out to dinner.  We tried a Chinese restaurant that we hadn't eaten at before.

I got so many calls and texts and messages on Facebook wishing me a happy birthday.  I felt very loved.

Then for Valentine's Day, Alfredo took the girls and I out to breakfast at Kneaders.  Then he bought me a bouquet of beautiful flowers.  For dinner, he invited several of our friends over and we had a barbecue.  The men cooked and we women were able to just visit.  The food was delicious.  After everyone went home, Alfredo cleaned the kitchen and did all the dishes.  He is wonderful!  I got him a wok he wanted, but he spoiled me a great deal more than I did him.




 

Monday, February 16, 2015

Piano Recital

On Friday, the girls had a piano recital.  The recital was held at our church in the chapel.  It's fun to see the girls play...and to hear all of the other students that Jami teaches since we know them all (although we don't know Desiree well.)  This was Gabby's first recital and she was nervous...but you couldn't tell...she marched right up to the piano and played with confidence.  I was really proud of her.  She played "Zoo on Saturday" by Mary Leaf and "Kids Following the Leader" by Claudette Hudelson.  She only worked on her songs for a couple of weeks, and she wasn't required to memorize them.   Ella was one of the few kids who remembered to introduce herself and her songs.  She played "Mini Tocata" by Eric Baumgartner and "Feelin' Good" by Robert D. Vandall.  Michelle played "Hayride Hoedown" by Glenda Austin and "Desierto de Atacama" by Wynn-Anne Rossi.  All three girls did a great job.  Michelle and Ella will be playing the same two songs at Piano Federation in two weeks.  It is the first year they will do piano federation.






Waffluv

Today is President's Day and the kids and I have the day off.  I am determined to get caught up on my blogging because I took the entire month of January off once I went back to work.  January was a busy, hard month...but now February is half over and I am going to get back into the swing of things!

Today, the girls and I had Waffluv for lunch!   Deliciousness!  So good.  Michelle had a waffle with caramel, ice cream and whip cream.   Ella had whip cream, ice cream and banana.  I tried the Cinnalove waffle.  All delicious.  We cut a chunk off of each to give Gabby...so she probably got the best of all.  




New Years Eve/New Years Resolutions

Spent New Years Eve with Alfredo's family.  We ate.  We talked.  We watched tv (and I read). The kids played.  And we got one cute picture. 



 Fun evening.  But the thing I like best about New Year's is thinking about the past year and how we did on Resolutions and what the highlights of the year have been. 

Our resolutions from last year were these:

I went without soda during 2014.  There were 2 or 3 times that I cheated a tiny bit and had a sip or two, but overall, I did pretty well.  On New Year's Eve, I decided to share a can of orange soda with Alfredo.  I love orange soda...I had missed orange soda.  But drinking even 1/2 a can made me feel yucky.  So while I may have a sip now and then or drink punch that has soda in it or enjoy a root beer float in the summer, I am going to still avoid soda. 

Personally, and as a family, we studied the Holy Ghost and learned about his roles.  We memorized a couple of scriptures about the Holy Ghost (could have done better on that aspect!)  We also tried to notice when we felt the Holy Ghost.  Did we do perfectly?  No.  We still quarrel sometimes and do other things that drive the spirit from our home.  I am sure I missed opportunities to point out the influence of the Holy Ghost.  But some things did make an impact.  I, personally, had a number of times when I specifically felt like I should call or visit or do someting for someone.  I didn't always act, but I did better at acting than I have done in the past.  It blessed my life immensely.  A few things I noticed about my children...all of them bore testimony in sacrament meeting 1 or more times.  For some children, that isn't a big deal, but for my shy girls it is.  Michelle has really tried hard to fast.  It isn't easy for her, but she is trying.   At Christmastime, we tried to do some small act of service nearly every day.  One day while they were at piano lessons, I made cookies.  When I picked them up, I asked them who we should deliver them to and they picked someone in the ward.  That person texted me later and thanked me and said she'd had a very hard day and needed that.  I made sure to share with my girls that we had been guided by the spirit to deliver the cookies to that friend.  Another day, we were driving on the freeway and at least 3 cars were involved in an accident right behind us.  The car behind me should have hit me, but stopped just inches from my car.  I felt strongly that it was a tender mercy from the Lord...a blessing of protection because we were trying to live as we should and I was trying to serve to the best of my ability.  I made sure to talk about this with my children.  This isn't a resolution that is over and done.  I am certain that learning about the  Holy Ghost is a lifelong process.  But I am happy to see some evidence that we have made progress.  Recently, Gabby has started regularly counting down the days until Sunday and tells me that Sunday is her favorite day.  She loves church.  So while we still have much room for improvement, there are some steps in the right direction.

For this upcoming year, my resolutions are:
1.  Study scriptures/gospel faithfully...I have some plans for what I want to do regarding study.
2.  Exercise at least 3 x/week
3.  Be a little kinder.  Make a conscientious effort to be kind to others.  My stepdad posted this as his resolution on Facebook, and it struck me as perhaps the best goal of all.  What would be the impact if every person tried to be a little kinder?  How different would this world be if when we have the urge to speak or act unkindly, we would stop and reconsider and try to be kind instead?  So that is my primary goal...be a little kinder to my family, to those in my neighborhood, to my students and those I work with, to strangers I meet on the street. 

My children's resolutions are:
Michelle:  Fast more often and with greater purpose
Ella:  Try to control emotions better (not get so upset) and be kinder and study the gospel more
Gabby:  To be nice to everyone

We created a poster to remember highlights of 2014 and get us off on the right track for 2015: