Pictures of the House Part 1

I decided to post pictures of the house before I posted about my adventures with the car. This may be due to implicit threats from family members.

Just remember, I have not had time to decorate. Mostly I've thrown things in roughly the right place, hoping they'd stick eventually. Also, I have not hung any pictures yet. Oh, and I have a room still waiting for the 12 foot couch we've ordered and the flat screen TV we have not.

And I know the table doesn't match. It will after I paint it black. And get new kitchen chairs since mine didn't make it onto the moving truck.

Also, I didn't mop my floors.

And there is a reason you are only seeing the downstairs. It will take a few more days to do upstairs.

So, now that my warnings are made...

Kitchen

Kitchen from different view

Now I'm standing in the kitchen. See the spots for the missing couch and TV?

Facing front door

Pantry.  It will be beautiful, once it is organized properly.

Front Parlor

And again

Powder bathroom

Back bathroom by guest room and mud area

Just in case you think I didn't have a lot left to do...

Guest Room/Craft room

What will be our mud closet but is now Mt. WinterGear

The edge of Mt. WinterGear by door to garage

Guest posting today

Due to events of today, I have yet another car story to tell, but this time it is actually funny. Well, funny in a how-does-this-happen-to-me meets I-have-no-one-to-blame-but-myself sort of way. But while I contemplate how to best write the wild rooster into my tale, I'm sending you over to MMB for a guest post of mine. I sent it in months ago, and it has posted here before, but after last Friday I certainly needed a reminder! So, if you're so inclined, hop on over and read The Keeper of Bad Days.

(And just so you don't get your hopes up the wild rooster is merely a side note to the main tale)

Guest Post and Welcome to my Blog!

Today I am guest posting during the month long celebration of the Proclamation to the Family over at Chocolate on my Cranium. I posted some thoughts on prayers role in nurturing our children,  

"I do not ask for the easy path, I ask for the necessary one". 

I'd love you you to head on over and check it out.

There have been some other fantastic guest posts about family written this month at the two host blogs: Chocolate on my Cranium and We Talk of Christ.  Thanks for asking my participate Cocoa!

If you are a new visitor stopping by from my guest post, welcome!  Here are some posts of mine to get to know my blog:

I Run So You Can Fly
Sometimes I am a Fairytale

A Tale of Horror: Frankenmom  

On Miracle Whip and Mayonnaise

Wrestling a Tornado

 The Skunk Who Came for Dinner

The Keeper of Bad Days 

More information on our move

For some strange reason I am finding this post, one I promised to write, very difficult to begin.  It has nothing to do with having different company over Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday or that my youngest is having his first friend party this Saturday.  Busyness isn't really the reason.  I think I'm in prime avoidance mode because the move we are about to make it so important to me. 

Nonsense is so much easier to write about.  Maybe I should make this post instead about how Matthew tried to catch a skunk last night while all the youth (12-18) from church where at our house for a BBQ.  Luckily someone stopped him before anyone got sprayed, because as cute as a 4-year-old can be, it would be hard for a group of teenagers to forgive going to school the next day with that sort of stench.

Shoot.  See that?  I'm in optimal avoidance mode.

Let me see if I can just spit it out.

We are moving across the country in December and the decision is all on me.  I was the one who wanted it and my husband is leaving a job he loves to make me happy.  Not that I'm not happy now, it is just that Connecticut has never felt like home.  I couldn't find my groove.  As much as I love the beauty here, no matter how wonderful the people here have been, it just has never felt like home.  We are too far from any family.  It is too expensive for my frugal loving side.  My husband's job will always be too many hours.

We are moving to a town in the Pacific Northwest where I have 3 siblings living.  Peter has 2 siblings about 3 hours away.  We are driving distance from Utah and New Mexico so we can visit our parents -and other siblings, cousins, grandparents, friends- more often.  Plus, the house we are building is half the cost to buy the same here.  Peter will be working a lot less hours for nearly the same pay.  My children will no longer be the only ones their age at church.

But still, we know the downsides and struggles we will face here, and are exchanging them for unknown downsides and struggles.  I know we have wonderful friends here and are exchanging them for people unknown.  We know what we have to work around with Peter's job here, and are exchanging for unknown business and hospital systems.  (That may not seem like much, but we are moving from a large physician owned group with fantastic benefits to a independent contracting group, which means that we are going to be self-employed.) That is scary.  If it fails, it is all on me.  That is a lot of pressure.

Oh, and we are planning on moving to a home that is merely a plot of land and a floor plan right now.

The good news is that my prime avoidance for cleaning and packing happens to be what I am doing right now.  So you should be seeing a lot of me in the next couple months.

Good bye comfort zone, hello CBC.

Pushing out of my comfort zone always seems like a good idea in theory, but by the time it comes to actually push, I usually decide I'd rather not.  Kind of like labor, only I can't change my mind about pushing out a baby, but almost always back out of pushing my comfort levels.  It stinks, too,  because my comfort zone is a little teeny bit small.  It doesn't include talking with strangers or socializing in large groups.  The last time I moved and had to go into a new congergation, I was so nervous I paled to the coloring of vampire.  Unfortunately, this was pre-Twilight days before that would be cool.  Although now that I think about it, I was wearing some glittery mineral foundation, so I even slightly sparkled.

Well that paragraph got a little off track, didn't it?

So, anyway, part of the reason I wanted to attend the Casual Blogger Conference last week was because I'm sick of my teeny tiny comfort zone and wanted to expand it a little.  What better way than to try with a group of women who I already sort of knew online?  Plus, being held in Utah, if I failed spectacularly, I could always conveniently never see them again.  Besides, after spending the money on tickets, flights, and hotels, I couldn't exactly change my mind.

I was able to convince myself of this when I bought the tickets, when I got on the plane, and as I drove down the freeway to the hotel.  But about an hour before it started, I began to feel a little anxiety.  Hyperventilating, feeling nauseated, and curling into the fetal position on a hotel bed is considered "a little anxiety", right?  When I walked into the Girls' Night Out the first evening and there were no name tags and I recognized no one, I almost turned around and walked back out. What's a little money wasted in the long run anyway? My comfort zone was about 3 galaxies away from where I stood.

Hyperlinking Gone Wild Alert!

And then, someone I didn't know sat down and talked to me.  (I will always be thankful Kara). 

And several minutes later I heard my name called from across the room.  I looked up and there they were.  My friends.  I had often wondered what it would feel like to meet a cyber friend for reals.  Would it be awkward blind date-ish?  Can I tell you, it was wonderful!  More like a reunion of long time friends you hang out with all the time.   We embraced, we laughed, we asked of each other's families.   Suddenly, my comfort zone had decided to join me.

The rest of the time I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  Didn't meet a lot of new people, but definitely had fun with the ones I already knew.  That first group of friends who hailed me from across the room included Amber, Serene, and Linda.  We then met Rachel, the Damsel, Inkmom, and MommyJ.  The next day I met Living the Scream, Tauna, Karen, and T  (who I talked to at least an hour before I realized I read her blog and "knew" her).  I also got to spend time with Shannon, aka Jane, who I've wanted to meet for a long time and is just as wonderful in real life, if not even more so.

I even got to meet Amber's lovely family, our lives really are as eerily similar as I thought, and I love her even more now.  The only person I really wanted to meet and didn't was Momza, who I saw once the first night, but it was before my comfort zone decided to join me and I was too afraid of introducing myself to the wrong person and after that first evening I never saw her again.

The question I didn't realize I needed answered:

What I really found was the answer to a question I didn't consciously form until afterwards.  These people I've met and like online, are they really friends or is it my imagination supplying such a deep connection?  Turns out they are who I thought they were.  Meeting them was as natural as meeting any friend for lunch.  Their online voices blended perfectly with their real life personalities.  That connection is very real, and now I know these cyber-friendships are definitely worth developing.

In short, I think I need to work on this separation anxiety with my comfort zone.  I can live outside its boundaries and not die of nervousness. Thank you ladies, for helping me survive the experience and enjoy it! 

Proof I'm Lame at Taking Pictures:

The entire 2 days, I took one picture.  Here I am at lunch with Amber, Shannon, Serene, and Linda.  I am aware that I am NOT in the photo.  There are other pictures of me other people took.   So if you want more proof I was there, look here, here, or here- (Amber was nice enough to email the photo so I'm posting it).

At least someone loves my parents enough to visit.

My poor parents had the misfortune of giving birth to a not-prone-for-homesickness sort of person.  I never wonder where my children inherited their lack of separation anxiety, it all came from me.  (And having to never worry about my kids freaking out when I leave them anywhere, I would like to take a minute and thank myself)

When I went to college at the tender age of seventeen (my 18th birthday a distant month away), I did not go back home till probably Thanksgiving.  It wasn't like a huge ordeal, either.  It was a 40 minute drive from Provo, Utah to Sandy, Utah.  (I just mapquested it and it was 37 minutes / 31.71 miles).  At least I called often, right?  Wrong.  I was and always will be the worst caller on the face of the planet.  Back then I, as a computer/electrical engineering major, had access to one of the only computer labs connected to the internet, but e-mail was a brand new concept and wasn't going to be a way to communicate.  (Lest you think I remained in an engineering program, I did not.  After my sophomore year I transferred to physics education- you know to teach high school physics.)


So anyway, half way through my freshman year I started dating some guy 3 1/2 years older than myself and newly home from a mission to Norway.  Guess what he loved?  Going home to visit my family.  So all of a sudden we were headed over almost every Sunday.


Fast forward five years.  I've married this guy, we have 2 children and live 17 hours away from my family (Mapquest says 17 hours 4 minutes / 1185.25 miles) while said husband is in his second year of medical school.  I had argued, quite successfully I felt, that we should stay home for Christmas.  It was too much hassle to load up the car with all the presents and drive 17 hours straight (yes, that is how we always made the trip, without stopping unless the car was hiccuping its last fumes of gas) for only a little over a week.

I know, I am a true sentimental.  Sue me.

Anyway, Peter finished classes up and came home with this look.  "I really, really want to be at your parents' for Christmas."  I was in the middle of protesting when the two by four made contact with my head (this is a figurative two by four, my husband wanted to go, but not THAT badly).  Hello?!?  My husband was begging to make an insanely long and cramped drive . . . to see my family.  How backwards is that?  So I took a deep breath and said,  "Yes."

We loaded up the car that afternoon and set off immediately.   We told no one except my sister and her husband (because someone needed to know if we never arrived).  With the exception of a terrible snow storm through Nebraska and a deer who nearly killed us when we almost hit it, we made it through great.  Actually the snow storm and deer hit (figurative again) at the same time and the storm prevented us from stopping to save the deer.  It was saved by jumping out of the way at the last second and gave us the adrenaline to not worry about getting sleepy for the rest of the trip.

The next morning we pulled up to the house, set our two kids on the front porch, rang the doorbell, and ran to the side of the house to observe the results.  It was awesome!  My family couldn't figure out why two little kids were on their porch at first, then they were recognized and reality hit.  One of the best Christmases ever.  Totally worth the 17 hour drive without being able to move my legs (I insisted we could only go if we fit all the presents into the car.  I was literally -not figuratively- packed around and drove the whole trip with presents on my lap, under my feet, and around my body.

So anyway, loving family, just know that someone in this house loves you enough to make sacrifices.  And you're lucky I married him.

The End.

(This post is part of 5 for 10: Yes! and also a response to a pleasant memory I had when reading Momza's blog this morning)

What we packed into that tiny car:

 Luckily, Peter's brother loaned us a car top for the return trip:

This was our first year with matching pajamas.

My mom made them after we showed up

(please do not note the flat topped hair

and yet to ever be plucked eyebrows):

The whole family (why are you not there Brenda?) at temple square:

Lest you think my husband heartless

we spent New Years in Las Vegas with his parents.

He loves you guys, too:

How to have a successful day at the zoo.

1st, choose a good navigator.  One who wants to see nothing but giraffes.  Asks all day when we'll get to the giraffes.  Beg.  Plead.  Repeat himself.  Only to hit the exhibit halfway through the day and ask, "What are THOSE?"  and then ask to see the zebras.

2nd, Don't confuse the 6 monkeys with your 6 kids.  You can tell the difference because the monkeys are quieter and fight less.  I'm still not 100% sure I brought home the right bunch.

3rd, make sure you all dress alike.  For instance, let everyone wear dark blue, except the one wearing pink (see above).

4th, take pictures of a baby animal for your friend Steph. (Sorry they were sleeping!)

5th, Take pictures of that animal that is just plain weird looking. The same animal you shot last year and already posted.

6th, Tell the kids you don't have time for the bug carousel only to see it comes free with your yearly family membership.  Then suddenly have the time.

7th, take a picture at the exhibit that caused the chrysalis/cocoon controversy.

And lastly, wonder why neighbors run and hide, waitresses get a look of panic, and the mouths of passerbies drop when they see this coming toward them:

Where in the world is Charlotte today?

I'm in the blogosphere today, I'm just not at my place.  I'm visiting my friend Christine at Coffees and Commutes.  Click on over to read my guest post "It is harder, I just don't always notice" and then tell me what you think. 

Christine and I met on twitter and I saw her around, but one day we just clicked.  {I just realized in cyber world that has a double meaning.  I guess we clicked (over with our mice & hit it off).}  I've enjoyed her blog ever since.  She writes about her life as a mother of two who just returned to work.  She also writes about finding her place here in this life, and does so with grace and eloquence. 

Thanks for inviting me over, Christine!  Why don't you head on over and introduce yourself, too?

And yes, it's true just as you'll find way too often in my house and my head, today on my blog the lights are on but nobody's home!

I've turned off comments here so you can leave them there.  If you're dying to talk to me anyway, just send me off an email (see that "contact" tab up above?  That's what it's for.)

Going Against the Cowlick

Last week I went to get my haircut.  It hadn't been that long since my last cut, only 10 months or so.  After all nothing says adventurous like seeing how many "awkward phases" your hair can go through before you finally relent.  I have really thick hair so thick that I was forced to totally sit out the banana clip fad in elementary school, so as my hair grows, it also expands.  And eventually the awkwardness reaches a point where I can either put it in a ponytail or join a freak show. 

Every time I broke another hair elastic, I would grumble that next time I would go short enough to not deal with hair accessories for a while.  After I finally ran out of elastics, I found a style I liked and called the hairstylist.  In case you're wondering, short hair carries a known risk for me.  Let me show you.

... Run upstairs to search for that picture.  Realize the light is out and run down for new bulb.  Dig through the pile of pictures, realize it is in a scrapbook downstairs, run down, find it and scan.  Wait a minute, why would I want to publish this photo of me?  Who am I kidding, I tell stories about losing my skirt in public and publish photos of myself wearing aluminum hats and making faces.  I must enjoy public humiliation.  

Look closer at picture and realize it isn't as bad as I remember.  Was that really only 10 years ago?  Wow, I was young...

So yes, short was risky, but the hope of less work and forced hair appointments won out and I gave it a shot.  After asking if I realized the picture I gave her was a lot shorter than my normal cut, the stylist cut away.

Then she styled it for me,

and she switched my part.

You see I have a cowlick right at the frontiest part of my hairline.  Which has always meant my hair parts backwards from the majority of people.  Most people go right and my hair has always stubbornly gone left.  But the stylist blew it dry opposite from normal.  And it actually stayed!  I was really surprised it looked decent  (even if I looked transposed) and didn't jump back to the left side.

That night my hair migrated back into the normal direction, but a quick brush and spray in the morning brought it back.  So far I've lived with my opposite part for 4 days and am actually getting better at making it go that way.  And that got me thinking, how often do I accept something as inherent and unchangeable about myself when really all it takes is a little extra work to change?

Maybe I don't have to be so timid in social situations.  Maybe I don't have to procrastinate things I get nervous about.  Maybe all I need is a little tweak in my attitude (one most people wouldn't even notice) to change my outlook.  Maybe I've been relying on my personality cowlicks a little to often.


Of course I offer no promise on keeping my hair opposite the cowlick.  I am rather lazy when it comes to my hair.  But I have learned that feeling a little off kilter for a few days won't kill me.  And that I can get used to things pretty fast.  And that I should never assume a hair stylist will notice a huge cowlick right on the hairline.  Better to point those things out.

A Year in Review

January last year started out with a healthy laugh.  My brother-in-law convinced my husband (and my eight year old) to bring in the New Year by wearing nothing but boxers while taking a midnight run in the ocean while everyone else trailed behind, properly dressed and thouroughly enjoying the display.  Did I mention there was lots of snow on the ground?

And so started a wonderful year for our family.  Below are some highlights of each month (at least the highlights I remembered to bring my camera for!):

~ January brings cabin fever which brings activities like turning oneself into a smurf. 

~I  did manage to sneak in a photo of Peter preparing for his snow run.

~ It snowed so much last winter that the kids didn't have a full week of school the entire month.  Of course, they loved the sledding opportunities.

~ Ethan had his birthday (an entire month late) at a local skating rink.

~ Peter loved his Darth Vader cake, even though I abandoned any attempt at black and went with varying degrees of chocolate.

~ Elise's performance with Chamber Choir.  Turns out it was her last before the teacher she adored left.

~ A quick (and COLD) trip to D.C. and Gettysburg.

~ After a several year hiatus, I began to make homemade bread again, this time with freshly ground wheat and my new Bosch mixer.

 ~ Kirsti's art was selected to hang in the local library!

~ My grandmother died and I was fortunate to able to attend the funeral and say my goodbyes and see family I haven't seen in a decade. 

~ My oldest turned 12 and started Young Womens {gulp}.  12 (being a multiple of 4) is a party year and she decided on a sleep over.

~ Ryan performed in his choir concert.

~ Easter break was spent in North Carolina with my sisters and their families.  We LOVE Marble Museum.

~ Dyeing Easter eggs before we left.

~ Ethan won 1st place at the pinewood derby!

~  What?  You don't play on the beach between sessions of LDS General Conference?  This was our first day out after winter.

~  Ryan and Ethan started baseball.

~ Elise went to a Trivia Bowl.  Her team went for the geek look.

~ Ryan and his recorder recital.

~  My love and comfort:  the new hammock (until the stand broke a month or so later.   We have to fix that BEFORE next summer).

~ Zoo, where it was clear to me that my kids are just as wild as the animals.

~ Dinosaur water park.  It was too cold to play, but that didn't stop the kids for a minute.  Are they still shivering in the picture?

~ Piano recital for older three kids.

~  Kirsti & her Tinkerbell cake.

~ Submarine museum- Peter has yet to go and he would probably like it the most!

~ Black scratch art, one of many crafts we did over the summer.

~ Six Flags with some friends.

~  The two instances of stitches in one month ("Stitches" including staples and glue, of course)

July was so fun it got to go twice!

~ Playing around in a local fort.

~ 4th of July (not the best we've had, but an adventure all the same.  I prefer my adventures NOT include trying to figure out how to proceed without toilet paper in the portapotty).

~ Some of the kids first attempt at bowling.

~ I indulged Ryan's request with a fancy dragon birthday cake.

~ Joseph started kindergarten and Ryan began middle school.

~ A trip to a disappointing aquarium (Boo!) which we accidentally found out butts up with Coney Island (Hurray!)

~ An early 1700 village with friends.

~ Swim lessons!!

~ Robot birthday cakes for 5 year old Joseph.

~ Annual Ward Picnic.

~ A trip to a corn maze.

~ Matthew turns 3.

(And of course there was my trip to see Wicked in NYC of which I got 0 pictures).

~ Our Halloween pictures.

~ A ride on a steam train.

~ Reenactment of Revolutionary war battle with friends (here they are fascinated with the ox).

~ A lovely (if not COLD) river boat tour.

~ Sisters came for Thanksgiving!!

~ Joseph had his first school play.

~ A broken dryer resulted in lots of clothes hanging (and a new dryer).

~ More sisters came for Thanksgiving!  Because that is doubly exciting.

~ First snow of the season was HUGE.  We're talking at least 3 feet to shovel off the driveway.  We did enjoy the new sledding hill we found!

~  I took a Girls' Day Out to tour some AWESOME mansions.  Of which I took no pictures but the one you see here (In my defense, it was cold outside and pictures were not allowed inside).

~  Ethan's sword cake, months is anticipation.  It is supposed to be Riptide from The Lightening Thief.

~  Matching pajamas.  I'm lucky in that this year only one person's didn't fit, unlucky that the one person was me.

A smattering of my Christmas photos.  Nintendo DS's, Rockband, custom made snuggies from Grandma Red, Legos, puzzles, & coloring stuff.

Happy New Year!!