Oh...really?

I love my nieces and nephews. Sometimes they drive me nutso and sometimes I can't get enough of them. My 4 year old niece Maddy has learned a new phrase which she likes to say with a bratty little attitude. "Oh, really?", she loves to say. It's one of those things that you can't laugh at in front of her and can't help laughing at later.

"Madelyn! If you jump off your dresser, Lily will copy you and hurt herself." "Oh, really?" Translation: Am I supposed to care?

"Madelyn it's bad manners to burp at the dinner table". "Oh, really?" Translation: What are you going to do about it?

"Maddy, it's time to put your PJ's on". "Oh....really?" Translation: Try and make me.

Awe...kids....the best revenge any older sibling could ask for.



Miss Thang

The Simple Life

I'm having one of those days where I can't stop thinking about how lovely it would be to bag this city life and move to a farm out in the middle of nowhere and ride horses and raise chickens. I've always lived in the city. I don't know how to grow vegetables or how to raise chickens or cows. But somedays I want to move to the country and live on a farm. I think all the Hallmark movies I watch give me a false sense of romance about being a country bumpkin but I can't help but buy into it and daydream about it while I look at pictures of farms.

I could move to a horse farm in Tennessee

http://homes.point2.com/US/Tennessee/1000807036-Photos.aspx


or this farm in Vermont

http://www.terragalleria.com/pictures-subjects/barns/picture.barns.usvt6522.html


There is always Sweden

http://www.terragalleria.com/pictures-subjects/barns/picture.barns.swed6156.html



Italy is always calling my name

http://socialentrepreneurs.enchantingchallenge.com/?m=200903


I'm going to need some new shoes



and I might have to trade in the Sentra for a new vehicle



Hmmm...This could take a while.

Don't stick a fork in me...I'm not quite done

I guess we all have those moments where we look up at the heavens and scream something along the lines of... "What gives?!!" I've had insomnia since I was 10. It's a nightmare for a little girl and for an adult it's no picnic either.It affects my ability to function during the day and makes waking up in the morning very painful and almost impossible. Sometimes I take a pill so that I can fall asleep all the way before midnight. I build up an immunity to medication though, so most nights I just have to tough it out and hope that I can fall asleep on my own. It's normal for me to be awake until at least 1:00 or 2:00. Just once I would like to be asleep before 11:00 or even before midnight without a pill. I wonder what it would feel like. Chronic Insomnia is frustrating and lonely and sometimes it makes me incredibly angry. Last night was one of those normal frustrating nights where I couldn't sleep and I felt totally abandoned. So, while only half awake yet unable to fall completely asleep, I asked God "Why? Why won't you let me sleep?!" He didn't answer or maybe I was just too mad to hear him. I don't count on getting the answer I want anytime soon. But this morning I got my daily gem via e-mail and I guess I got the answer I needed whether I like it or not. Today's quote was from Henry B. Eyring.

“Even when you feel the truth of [the] capacity and kindness of the Lord to deliver you in your trials, it may still test your courage and strength to endure. The Prophet Joseph Smith cried out in agony in a dungeon: “ ‘O God, where are thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place?’(D&C 121:1–2). . . .“The Lord’s reply has helped me and can encourage us all in times of darkness. Here it is: ‘My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes’ (D&C 121:7–8).”

I don't feel like enduring. I feel like getting what I want...which at the moment is a healthy sleep pattern. But I wouldn't take a cake out of the oven after 15 minutes when the directions say to leave it in for 25. The cake would be ruined. So, why would God take this trial away before the time is right? It could ruin me. Right? Maybe this is a trial that will pass someday once I learn what I need to learn or maybe it's a trial that will always be there. I have no way of knowing how long it will last. So far it's lasted 20 years. I must learn to endure this small moment well, with patience and humility even when the small moment seems to last forever and then someday I'll look into the eyes of a loving Heavenly Father and wonder how I ever doubted him.

I wonder if I should be posting such a personal thing on a public blog but this is real. It's life and sometimes life is just plain hard. And in a way I'm really glad it's not always easy...not that I want anymore trials. But....without trials I don't think most of us would learn a thing.

You Gonna Eat That?

Let me tell you something about my 22 month old niece Lily. She loves to eat! She could win a pie eating contest against 10 other grown men. She has no problem stealing the food of others when they are not looking. She will find the smallest cookie crumb on the ground and eat it as if she hasn't eaten in days. Her appetite is insatiable and I just love watching her put it away. It's quite the show.

Last night I was at my sisters playing with the kids. At dinner Madelyn, her 4 year-old sister was taking forever to eat her roll and Lily kept stealing it. Madelyn would protest and steal the roll back. Lily didn't care. She wanted carbs and nothing was going to get in her way so she persisted. I really admire her determination to get what she wants.

After dinner we played Hungry Hungry Hippo. Madelyn still had not finished the roll. She would take a bite every once in a while and she was still fighting Lily for it. Lily got bored with the game after a while and disappeared. A couple of minutes later, Madelyn looked at the ground and asked "Where's my bread?"

I started laughing so hard. "Oh Maddy, Lily took your roll. That's so funny!" Fortunately, Maddy was able to at least pretend to see the humor in the situation and started to laugh as well. Then Lily walked in the room with her face full of bread. She was smart enough to know that she had to leave the room if she wanted that roll but didn't realize she would be busted if she walked back into the room before finishing it...or maybe getting caught doesn't bother her. I just love her!

Love

Is it possible to fall in love with a piece of furniture? Two days ago, I was checking out this fabulous blog and when I saw this couch it was love at first sight. Try not to drool on my couch, K? Happy Friday!



Couch by http://www.atlantabartlett.com/ via http://www.creaturecomforts.typepad.com/

Maybe you could send positive thoughts and prayers my way......

I'm having one of those days where I just to run away and join the circus. I'm actually not a fan of the circus but I'm also not a fan of the stress school is causing me. Sometimes I wonder if I'm not cut out for school. I'm taking English 101 the first semester because I want to know that I will be able write good papers during all of my college career but it's killing me. I really do want to be a good writer but sometimes the simplest writing assignment freaks me out! I had the best of intentions when school started to avoid doing homework on the sabbath but here I am on a Sunday night...stressing about a writing assignment due tomorrow and I just pray I don't fail. But failure wouldn't be the worst thing. Quitting and always wondering what I could have been would be much worse. So, I carry on. I might carry on with tears in my eyes and a headache the size of Texas but it beats the alternative. I won't quit even if it kills me, which it might.

Giving It Another Go

So, A couple of week ago I started taking classes at SLCC. (Salt Lake Community College..here in the Valley we call it Slick.) Working full time and going to school is no walk in the park. I can honestly say that there has not been a single day where I have not wanted to quit. There has not been a single day where I haven't kicked myself for not going to school when I was younger and lived at home. It's hard. I feel inadequate. I feel like my brain is slightly rusty BUT...I do feel like I am starting to get a better handle on things and I do have to say that it feels good to know that I am getting the ball rolling on my education. Someday I'll graduate. That will totally rock.