Followup

Posted: January 26, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Great Expectations | 2 Comments

Last year I made resolutions. Not so this year. But, for kicks and giggles, let’s see how I did with my 2011 resolutions…

  • Eat more healthy food and less junk food. Compared to 2010, yes, I improved in 2011. And in December I went junk-food-and-sweets-free, which is pretty impressive considering how much sugary food is up for grabs at Christmastime. We did eat more fruits and vegetables. While the year as a whole may not have been a success, I think I’m on the right track with this, especially so far in 2012.
  • Be frugal. Hmm…I improved over the course of the year. Right now I’m being meticulous in budgeting. Have I mentioned I love spreadsheets?
  • Teach Evan. When I made these resolutions, I wasn’t in school. School ate up so much of my time that I didn’t spend nearly as much time as I wanted with Evan. He has started learning letters, opposites, and a few gospel principles, but I have a long way to go with my parenting efforts.
  • Go on a date with Jarom at least once per quarter. Done.
  • Write in my journal weekly. Not done, even a little bit. This year I’m doing a short line each day, and that’s working much better. I love keeping a journal but I’m exhausted at the end of the day, and there are so many other demands on my time throughout the day. It will take a lot of work for me to start keeping a regular journal again and right now, I don’t have the energy.
  • Develop patience by learning to think, even briefly, before speaking or acting. As I didn’t remember making this resolution, I can’t say I put much thought into carrying it out. I’ll let Jarom speak to whether I seemed more patient or not.
  • Be more disciplined about following a daily routine. If we are liberal about our definition of “routine,” then yes, done. I had a very vague daily routine. It involved breakfast, playtime, naptime, lunch, more naps, playtime, dinner, and bed. I probably meant a routine that enabled me to be productive. What I actually had enabled all of us to be fed and relatively happy. I’ll take it!

This year, I’m going to try being fulfilled. Read President Uchtdorf’s talk again. I want to learn to stop waiting for x to be fulfilled – to not want a Golden Ticket. There are things I’m waiting for, of course, but I can be happy even while I wait.

Do you have any goals for 2012?

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Prior

Posted: January 25, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: All's Well That Ends Well | Leave a comment

School is a lot less demanding this semester, but I seem to be scheduling a lot of other activities because of my lighter school load…which just means that I’m extra busy, in another form. I feel pulled in a million directions – I want to do lots of projects and playing and little trips with the kids; I’d like to do as much family history research as I can while I’m near the Family History Library in Salt Lake; I’m still working on graduation announcements, which I’ll have letterpressed by local Rowley Press; I want to read more books; and I even want to clean our house, probably the most unrealistic thing on the list. On top of my poor housekeeping skills and natural untidiness, Evan and June are actually some sort of anti-cleaning sprites or brownies or something. (Is that a thing?)

But there are prior claims on my time. I got myself into this finish-your-degree stuff, and now I’m so so so very close, and I do have reading to do for classes. I have tests to take and papers to write. Prior to that, I have kids that need to be fed, clothed, attended to, played with, and disciplined. (Not necessarily in that order.) And let’s not forget that Jarom and I like to spend time with each other! We both have lighter loads this semester, but it still seems like a challenge to find time to do things other than homework, childcare, and cleaning together.

I am trying to find some balance…this week Jarom made cookies, we had friends come over, I took the kids to visit the pet store, some girls from the ward are coming to entertain Evan and June this afternoon, tomorrow June has a checkup and I get to go do safety & emissions for our car registration (wahoo!), Friday Jarom and I will go to the temple for a session (twice in two weeks! And another trip scheduled for next week!), and Saturday I’ll study for a test before we go to our friend’s first birthday party. Sound like enough fun + responsibility mixed together?

Sadly, I have two tests next week (both for independent study classes). But other than that, almost nothing on the calendar! Except, you know, going to class. Still! I’m looking forward to the magical time after school is over, we’ve settled in wherever we’ll end up, and there are a couple years left before Evan heads off to school. I’d like to have a whole week free of prior claims on my time.

Photogenic

Posted: January 23, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Dangerous Book for Boys, Little Women | 1 Comment

You probably wish I put up more pictures of the kids. I do, too. But they are surprisingly uncooperative when it comes to taking pictures. Here’s one of my recent attempts:


I concede that part of the problem may be my lack of knowledge and experience taking pictures of kids. But dangit, they are terrible subjects. Then again, why would they listen to me about being photographed when they don’t listen to me about anything else?

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