A Big Difference

As my house gets cleaner, I have noticed a big difference in my moods. I am not a slob by nature, but my house has getting worse and worse since I started working. It has been mostly the kids stuff, and I just had given up on trying to get them (especially Noel) to pick up after themselves.

Last week my good friend, Melissa, introduced me to Chore Wars. At first, I thought it would just be a fun way for her and I to compete. As I looked at it more, I found it would be great to motivate my kids help out around the house. My boys spent a lot of the morning running around cleaning today. I woke up to a clean dining room (they even cleared my decorations off the table to make sure it was clean), the back door was free of dog prints, the front of the oven was clean, and the entertainment center dusted. The best part is, the boys are cleaning up the dog poo in the back yard (YAY)!

I don't know if my better mood is because my body is starting to get used to my meds or the house being cleaner or just the fact that they kids are letting me sleep (they are just too busy cleaning to bug me). No matter what it is, I am glad that I am feeling better the last few days.

A Decision Made

Eric has had a big decision to make the last few months. He had to choose who would be baptizing him. This was not a decision that he took lightly. At first, he was afraid that if he picked one person over another it would hurt someone's feelings. After all, only one person could be picked. Then, he took inventory on how many people the candidates had baptized. Finally, a few weeks ago, he had narrowed it down to two of his favorites, Grandpa and Uncle Asher. Today, while leaving church, I let him know that the decision needed to be made soon. He will be baptized in about a month and a half. That means not much more time. Also, I will be meeting with the bishop next week to talk about the event to make sure that everything can be taken care of properly and at a time when I can attend without having to run off at the end. Again, he considered the number of people that I knew the candidates had baptized (not counting in the temple). In the end he chose Uncle Asher because Grandpa had plenty of chances already. I am so proud of him for making such a big decision on his own!

Chore Wars

Want experience points for doing house work?  Join me:


http://www.chorewars.com/invite.php?id=ec2ab374ef21

Struggles

I have been having a hard time metally lately.  I was put on some new medications about a month and a half ago that totally screw with my hormones.  The wacky hormones have put me into a depression most days.  According to the doctor everything should even out after being on these meds for about three months (only a month and a half to go).  I honestly have days where I just don't think I can live like this for that long.  Luckily, John and I are in a good spot in our relationship and I am able to just tell him that I am having a bad day and he will let me just snuggle up to him for a little while.  Sometimes it is just good to know someone cares. I hope to be back to normal soon.  Until then, I will try to do my best at blogging at least once a week, but I won't be doing any kind of exercise challenges (in case you hadn't guessed that already).

Awards

Ok.  I honestly have to give John credit for both awards.  He takes Eric to school every morning and gets me out the door at night.  It is cool that we both got an award for the same thing though...right?

Lochbuie Snowplow

The town of Lochbuie has waited for days without plowing the streets.  Today, they sent out the...um...plow? (Sorry about the quality of the pictures.  I took them from my back door and cropped out the swing set the best I could.)

A Bit of Catching Up

I know it has been a long time since I have written, but I have had a busy couple of weeks.  There have been things here and there that I have thought would make good blog enties, but time escaped me, so am going to do my best at condensing them into one post.  Please bear with me.

First off, Tanksgiving week was pure torture for the mom who works all night.  The boys were out of school all week, and Eric is not used to the rules of the morning since he really only has to deal with them on Satudays when John is home to help keep them quiet and busy so that I can sleep.  That means that the mornings were loud.  The afternoon was filled with friends because that is what the did all summer and expected to be able to do again.  The good news is that the kids rooms got cleaner.  The bad news is that I got in trouble at work for sounding tired on the phone.  I will have to figure out something else for Christmas break.

The next thing I wanted to write about was something I saw that was actually quite sweet.  A few days  ago, I had been having a difficult day with the kids.  The last thing I wanted to do was go to the school to bring my almost 8 year old clean pants.  I was at the end of my rope.  Then I witnessed a simple sweet act of kindness:  a little girl in Eric's was given a hand made hat with mittens to match.  She was so excited.  After she left the office and went back to class, I heard the explainations.  The little girl lives in a home with a large family and all of the kids come to school in handed down coats with no hats of gloves every winter. There were bags of hats and mittens donated by a local grandma for the kids at the school who needed them.  Just seeing the look on that little girl's face made me have to hold back my tears.  Hearing about the generousity of the annonymous grandma made it even sweeter.

I had other things, but I will leave it on a sweet note.