Farm Fresh Eggs

 

I go to church with several people who have farms. One family that I have known for as long as I have lived in this area has a teenage daughter that raises chickens and sells eggs. They are a bit more pricey than the grocery store, but I am willing to shell out a few extra dollars to support her dreams. 

This last Sunday, I bought 3 dozen from her, and I opened them today. They are so colorful! I don’t know why I didn’t expect that. They were also very flavorful. I am hoping to make these the eggs we buy now. 

Feeling Pretty

Yesterday, I felt great about myself. I did my makeup different and loved it. I wore my red dress and love how I look in red. I wore a shawl that I haven’t worn yet and styled it just right. I even got compliments on my shawl! I need to pay this much attention to myself more often. It gives me more confidence. 

My Reading Life

 I have realized that my life has become engulfed in reading. I don’t mind. I read different things for different reasons, and the more I do it, the more I enjoy it. 

I read for spiritual reasons. I have been trying to read from the Book of Mormon for 15 minutes a day for the past few weeks. I’m not perfect at it. There are days when I still forget like when I dive deep into my work first thing in the morning. I like how I feel when I start my day this way though. It gives me a sense of clarity that I don’t get from anywhere else. 

I read for school. I am in my last class, and I have about two chapters a week to read. I fell behind a bit and have been reading a lot this week to try to catch up. It is really good information that I will use to make my final project and hopefully as I navigate my way into this field of work. 

I read to better my financial future. Chad’s brother gave the kids books to try to help them be more successful than their parents. They are all books he has recently read and told Chad they could help as well. I am about halfway through the first one with Noel waiting for me to finish. It has already changed how we invest. I’m hoping to finish it soon, pass it on to my daughter, and start the next book. With only 20 to 25 years before we retire, we know we need to step up our financial game. 

I read for pleasure. When I go to bed at night, I read fiction on my Kindle to calm my brain. I’m currently reading book 5 in the Vampire Knitting Club series. It’s a mindless murder mystery series that has just enough intrigue to keep me reading but not so much that it keeps me up. I read in the Kindle at night because the light isn’t too bright for Chad to fall asleep. I can also open it and read in the middle of the night when the dogs wake me up. 

The best thing that ever happened to my mind was the strikes in Hollywood. There is so little new on tv which gives me the time to sharpen my mind. 

Taking Shape

 

I have been knitting on Noel’s sweater whenever I get the chance lately, and I’m starting to like the process now that I understand the raglan increases and fisherman’s rib. I am about 6 inches from the collar and seeing the shape of the shoulders which is quite exciting. I still have a bit to go before I separate the sleeves, and I know once I do that the rest of the body will go fast. I showed Noel my progress last night and she was excited. She said she hopes it done by March so she can wear it. Honestly, I hope so, too. I’m having fun knitting and learning this pattern, but I have other things I want to knit this year as well. 

It Made Me Think

A few days ago, my daughter said something as I drove her home from school that has made me think ever since. She has such an amazing mind and throws comments out into the world not realizing how profound they are. I am often at awe over how her mind works. 

What comment did my sweet 18 year old make? As she was talking about trying to get a job, she said, “I am just trying to get my life together.” I know. It doesn’t sound as profound as one may expect, but that one sentence has been playing over in my mind ever since. 

I have been trying to put my life together for as long as I can remember. I have been working harder at it for the past 15 years than I would ever have thought necessary, and I still haven’t gotten it figured out. I am still living in the same house feeling like I am barely surviving. I have a job that I like, but it doesn’t fulfill me or pay what I feel I’m worth. I have an associate degree in business and almost a bachelor’s degree in marriage and family studies. Hopefully, I can make both degrees work together in some way. At times I think that I have wasted too much time and am too old to be still figuring things out. I hope I’m wrong. 

Sleep Deprived

We have three dogs. Dexter is a lab mix we got a few months after we got married. He’s getting a bit old, but is a good dog most of the time. Sophie is a pug/ Chihuahua mix and about he same age as Dexter. We got her in 2019 and have loved her ever since. Aqua is a hound/ boxer mix. We adopted her from the same shelter as Sophie about a year prior. She was about a year and a half old when we got her and has been a bundle of energy most of the time. We love our dogs! 

Lately, Aqua and Sophie have been waking me up very early in the morning. When I say early, I mean before my 5:00am alarm goes off. This morning, Sophie woke me up at 2:45 to let her out of my room to get a drink. Then, Aqua started doing the bark that she does when she wants attention a little after 4:00. I decided to try to let her be until I was ready to get up to see if she would calm down. She didn’t really. She should stop just long enough for me to get back to sleep before she stated back up. Eventually, Chad got up with her about 5 minutes before my alarm would have gotten me up anyway. Them waking up one or both of us has been happening for quite some time. I wish I knew how to get them to stop. 

President Nelson’s Messages

 

President Russell M. Nelson is the president and prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He leads the Church in the Lord’s way, with love and kindness. He became the prophet in 2018 after the passing of Thomas S. Monson. 

A while ago, I heard someone talking about how they were listening to all of President Nelson’s messages in the Gospel Library app. At the time I thought they were crazy. Who has the time to search through all of the talks, devotionals, and articles he has done since becoming the Prophet? Well, you don’t have to do all of that searching. Someone has already done it, and it has been put in the app as a study plan that can be followed. When I was done listening/relistening to the conference talks from the last General Conference, I was searching for my next plan, and this one came up. I thought it sounded interesting and queued it up. Since then, I have listened to one message a day(most days). It has been an interesting experience. I have learned from almost all of his messages, even the short ones that are mainly temple announcements. I have noticed a change in how I study scriptures and view my relationships. I have felt closer to my Heavenly Father. I have given myself more goals. I have a more positive outlook on life. 

I would highly suggest that others search out President Nelson’s messages. I know there are more from his time as a general authority. I think I will have to search them out, but this is a good start. 

Polar Bear run and Plunge

 This morning, Chad and Noel braved the cold, ran a 5K, and plunged into Horsetooth Reservoir. I went with to take pictures and video. As they got ready for the plunge, it was 26F outside with a water temperature of 34F. I don’t know how they did it. I was cold in all of my winter gear. 

She Cares

Yesterday, I left my clothes in the wash before going to bed. (I try not to do this because I never know when Sean or Noel will need the machines.) In that load, I had a pair of knitted socks. Noel knows I don’t like to dry my hand knit socks because I don’t like them to shrink at all. Knowing this, my sweet girl pulled them out of the load before drying it and put them on the table to dry. I know this is a little thing, but it shows me a glimpse of her heart. I love that my kids are so thoughtful!

Boot Cuffs

 

Last month, my friend asked if I could make her daughter some boot cuffs. I was mare than happy to make something new and was hoping to have them done by her daughter’s birthday. Well, I missed her birthday by a week, but they are done close to on time. 

I loved knitting these  they are so pretty and should add something a bit warmer and cute to the boots she wears with dresses and such. The pattern was a free pattern from Ravelry.

Eric and Mom Day 2024

Eric made it known that he wanted to have a day with me for his birthday again. He seemed to have forgotten that he had told me he had outgrown it. The only issue we had was figuring out what to do and when. He finally decided he wanted to go to Meow Wolf, so I got tickets for after work yesterday. 

Eric had a blast. We were there for a bit over two hours and saw everything at least once. The world they have created in this odd shaped building is amazing and intricate. Eric loved it so much that he didn’t want to leave. I really enjoyed spending time with my oldest child. I love seeing the excitement and curiosity in his eyes. 

Shoveling in the Cold

 

Sean knows how cold it is outside, but he wanted to shovel the snow. Thankfully, he too has plenty of warm clothing including a beanie I knit him over the summer. When he came in, he said it wasn’t as cold as he thought it would be. It’s -7F right now with a wind chill of -21F. How does a hat and gloves make that big of a difference?

Cold Day

 

When I woke up this morning, it was -12F outside, and I had brunch plans with one of my best friends. I didn’t want to change my plans, so I made sure to dress as warm as I could. I have never been happier about how many warm things I have knit! Along with a pair of jeans, t shirt, hoodie and winter coat, I work hand knit mittens, socks, and hat. It was still a bit cold because it was so cold outside, but I was warmer than I would have been if I did not have my hand knits. They really are warmer than most of the store bought stuff I have. 

He’s 22!

 

My sweet Eric turned 22 today. It has been such a privilege to be his mom. He has always been so kind and loving. He was always that kid that wanted to be friends with everyone and not let anyone feel left out. I am a better person because of him. I am so lucky to be the person he calls mom. 

We celebrated with a dinner at Old Chicago,

a lemon cake made by his girlfriend,

and a game an presents at our house. 

We also have plans to spend Mom and Eric time Friday night. I hope he knows how much we love him. 

Investing

I have been reading The Automatic Millionaire since last week. Chad’s brother gave it and a few other financial advice books to the kids for Christmas to try to help them have a more successful future than their parents. (He did the same for his other nephew and nieces.) I only gave one interested in possibly reading one of the right now, but Chad and I could definitely use the help. 

I am only a few chapters in, but I have read enough to know that he is not talking about a get rich quick scheme, he is talking about using automated systems to help save and invest. From what I have read so far, Chad and I have decided to make a few changes to help us have a better future. First, we looked at how we spent our money to see where we could make some cuts. We already cut out Door Dash and don’t go out to eat as often which is helping with the day-to-day stuff. We decided that our soda habit was what could change to give us more money to invest. We have been buying three twelve packs of Dr. Pepper Zero of various flavors for quite a while. It currently costs about $8.00 per twelve pack when on sale, so we could save at least $24.00 per week if we stop buying it. This money can be invested into our Robinhood accounts. It’s not automatic yet, but s could be set up that way. If we can stick to this, we can make it automatic. Next, we checked each of our 401(k)s to see what we were investing and how much we had. The book suggests we have 10% invested from each paycheck. He was set at 7%, and I was at 3%. We were comfortable with his, but we decided I needed to invest more. I changed my contribution to 5%. I’m not comfortable with going all the way up to 10% yet. That will come with time. 

I’m not sure if we have the time to become millionaires by the time we want to retire since we are already 45 and almost 50. I am willing to put a greater effort into it. However, I am hoping we have enough to retire with some kind of dignity. Let’s face it, there will probably never be that inheritance that we all hope for. 

Started Noom

As I was reading a book about marathon training, it was suggested that the way we eat could determine how we feel after the run. Out of all 250ish pages I read, this was one of the main things that stuck with me. Then, I got an email from Noom that had a deal I felt like I couldn’t pass up. (I have been getting these emails since I considered joining about a year ago.) After discussing it with Chad, it was decided that this may be the thing that can help me make the changes I need to lose weight and feel good when I workout. 

I am almost to the 2 week mark, and I can tell that it is helping. I like that there are daily lessons that I can lessen to that not only give real tips. They also keep the plan on my mind. I like that I am allowed to eat any foods with an emphasis on eating “green” foods. I like that there is a calorie range rather than a specific calorie goal to hit each day. I like that they explain how and why more calories can be earned. 

So far, I have lost about 4 pounds. I know that isn’t much for some people. (My husband can lose Morse than that in a week with minimal changes.) It is a lot for me though. I have two medical conditions that make weight loss difficult but not impossible. I’m sure the numbers will go up as I make more changes and exercise more. I can’t wait to see what I can do with this. 

One Thing Per Day

I decided on the first that I wanted to make a gaol to help declutter the house a bit. I really don’t like the whole big purge thing. I tried it after reading Marie Kondo’s book 4 or 5 years ago. It was freeing but also hard because I get attached to stuff. (I would probably get help for that at some point.) There is something I can do that isn’t as intimidating: get rid of one thing at a time. That leads me to my goal. 

This year, I will get rid of at least one thing per day. It isn’t a lot if you just look at it from the daily or weekly numbers. However, if you look at the whole year, I will be either throwing away or donating 366 items including leap day. That sounds a bit more significant and will be done in a way that doesn’t scare me. 

Challenging Knit

 

I started to knit a sweater for Noel a little while ago. She found some yarn at Michaels that she loved. Then, we found a pattern that excited her. Since the button band is knit on at the same time as the body with double points, I found it challenging to keep the stitches from sliding off of them as I knit. The only solution I could think of was to buy the rubber things that can be put on the ends, but I didn’t buy them until after Christmas because I didn’t know if Chad would get me the pretty ones I had on my wish list. He didn’t buy any, so I bought them myself. 

I sat down with this sweater again after dinner last night. It uses fisherman’s rib which I have never done before, so I watched the next video that was provided by the pattern creater (these alone make the purchase price completely worth it). The problem I had was I was not completely sure where I left off and there was a funky stitch a few rows back. I ended up spending about an hour thinking back three rows before my family became too distracting to keep going. 

I will sit down with it again today after work to figure it out. Last time I counted, I was missing one stitch. I don’t know if I dropped one as I knit back or didn’t pick up enough stitches from the collar. I hope it will be obvious when I seclude myself again. 

Between the slippery yarn and changing patterns, this sweater may be the hardest thing I have ever knit. 

Christmas/New Year Memories

The pictures above appeared in my Facebook memories today. I remember when they were taken 15 years ago. I had seen a suggestion somewhere to do a time capsule at the beginning of the year (there is a blog post about it from that year). One of the things I included for each person was a picture (the ex was deleted off of my Facebook page years ago).  We each stood in front of the beautiful Christmas tree that we bought not long after Noel’s 3rd birthday. At this point, I knew something was wrong in the marriage and was desperately trying create happy memories. 

I have complicated feelings when I look at these pictures. I love seeing the kids’ little faces. I often miss the simplicity of these ages. At the same time, I remember how it felt to do these things like this alone for the most part. I could feel the resentment as I tried to get the ex to leave the girls he was chatting with online in the bedroom. I would rather remember the happy, innocent, sweet faces of my children. They have been my reason for everything since before they were born. My hope is that in the future, the kids will be the only memory I have when I see these pictures.