I have been thinking about writing a post about fall for a while now. I started thinking about it when the air in the evenings started to get crisper, and visions of hot apple cider started haunting me.
The heat came on this morning, almost an entire month earlier than it did last year. I find this disturbing because it means that I will be having to pay those high heating bills for an extra month this year. I am hoping this isn't foreshadowing for a really cold winter.
Fall is one of my favorite seasons. I love the colors, I love the air, I love the cocoa. Nothing says Fall like a nice fluffy sweatshirt and a polar fleece vest.
Unfortunately my favorite parts of fall are short lived here. The leaves are great, but the rain has started and soggy leaves don't crunch, they squish. This is the beginning of wet shoe season. Our boys walk to school, and this means slogging through grass and mud, and usually their shoes don't dry overnight. Even when I drive them to school they manage to get their shoes wet somehow in between the back door and the driveway, or at recess. Eventually I will give up and make them all wear boots to school, but for now its too early for that.
Fall is like the entrance to a magical time of year. Its colorful, it brings people closer together, if only to stay warm, and it just makes me feel like baking. Once the weather is cooler baking can serve a dual purpose because residual heat from the oven takes some of the edge off of the chill. This week things like stew, cheeseburger soup and clam chowder have made their way onto the dinner menu. My mind is already turning beyond Halloween and thinking thoughts of Thanksgiving Turkeys and of family visiting. Fall is the beginning of the pathway to the Holidays.
There are times that I think I hate Fall. I would much rather it stay light outside. The darkness Fall brings has always been something I struggle with. Once it gets cold enough to leave a constant edge of chill in the house, I start to yearn towards Springtime. But in between Fall and the new birth of Spring, there are so many things to look forward to. The stress of the Holidays is there, but always there is the magic with it. After missing two Holiday seasons in a row when I was a working Mom, I cherish the opportunities to just think about my little family during this time of the year.
What are your favorite things about Fall?
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Monday, September 24, 2007
One Bathroom Woes
We only have one bathroom. In fact, thinking back we have only had one bathroom in each place we have lived since we got married. You would think I would be used to it by now.
In the beginning it wasn't so bad. Just me and D, sharing everything including our one bathroom. Then along came #1. He was four before he was potty trained, so it still wasn't too bad. By the time D and I had been married for seven years and a couple of months, we had five children. As they have each gotten potty trained, our little bathroom has seemed to get smaller and smaller.
Now we have seven bathroom using people at our house, and still only one toilet to go around. Oh how I dream of having a master bedroom suite with a bathroom of its own. Then it would be back to D and me, sharing one bathroom, and the boys could fight it out over the other one.
Some of the woes associated with sharing my bathroom with 6 males...
1. Drippage aka over spray: D either has pretty good aim, or knows how to clean up after himself. The other boys, however, have a tendency to overshoot, ricochet, or just drip and the end result is pee on the toilet seat (even though they put the seat up to pee). One nice note is that they always put the seat down. The only time I have to worry about the seat being left up is when males from the extended family visit.
A wet toilet seat is the bane of my bathroom activities. Sometimes...you just really have to go, and having to pause to make sure the seat is dry is always a hassle. Thank goodness for disinfecting wipes!
2. Toothpaste trauma: There is a tendency by the boys to either get too much toothpaste on their toothbrush, or to just be unable to resist the urge to squirt toothpaste on the counter. I am not sure which, but I am very tired of cleaning up the globs of toothpaste all over the sink, and the toothpaste spray on the mirror.
3. Hang it up already!: Unfortunately the boys are too short to reach the towel rack. We really need to get another one. Our shower curtain rod has a towel rod attached to it. It works fine for me and for D to hang our towels on, but there is not a towel rod for the boys. Their wet towels end up on the floor after they shower. I think we need to remedy this problem, but even so, there is not going to be room in our bathroom for five towels worth of rods.
4. A basketball team, we are not: We frequently get comments from people that with our five boys we have enough to make our own basketball team. While that is true, none of our boys has really mastered the art of making it into the basket. The laundry basket. There is a laundry basket right there in the bathroom, yet they still can't seem to get their dirty clothes into it. I regularly find their little underwear and other clothes strewn about the place. This is one that just takes the proper training...so I will work on them.
5. strangled soap: I like my shower, and I like it to look nice. D already knows to extract any chest hairs from the soap before exiting the shower. I like the soap to look nice even if I am the only one that will see it. Today I went to take my shower and the soap looked like it had been chewed up by a dog. I already knew that at least a couple of the big boys had taken showers that morning. They can't help but squeeze the soap, or poke holes in it...its funner than playdoh! If I had my own bathroom...I could have nice pristine soap in it. Such a nice dream to have.
6. Get in line: Of course there is the usual problem of seven people using one bathroom. People often hear nature calling at the same time. I could normally get over this quickly, but one of my boys is notorious for taking an extra long time because he wants to make sure his bum is extra clean. I suppose I shouldn't complain. Cleanliness is next to...oh...you know what I mean. Then there is #5 who has recently become pretty serious about his potty training. He gets nervous that he will have an accident though, so he will sit in the bathroom waiting to go for 45 minutes at a time...sometimes even longer. While I am thrilled that he hasn't had any accidents for a long time...45 minutes of waiting is putting a damper on my day.
7. Interruptions: This goes along with #6. The thing is, I can't even take a shower without someone needing to use the bathroom. The shower curtain is my friend, but there its not much fun to be taking a shower and find the sudden urge to get out early because the bouquet of the room has suddenly changed. Sometimes the hot water will also run out before the interrupter is done doing their business, and I end up shivering in the shower, with a towel wrapped around me, waiting for them to get out so I can come out of the shower.
All in all, even though I am complaining...I am very grateful for the bathroom I have. I can always take comfort in the memory of those weeks and months when we were remodeling the bathroom, and had to use a portable toilet off and on, and had to use a hose in the laundry room sink for bathing. My bathroom seems like heaven in comparison.
In the beginning it wasn't so bad. Just me and D, sharing everything including our one bathroom. Then along came #1. He was four before he was potty trained, so it still wasn't too bad. By the time D and I had been married for seven years and a couple of months, we had five children. As they have each gotten potty trained, our little bathroom has seemed to get smaller and smaller.
Now we have seven bathroom using people at our house, and still only one toilet to go around. Oh how I dream of having a master bedroom suite with a bathroom of its own. Then it would be back to D and me, sharing one bathroom, and the boys could fight it out over the other one.
Some of the woes associated with sharing my bathroom with 6 males...
1. Drippage aka over spray: D either has pretty good aim, or knows how to clean up after himself. The other boys, however, have a tendency to overshoot, ricochet, or just drip and the end result is pee on the toilet seat (even though they put the seat up to pee). One nice note is that they always put the seat down. The only time I have to worry about the seat being left up is when males from the extended family visit.
A wet toilet seat is the bane of my bathroom activities. Sometimes...you just really have to go, and having to pause to make sure the seat is dry is always a hassle. Thank goodness for disinfecting wipes!
2. Toothpaste trauma: There is a tendency by the boys to either get too much toothpaste on their toothbrush, or to just be unable to resist the urge to squirt toothpaste on the counter. I am not sure which, but I am very tired of cleaning up the globs of toothpaste all over the sink, and the toothpaste spray on the mirror.
3. Hang it up already!: Unfortunately the boys are too short to reach the towel rack. We really need to get another one. Our shower curtain rod has a towel rod attached to it. It works fine for me and for D to hang our towels on, but there is not a towel rod for the boys. Their wet towels end up on the floor after they shower. I think we need to remedy this problem, but even so, there is not going to be room in our bathroom for five towels worth of rods.
4. A basketball team, we are not: We frequently get comments from people that with our five boys we have enough to make our own basketball team. While that is true, none of our boys has really mastered the art of making it into the basket. The laundry basket. There is a laundry basket right there in the bathroom, yet they still can't seem to get their dirty clothes into it. I regularly find their little underwear and other clothes strewn about the place. This is one that just takes the proper training...so I will work on them.
5. strangled soap: I like my shower, and I like it to look nice. D already knows to extract any chest hairs from the soap before exiting the shower. I like the soap to look nice even if I am the only one that will see it. Today I went to take my shower and the soap looked like it had been chewed up by a dog. I already knew that at least a couple of the big boys had taken showers that morning. They can't help but squeeze the soap, or poke holes in it...its funner than playdoh! If I had my own bathroom...I could have nice pristine soap in it. Such a nice dream to have.
6. Get in line: Of course there is the usual problem of seven people using one bathroom. People often hear nature calling at the same time. I could normally get over this quickly, but one of my boys is notorious for taking an extra long time because he wants to make sure his bum is extra clean. I suppose I shouldn't complain. Cleanliness is next to...oh...you know what I mean. Then there is #5 who has recently become pretty serious about his potty training. He gets nervous that he will have an accident though, so he will sit in the bathroom waiting to go for 45 minutes at a time...sometimes even longer. While I am thrilled that he hasn't had any accidents for a long time...45 minutes of waiting is putting a damper on my day.
7. Interruptions: This goes along with #6. The thing is, I can't even take a shower without someone needing to use the bathroom. The shower curtain is my friend, but there its not much fun to be taking a shower and find the sudden urge to get out early because the bouquet of the room has suddenly changed. Sometimes the hot water will also run out before the interrupter is done doing their business, and I end up shivering in the shower, with a towel wrapped around me, waiting for them to get out so I can come out of the shower.
All in all, even though I am complaining...I am very grateful for the bathroom I have. I can always take comfort in the memory of those weeks and months when we were remodeling the bathroom, and had to use a portable toilet off and on, and had to use a hose in the laundry room sink for bathing. My bathroom seems like heaven in comparison.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Does your deodorant say anything about you?
I am just curious as to how many people are devoted to a certain brand of deodorant/ antipersperant. I have been a secret user for years...and YEARS. My sister always liked using Old Spice for deodorant when we were teens, but I found it to be too slimy.
I have noticed that there are many newer scents of Secret out on the market lately. I am personally still pretty devoted to the Spring Breeze and Shower Fresh scents. I decided to compile a list of available scents just out of curiosity.
Powder Fresh
Sheer Clean
Shower Fresh
Spring Breeze
Unscented
Glacier Mist
Mystic Rain (okay, now who comes up with these names?)
Ocean Breeze
Arctic Apple
Brazillian Cherry
Eastern Lily
English Bloom
French Lavender
Southern Peach
Vanilla Chai
Tropical Tango
Jasmine Orient
KuKu Cocoa Butter
Spanish Rose
Passion Flower
Botanical Silk
Tropical Satin
Velvet Powder
Afrikan Violet (their spelling, not mine)
Asian Pear
Why so many choices I wonder! What if I switch scents and then they discontinue it? A while back I bought some secret that was on clearance...it was called Optimism...now doesn't that make you want to buy it? Actually I might be more inclined to buy one called Pessimism because that is more my personality
Monday, September 17, 2007
That time of the year again...
I love Christmas music. Most people who know me well also know that I am prone to pulling out the Christmas music at a time some people might call insanely early in the year. Typically that would be in August. We have over 20 Christmas Albums...most on CD, but quite a few on cassette as well. I didn't want to take the time to count every single Album, but I would say we have close to 30 of them, and I am always in the market for more.
This year, I waited until September 15th to listen to some Christmas music...that means I am a whole month behind in my listening! No wonder I have been feeling so crabby...
I am not saying I am ready for stores to be displaying their Christmas wares. I was pleasantly surprised that Costco only just started putting out their decorative items for sale. They are behind schedule too! Last year they had Holiday merchandise out in August.
So, now that I am in the Christmas spirit (at least musically) I am wondering, what is your favorite Christmas album? Song? Version of a song? When do you start listening to Christmas music? I would love to hear about it, even if it seems early in the year for it. (My take on that is that Christmas music is good for all year round, its about the Savior's birth! Why should I only think about that once a year?) You can keep your Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree to yourself...as well as your Jingle Bell Rock. I don't mind most of the secular Holiday music, but those two in particular drive me CRAZY!
This year, I waited until September 15th to listen to some Christmas music...that means I am a whole month behind in my listening! No wonder I have been feeling so crabby...
I am not saying I am ready for stores to be displaying their Christmas wares. I was pleasantly surprised that Costco only just started putting out their decorative items for sale. They are behind schedule too! Last year they had Holiday merchandise out in August.
So, now that I am in the Christmas spirit (at least musically) I am wondering, what is your favorite Christmas album? Song? Version of a song? When do you start listening to Christmas music? I would love to hear about it, even if it seems early in the year for it. (My take on that is that Christmas music is good for all year round, its about the Savior's birth! Why should I only think about that once a year?) You can keep your Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree to yourself...as well as your Jingle Bell Rock. I don't mind most of the secular Holiday music, but those two in particular drive me CRAZY!
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
9/11 remembered...
I wrote this "poem" if you will (its not a rhyming poem, so I sometimes wonder if I should call it that) a year after 9/11. I thought I would post it here today in remembrance of that time.
Revisited version II
In Memory of 9-11-2001
In Memory of 9-11-2001
I try not to think about it-At least not in depth
Waking up that morning like it was a normal day
Browsing through my email news... And there it was...
I was in shock-And so I sat all day watching
As my children played on the floor around me-oblivious.
I watched the explosion as the second plane hit
I watched the bodies of the people who jumped-Falling... falling...
I watched the people fleeing as the first tower collapsed
And I sat and watched that collapse-a silent witness to untold deaths
My mind tried to grasp what it meant and would mean
Tried to understand what people who were there must have felt
And then I stopped thinking about it... put it away
It was always there of course-every day
And now a year has passed. I have not watched TV today
Afraid I will see the replay of all of the deaths that still haunt me
And I realize that I did lose something that day
I lost brothers and sisters I had never even met
Potential friends who might have enriched my life
And the feeling that I could keep my family safe in this world
A world on the brink of explosion
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Is exercise the bane of your existence?
I was fairly athletic as a youth. Not a star athlete, but in shape. I enjoyed participating in Softball, Volleyball, Basketball and track over the years and I also enjoyed outdoor activities such as hiking. I went running after school on a regular basis, and enjoyed pushing myself to do better.
Then I grew up, and got married. Up until marriage I still played sports occasionally. I even played in a basketball game for my singles ward at church...during my honeymoon (our honeymoon was spent in our hometown area because we were moving away from family and friends the next week. It was more of a saying goodbye to friends and family although we did go on some day trips by ourselves that week. I still regret not going away for our honeymoon. Someday when all the kids are older I will make up for it and D and I will take off on our own someplace.) I loved basketball, but I think that was the last game I ever played.
Shortly after getting married, I got pregnant with our first child. 9 months after he was born, I got pregnant with our second child, and so on until I had five. By this time I was rarely exercising, and the pounds piled on. I kept saying I was going to get into shape after each baby, and I fully intended to, but life has a way of overwhelming people sometimes, and exercise took a backseat to everything else that was going on.
D being the sensitive man that he is gained weight right along with me. I think he blames my good cooking for that, but I like to think he didn't want me to get fat alone.
So for the last several years I have been thinking about exercising. Thinking and doing are two very different things. I won't tell you how many pounds I have gained since marriage, but I will tell you that I have a long way to go to be even close to getting in shape.
I recently got a treadmill. This treadmill isn't my first piece of exercise equipment. At one time we had an exercise bike we had bought at a garage sale, but the seat post was bent, and it could not be adjusted and it was VERY uncomfortable. We also had a mini trampoline that the kids got more use out of than I ever did. I have been wanting a treadmill for a while, because my youngest kids are too big for a stroller, and too small to keep up with me walking, and I wanted to start walking. We could not afford a treadmill so I picked one up at a second hand store. (It might have worked better if it came out of a dumpster.) Then my big opportunity came. A friend asked me to do a slide show for her son's Eagle court of honor and she wanted to pay me for my time. I asked her if I could borrow her treadmill (one with an actual motor!) for a couple of months, and instead, she gave it to me because she didn't like it.
We got it set up, and I tried it. I thought I was going to DIE. I was seriously out of shape (still am as a matter of fact). I barely made it for ten minutes. I tried one other time and then the treadmill sat for a few weeks.
I have recently been reading a blogger's story of her own weight loss here. Reading Calamity Jane's blog got me to thinking about my own weight loss struggles. I have also noticed that I am not that fun of a Mom right now, because I can't keep up with my children. So Wednesday of this week I put on the sneakers I had gotten for walking in...I got on the treadmill...and I walked. I put on my headphones, pressed play on the MP3 player and walked. The second song that came on had these lyrics...(Its by the Wilkinsons)
Then I grew up, and got married. Up until marriage I still played sports occasionally. I even played in a basketball game for my singles ward at church...during my honeymoon (our honeymoon was spent in our hometown area because we were moving away from family and friends the next week. It was more of a saying goodbye to friends and family although we did go on some day trips by ourselves that week. I still regret not going away for our honeymoon. Someday when all the kids are older I will make up for it and D and I will take off on our own someplace.) I loved basketball, but I think that was the last game I ever played.
Shortly after getting married, I got pregnant with our first child. 9 months after he was born, I got pregnant with our second child, and so on until I had five. By this time I was rarely exercising, and the pounds piled on. I kept saying I was going to get into shape after each baby, and I fully intended to, but life has a way of overwhelming people sometimes, and exercise took a backseat to everything else that was going on.
D being the sensitive man that he is gained weight right along with me. I think he blames my good cooking for that, but I like to think he didn't want me to get fat alone.
So for the last several years I have been thinking about exercising. Thinking and doing are two very different things. I won't tell you how many pounds I have gained since marriage, but I will tell you that I have a long way to go to be even close to getting in shape.
I recently got a treadmill. This treadmill isn't my first piece of exercise equipment. At one time we had an exercise bike we had bought at a garage sale, but the seat post was bent, and it could not be adjusted and it was VERY uncomfortable. We also had a mini trampoline that the kids got more use out of than I ever did. I have been wanting a treadmill for a while, because my youngest kids are too big for a stroller, and too small to keep up with me walking, and I wanted to start walking. We could not afford a treadmill so I picked one up at a second hand store. (It might have worked better if it came out of a dumpster.) Then my big opportunity came. A friend asked me to do a slide show for her son's Eagle court of honor and she wanted to pay me for my time. I asked her if I could borrow her treadmill (one with an actual motor!) for a couple of months, and instead, she gave it to me because she didn't like it.
We got it set up, and I tried it. I thought I was going to DIE. I was seriously out of shape (still am as a matter of fact). I barely made it for ten minutes. I tried one other time and then the treadmill sat for a few weeks.
I have recently been reading a blogger's story of her own weight loss here. Reading Calamity Jane's blog got me to thinking about my own weight loss struggles. I have also noticed that I am not that fun of a Mom right now, because I can't keep up with my children. So Wednesday of this week I put on the sneakers I had gotten for walking in...I got on the treadmill...and I walked. I put on my headphones, pressed play on the MP3 player and walked. The second song that came on had these lyrics...(Its by the Wilkinsons)
I've been lyin' in the shadows
In the corner of my room
Turned off the lights Gave up the fight
There was nothing I could do
Then I just woke up one morning
And I put on my walkin' shoes,
and I'm back on my feet again
Had all the heartache one woman can stand
Got through the night Took back my life
I'm back on my feet again
I wasn't sure if I could make it
Had to crawl across the floor
Through the broken glass Of my shattered past
Pushed myself on through the door
I took a step out of the darkness
I don't need it anymore,
no I just woke up one morning
And I put on my walkin' shoes,
now I'm back on my feet again
Had all the heartache one woman can stand
Got through the night Took back my life
I'm back on my feet again
Had all the heartache one woman can stand
Got through the night Took back my life
I'm back on my feet again
Of course this is a country song and I doubt it was meant to be about my struggle with getting in shape, but it made me smile. In fact, it made me feel great, and I walked right along. A couple songs later Josh Groban came along to tell me...
Don't give up
It's just the weight of the world
When your heart's heavy
I...I will lift it for you
Did you know that Josh Groban cares that I am trying to get in shape and lose weight? (At least the Josh Groban in my MP3 player does) and he also told me that I am loved! It felt great, so great in fact that after I walked my mile and a half (I know its not much, but better than I thought I could do) on Wednesday, I decided to walk another mile and a half on Thursday, and Friday I did two miles...plus a walk to the school to play with the boys.
Tomorrow I will tell you about my great idea to keep track of my miles.
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