Dishes and Cleaning

Orginally written last year on my other blog but still very true!

I like doing dishes. Odd, I know, but I do. I can't stand laundry. But I love doing dishes and I just realized why. I was standing at my kitchen sink today, doing the dishes; looking out the window at the beautiful view (read: the wall of my neighbor's house ten feet away) and listening to the water running and just thinking. There's something about scrubbing something clean and letting my thoughts all tumble out. It's very calming and cleansing to me. I scrub the dishes clean and my thoughts just flow and I feel like I'm talking to an old friend and just letting everything out. Okay, that sounds psycho. But it's something that I do and I'm weird!

I've realized that in order for me to be a nice person, I have to have a clean house. I literally function better emotionally and mentally when my house is clean. And I am a bit obsessive about the whole cleaning thing. Well, decluttering thing. I have to do it early in the morning, otherwise my whole day goes to pot and nothing else get done. I am a creature of routine or I am nothing. So when it comes to my obsessive decluttering regimen it means that all the clutter that comes with a family has to be neatly put away. The bedrooms have to be free of clothes and toys and beds have to be made. My kitchen counters have to be cleared of junk. Floors aren't allowed any clutter or junk. There are a few places that I store the miscellaneous junk of life, but said junk is behind closed doors in a relatively neat pile. I guess in the chaos of my life when there is so much that I have no control of, having a clean, clutter-free house is my way to maintain sanity, and some control of my universe. Plus, even though I don't always enjoy cleaning, it sure is nice to do the work and see the finished result. And the affects of the result (clean house=sane me) are me being a nice, sane person!

My Home Tour

Here is my updated home tour. I put the pics in a slideshow (thanks for the great idea Steff!) Sadly, the pictures of my kitchen, nursery, and Mckay's room are on my other computer which is currently inoperable. And since we are temporarily living in a fully furnished house that is not our own, I posted pictures of my house in Texas. I absolutely loved that house! Hopefully, in the not so far future, we will have another house for me to decorate.

If you would like to add the Bloggityville Home Tour button to your blog so that others can participate, let me know and I can send you the code.

Bloggityville Home Tour

Having just returned from the St. George home show I thought it would be fun to do a virtual home tour here in bloggityville. So, take some pictures of your home, post them on your blog, and invite everyone over for a personal tour! The above picture is a button that I will place in my sidebar. When you click on it you'll be brought to this post explaining the Home Tour and a place for you to leave the link for your own home tour. Remember to link directly to your home tour post specifically, not just your blog. This is my first time trying this so we'll see how it goes. I filled out the first spot so you can see how it works. Get it? Have some fun!

Fun with photos

I've been practicing editing in photoshop. Here are some of the results.

Happy Birthday Steff!

Steff and me a long time ago

I remembered all day that it was your birthday. I just forgot to call you! I'm so sorry! This post is dedicated to you.

Reasons why my sister is the best:

• She is my best friend. I can tell her anything and everything.



• She has always been there for me.



• She is super talented at so many things (decorating, music, writing, cooking, scrapbooking, crafting, and on and on and on).



• She has always stuck up for me (it's nice when your little sister does that!)



• She's the biggest goofball I know and always makes me laugh.



• She is wise beyond her years and gives excellent advice (you should write a book or something Steff).



• She is a wonderful wife and mom.



• She's determined.



• She's a great dancer.



• She has a great sense of humor (on top of being a goofball).



• She is very organized.



• She loves to help others.



• She's smart.



• She's brave.



• She is beautiful.

I love you Steff! I hope your birthday was great! You are a beautiful example to me.

Catch Up With Bullets

We were on vacation for a week and a half and so the blog was neglected. But here is what has been happening.

• Rest and relaxation in St. George with family.


• Went to the home show in St. George. Wow!


• I rode go-carts for the first time. I was giggling the whole time; so much fun!


• I got my nails done for the first time ever! Didn't know if I would like them, but I love them! I would keep them all the time but they're a little expensive to maintain full-time.
• I got called as a primary teacher. This is my first time ever serving in primary. Pretty exciting.


• Layla likes to growl while she is eating. It's pretty funny!


• I cut Dave's hair (despite the fact that I can't cut my own hair, I can cut his).


• I think I'm getting sick of the snow.


• I can look in the mirror without cringing at my bangs.


• It was my sister's birthday on the 23rd and I forgot to call her. Bad me. Sorry Steff, I'm dedicating a whole post to you in just a bit.
  

Hmmm. . .I guess that's about it. I can't type very well with nails. So until next time!

One of those Tags

6 HABITS OR FACTS ABOUT ME

1. I am afraid of ice: During my freshman year at USU I was sliding around on the slick sidewalk and my feet shot out from under me (probably because I tried to grab onto my roommate Kim and she quickly moved away from me. Thanks Kim! ) and I landed on my head. I think I had a slight concussion because I was a bit dizzy for a few days and of course, my head really hurt. And ever since then, I can't stand to walk on or even near ice. I start hyperventilating! If walking on ice is unavoidable, I do it an inch at a time ever so slowly.

2. I can't blow my nose: For real! Yes, I understand the physics behind blowing ones nose. I know how to do it, I just can't. I blow and blow, but nothing happens. There's not enough pressure. I think there must be something messed up with the connections between my nose, ears, and throat. And whenever I tell someone that I can't blow my nose they try to explain to me how to do it. Really, I know how it works, it's just not working with this nose!

3. I very much have to have things symmetrical: I like things to be balanced. When I'm decorating my house, I have to have objects arranged in such a way that they are balanced and even. It drives me crazy if things are uneven and I start getting irritable. When we build a house, I want it to be symmetrical on the outside as well as on the inside.

4. I love to organize things: I seriously get a natural high from organizing things. From drawers to shelves to closets. I even organize my fridge and dishwasher. In fact, if someone loads the dishwasher for me, I have to reload it in the way I think is most organized. Just a little OCD.

5. I don't like to cook: I have tried so hard to like cooking. I've agonized over it. I want to like to cook, but I just don't enjoy it. Dave loves to cook and he's a lot better at it then I am. I think I'm going to give up on trying to like it. I won't give up cooking, just the internal battle of thinking I enjoy it.

6. I love Dr. Pepper: I use to be a closet Dr. Pepper drinker. Literally. I would go hide in the pantry and drink my Dr. Pepper so I could enjoy it alone without my kids asking for a sip. My mom is a die hard Coke fan and my dad is a die hard Pepsi fan. Don't know why I love Dr. Pepper so much. I call it my little daily dose of sanity! Ummmmm!

I tag whoever wants to be tagged. You're it!

What was I thinking?

There are times when I either think way too much about things are not nearly enough. Both schools of thought have their advantages and disadvantages. Thinking something through thoroughly before doing it can be good. You can weigh the pros and cons and decide if it's the best course of action. Of course, you could think about it too much and just confuse yourself. Sometimes, it's better to not think about things. It's more of an adventure to just take the plunge and deal with whatever happens. This works for me when I'm building furniture. If I think about it too much then I realize I have no idea what I'm doing and I feel like giving up. However, if I just jump in I end up doing better then I thought.

Today was one of those days when I decided to jump into something when I really should have thought it through a whole lot more. I have wanted to get my hair trimmed for two months now. (Just the layers around my face.) I wanted some bangs that are wispy and to the side of my forehead. Well, today I decided that I couldn't wait for a professional and so I took matters, or scissors as it may be, into my own hands. Can I just tell you that I can't cut straight to save my life even on a line? So I did what every self-respecting professional hair person would do, I put a piece of tape across my hair at the angle I wanted to cut my hair. Obviously, this technique is not used by those who actually know how to cut hair, as I soon found out. What I got was a choppy chunk of bangs. Remember how I wanted whispy? Yeah, well I missed that boat. Not to mention that I looked like one of those kids who decides to give themselves a haircut. We've all seen them; too short, uneven, choppy hair. Why did I give myself scissors? I'm an adult and I should know better. After seeing the results of my poor thinking I decided the only way to remedy it was to give myself full out bangs all the way across my forehead. I had bangs until I was 17 years old and as soon as I got rid of them I vowed I would never have them again. In fact, I literally use to have nightmares that I had bangs cut and I would look in the mirror in horror. So what does this mean folks? It means that I have become my own worst nightmare! Ahhhhhhh! There is a bright point in this story. Bangs are in; big thick bangs. And that's exactly what I have. And I managed to get them fairly straight. When McKay saw me his first response was, "I don't like your hair." Ahh . . . the honesty of a child. Lucky for me, my hair grows fast. But then again, it's nice to have a change right?

There is no way I'm posting a picture until I can look at myself in the mirror without cringing! And on a whole different topic, I managed to fit into a smaller pair of jeans today! Yea for me! Except for the whole bang thing (no one will notice right?) I look great!

Layla's Blessing

The beautiful blessing dress my mom made. I love it!

Little miss smiley

Layla and her daddy

Layla and her mommy

Here we all are!

We were going to bless Layla in January, but the snow prevented some of our family members from making it. So we postponed it until February. Unfortunately, more winter storms hit this past weekend and again, most of our families weren't able to travel because of all of the snow. Luckily, both sets of grandparents were able to make it and we went ahead with the blessing. Dave gave Layla Pearl a beautiful blessing. We named her Pearl after my grandmother and also Dave's grandmother and she was blessed with some of the characteristics of two great women.

Just some random pictures

A quick family pic on Thanksgiving

In Pinetop, Arizona (the kids are totally cheesin' it!)

The cute couple

Just the girls

3 Months Old

Here is my precious angel at three months. I did a mini photo shoot with her yesterday. Isn't she just an absolute doll? And look at all that cute chubiness! Ohhhh I just love her!