2011 Reflections

Today I am enjoying the quiet of the house before the family wakes up. The weather is very nice for December and the dog is outside so I get time to myself. I have been reflecting on the past year. It has been a rough one but a good one as well.

There were many changes in my family. My oldest stepson moved in with us to go to school, my stepdaughter got married to a wonderful man, it was decided that my children needed more stability and they no longer live with me and my husband and I came through the worst year of our marriage. Through all of this I felt my faith waiver to dangerously low levels. I have never felt more alone in my life.

However, something happened that is going to be a wonderful change. My husband and I survived and we are strong again as a couple. After talking to my oldest stepchildren and my children, I decided to take on a project. I want a loving home full of laughter and one that the children want to bring their families to. I want one filled with peace and happiness. I talked to every one and we are all on board. So for the next year, we will turn our house into a home. I will track our progress in my blog. Step 1 has been to ask everyone what makes the holidays special to them and what will help make our home comfortable to them. I will start January 1 with the cleaning and decluttering part and family meetings will be held to put together a plan. I am very excited about this and it helps to know that my husband is on board too.

Not all of 2011 was bad. On December 12, I graduated from Front Range Community College. I earned my Associate of Arts Degree in Elementary Education and graduated with honors. A lot of very hard work went into school so I am thrilled to see the results. I transfer to Metropolitan State College of Denver in January where I will finish my Bachelor of Art degree and become a teacher.

So good bye 2011! Welcome 2012!

Plain and Precious Things

I recently read in Nephi the vision he saw regarding the tree of life. I have always loved this section of First Nephi and pondered on it for awhile. The angel tells Nephi of a book that comes forth to the Gentiles but many of the plain and precious parts have been taken out.

We understand this book to be the Bible. Over time and through many translations, there have been things removed. I have often wondered what those plain and precious things were. It hit me Sunday. There are small things that we have like the sacrament prayers. If Christ restored his church in these days through the Prophet Joseph Smith, then the prayers said today would have been the prayers said in Christ's time. Restoration means to bring back. Not to create new.

How fortunate we are to be living in this time. We have been told that we have the fullness of the gospel. Through revelation and the bringing forth of the Book of Mormon, we have many of those plain and precious things. I like the feeling of connection through the thousands of years. This is a small testament to me that God really is the same yesterday, today and forever.

irritated

We interrupt the following blog to bring you some whining.

I am so irritated today. So here is my whine and vent and then I will get on with my normally cheerful self.

I went out of town for the weekend and came home to a clean house. However, this morning I woke up to dirty dishes on the counter ( the dishwasher has a very few dirty dishes in it) and veggies in the sink from my DH. My sink was bright and shiny when I went to bed and it was supposed to make me smile when I got up. Nope. Not today. GRRRRR!!!!

The dog was very barky today and her voice just got on my nerves! I really have no idea what her problem was. Not to mention she woke me up an hour earlier than usual so I am short sleep.

I went to go ride my bike for my morning bike ride and my tires needed air. So I had to fight the dog who kept trying to get between me and the tire all while trying to pump up the tires.

My youngest stepson has this nasty habit of scratching mosquito bites until they bleed. He then proceeds to get blood on the couch. I have tried and tried to get it off, no luck. So I put a sheet down to protect the couch. Get up today and there is blood on the couch again. We are getting a different couch this weekend, a much nicer couch, but I am not sure I want it if he is going to keep doing this. So I made him clean it up and lectured him on stopping and warned him that it was a lot harder to get off the couch than a sheet and if he did it again, he would have to clean the couch.

My DH promised to make dinner today for the boys so I didn't plan on making anything. I only pulled out 1 pound of hamburger so he could make spaghetti. Well he got up late and didn't have time to make it but insists on making spaghetti himself so I'm told to make something else. I decided to make sloppy joes but 1 pound won't feed all of us. So I'm stuck with a sandwich for dinner since I have to work and as it was pointed out, we have to have food available for both boys because it is "my responsibility to provide for my kids" even though the oldest refuses to eat at home any more. Of course this didn't go over very well when it was pointed out and I mentioned that I wasn't cooking for him any more.

And the final whine? I have a nasty cough again. I'm tired of this! It hurts my chest and throat and keeps me up all night. I sound horrible but feel fine! It never fails. Every time I go out of town, I get this nasty stuff that sticks around for weeks on end.

We now return you to a more cheerful blog.

Peace and quiet

I put myself on a new schedule this week and I like it! My old schedule would be to stay up until 1 or 2 in the morning, get up at 8 to feed the dogs and go back to bed until noon. I wasn't feeling rested and the dogs hated being cooped up in the kennel in the yard so they would bark and bark. I felt drained and the grumpiness was settling in. It was time to make a change. Not to mention, my husband really didn't like getting woken up every time I got in and out of bed.

Enter the new schedule! I'm going to bed by 11 and waking up at 8 and staying up. I feed the dog (my stepson takes care of his own dog now) go for a 30 minute bike ride, eat breakfast and have a few hours of peace and quiet. no one else is up until around 11. It's great! I have time to study for the Praxis II test I have to take this fall, work on my counted cross stitch and even blog if I feel like it. Since I am up, the dogs aren't cooped up in a kennel and they don't bark. It works for everyone. I am not tired and the grumpies have left. My husband is not getting woken up. There is a feeling of peace in my life!


image from yahoo images

Biking

I fixed up my bike this weekend and took it out for a spin this morning. I had forgotten how much fun it was to ride a bike around! I only went about a mile around the neighborhood but that was good for my first time out in a very long time. I will go out again tomorrow.





image used from Yahoo images

Ramblings

I found it! My glimmer of hope. Just a small little hope that has made me feel less empty. This week was horrible. I lost one of those things I held so dear to me and it was a shock. It took me a couple of days to finally face what had happened but the hope came from a very unexpected place. I was introduced to a wonderful person who has agreed to help me deal with the challenges I have been facing.
I know this is a very vague post but I am public and really don't want to go into details. However, for those that know me, I am still married :) This challenge involves other members of my family.

While all this was going on, my mom announced that she was moving back home. Back home is out of state 8oo some miles away. I will miss her terribly but I know she needs to do this. So while I still have her around, I plan to spend as much time as possible with her and enjoy her company.

Lemonade

Lemonade is my favorite drink in the summer time. I love raspberry lemonade but yellow or pink lemonade is good too. There is something very satisfying, laying in a hammock with a great book and a tall, cold glass of lemonade.