Hmmm

Here's a strange one for you. This is actually something I've been dealing with for probably my whole life, but I didn't really start to wonder about it until college.

So here's the thing. I have a fear of schedules. It really amounts to a fear of not being able to be flexible in my plans I think. Maybe? I noticed in college what a hard time I had scheduling my free time. This meant I was always doing things last minute. At the time I chalked it up to laziness. I'm sure that's part of it, but over the years, after I don't know how many tries to just snap out of it and follow the dang schedule, I've realized it's more than that. I actually get frightened trying to follow a schedule.

And the weird part is, I really liked making and following a schedule for school if it's me going to school. I think that is because I like school and I do well there, and also because I like to please people. But even with my children I can't follow a school schedule for long without going nuts. I think part of that is the fear I often have that I'm ruining people's lives by imposing my wishes on them. I have to push down that particular fear quite often just to function as a mother.

As far as schedules go, I've tried making cleaning schedules and homeschool schedules and all kinds of schedules. That part I like. But when it comes to actually following a schedule that's not for my schooling I just kind of freak out, and then I run for distractions. I get so frightened. Heck, I can't even finish a to-do list unless it's a last minute emergency.

Writing it all out, it just seems so lame, especially because my autistic children need the stability of a schedule. But I have been simply unable to make it happen consistently, and usually I freak out before I can even start any such schedule. I often feel really bad about this. I wish I could keep us in a schedule. It would be so good for us. I wish I could consistently have the house clean. I wish the laundry could get done on some sort of schedule. But I just can't seem to do it.

So I've been trying for the last few months to figure out what it is exactly that I'm afraid of. Why in the world am I scared of schedules? I don't know. My question for you is- are any of you dealing with the same problem? And if so, how do you cope? Any other thoughts?

CS Lewis

“Since it is so likely that (children) will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage. Otherwise you are making their destiny not brighter but darker." C.S. Lewis

Picture Wednesday

Well, I have meant to do this all day.  Now I'm too tired to think straight.  I can't even see clearly down my list of photos to tell which ones I picked out to share.  So here's one from the top.  Why are they in the bathtub, and why is Jeremy making that face?  I don't know.  But it's awesome. :) (Jeremy called me in there to take this picture.)

Jeremy didn't get the job in Cedar City.  We're kind of bummed.  It's far from the first he's applied for there, too. So we're just hoping the one at the college here works out and praying we can survive another year here.  Ha ha!

Thoughts on Tuesday

Hooray for one-handed typing while nursing, right? :D You know, when we were playing World of Warcraft I used to play in dungeons while nursing. Shhh! Don't tell or the groups I played with might growl at me. Ha ha! Just kidding. Actually, I usually followed quest lines instead of doing dungeons because this one time I was with a group and they were all very rude to me and joked that I was a gay guy or something. And another time I was healing and the tank ran ahead and left the rest of us with bad guys killing us, and then he said I was a worthless healer. Stupid guy! If you leave your group the healer can't heal you, and the other members of the party are simply not equipped to tank. Totally not my fault. Anyway, I guess my skin still isn't very thick. Therefore, I did comparatively few dungeons. And the ones I did do I tried to mostly do with the guild because they were all very nice, even if I messed up. :) Now we're playing Rift. It's a lot like WoW except it's free. And we don't play it as often. I like about it that you can jump in and out of groups to do things, and unless you go in a dungeon or something you don't even have to talk to each other. You just run around whacking baddies together. And with the size of an Instant Adventure mob nobody cares if your DPS is high or low. And I think it's fun having all of us playing because we all help each other and work together. It's great. :)

Phew! Where did that all come from?

Ok, what I really wanted to talk about is the job situation. We still haven't been able to get ahold of anybody at SUU. I guess we're still waiting, but at this point it's not looking too likely that he'll get it. That is kind of a bummer.

However, yesterday when Jeremy was out at the college, Dean Cullen told him that there will likely be a full-time position out there next semester. It would be teaching building trades, but it sounds like he still might teach business classes as well. Sounds like a lot of work, but some good experience! We're not sure 100% that it will come available, but we are hoping! It sounded like if Jeremy wants it and there is indeed a job vacancy then he can just have it. Dean Cullen is a nice guy, and he's actually been trying to figure out how to get Jeremy teaching full-time out there since we moved back.

And one more thing. Remember how spring here is so miserable for Jeremy? Well, one day he was reading online and found a study that some doctors did with Chinese herbs on asthma patients. They used a combination of 3 herbs, and apparently it worked. One of the herbs is a mushroom. Jeremy was able to get some in capsules from a store online, and, by golly, they do help! It's amazing! He's doing better overall than he was even when it wasn't allergy season! He had been using his nebulizer a few times a day even before the full allergies kicked in, but now he only has to use it a few times a week! (The nebulizer is stronger than the inhaler, and so he uses it when it starts to get too much for the inhaler.) Such an incredible blessing! I'm so thankful!

Anyway, yes, we're still hoping to go back to Cedar City, but maybe it's not time yet. It looks like things are working toward us staying here, and that is usually a good indicator that it's the right thing for now.

Monday Meme

All right, guys. I'm tired of looking for journal memes. Can you guys please think of some for me?

Also, Brom has learned to scoot around in a circle while sitting, and if I put him on his tummy he scoots backwards.  And Hyrum and I joined the community band!  I never figured out about it before, but Jeremy and Hyrum were in the right place at the right time a few weeks ago, and the Miami band director, who also leads the community band, happened to be there and said we should come.  We went for our first time on Thursday night, and it was so fun!  I definitely need to practice, but it feels good to be playing again.  It had been so long!  I hadn't played in a band since I was expecting Hyrum.  It was funny because I sat down and started playing, and I did better as I went along, but something still felt a little funny.  And then I realized it was because I was sitting funny.  (Well, funny for me playing the flute.) So I kicked my chair into place and it felt a lot better.  I like to have the right chair leg between my legs, so the chair is kind of angled.  For some reason I kind of feel squished against the music if I don't have the chair that way. I can't figure out why it makes a difference, but it totally does.

Three Things You Want To Do Before You Die:
1.) Be in the Temple with all of my children.
2.) Hike across the country
3.) Go hang-gliding or parasailing
4.) (I'm breaking the rules and adding #4.  Bwaaah-ha-ha!) Go on a mission with Jeremy.

Three Names You Go By:
1.) Mommy
2.) Christine
3.) Hunny

Three Physical Things You Like About Yourself:
1.) My hair (Well, love/hate my hair.)
2.) My eyes
3.) The arches in my feet

Three Parts Of Your Heritage:
1.) Uhhhh... where we come from?  England
2.) Mexico - sort of
3.) Sweden - and probably many more

Three Things That Scare You:
1.) The thought of one of my family members dying
2.) Timmy running with knives (But if you act scared he runs faster.  You have to remain calm and ask for the knife, and then he'll just give it to you usually.)
3.) Maybe I'll come back to this one.  I can't think of any more. 

Three Of Your Everyday Essentials:
1.) Breakfast
2.) Lunch (Oh, how I hate lunch, but I need it!)
3.) Dinner (My body doesn't do well with skipping meals.  My blood sugar gets low and I feel rotten, and then I'm grouchy.  So meals are pretty important.)

Three Things You Are Wearing Right Now:
1.) Shirt
2.) Pants
3.) Ponytail holder

Three Of Your Favorite Bands/Musical Artists:
1.) U2/Bono (Oh, man!  I'd love to go see them live.  I've never been to a concert of that kind before.  The closest I've come to that is seeing the Utah Symphony doing Beethoven's 9th.  Ha ha!)
2.) Josh Groban
3.) Hilary Weeks

Three Of Your Favorite Songs:
1.) Don't Give up (You Are Loved)
2.) Guide Us, O Thou Great Jehovah
3.) Red Hill Mining Town

Three Things You Want In A Relationship:
1.) Understanding
2.) Hugs and kisses
3.) Silliness (What do you know? I've got all 3 already! :D)

Two Truths And A Lie (in no particular order):
1.) I love beets.
2.) I love eggplant.
3.) I love zucchini. (I bet you can guess which is a lie.  Ha ha!)

Three Of Your Favorite Hobbies:
1.) Baking (I'm really wrestling with this one.  I love it and I'm good at it.  I don't want to give it up, but cookies do not come out the same with Truvia instead of sugar, and regular cookies have way too much sugar.)
2.) Sewing (But these days I spend time wrestling with my sewing machine pretty much every time, and then I feel like I'd better hurry because Jeremy kind of resents my projects, but I have too much help to hurry. And then it becomes just a big bother and I feel like a horrible person.)
3.) Reading

Three Things You Want To Do Really Badly Right Now:
1.) Eat breakfast (I do like breakfast pretty good)
2.) Have certain issues cleared up so we can move on with our lives
3.) Kiss my baby.  I think I will

Three Careers You're Considering/You've Considered:
1.) Choir director
2.) Writer
3.) Engineer (That was a very long time ago, as was being a dancer.)

Three Places You Want To Go On Vacation:
1.) Washington, D.C.
2.) Paris
3.) Venice

Three Kid's Names You Like:
1.) Hyrum
2.) Joshua
3.) Benjamin (the list goes on forever!)

Three Ways That You Are Stereotypically A Girl:
1.) I love pink.
2.) I love flowers.
3.) I love chatting with other girls.

Three Ways That You Are Stereotypically A Boy:
1.) I don't like to fix my hair or putting on makeup (I'm too lazy to do hair and makeup.  But the other reason for not using makeup is that I always feel like I'm doing it wrong and that I look funny with makeup.)
2.) I like rearranging furniture by myself and feeling strong.
3.) I like making sound effects for my little boys.

Ha ha!

At least four times in the last six to eight months Jeremy's phone has suddenly shut off, and he hasn't been able to get it back on. Well, every time, I open the back, take out the battery for a few seconds, put the phone back together, and turn it on. It's hilarious! Before, I always did it when he wasn't around, after he'd tried everything and then just left it on his dresser. This time he brought it to me after trying everything. It worked for me just like always. It gave me a good laugh to have it just work and to see the perplexed look on his face. :)

In less funny news, this week the other Auto-CAD teacher at the college suddenly quit, so his class was given to Jeremy. We still have heard nothing about the job at SUU, though Jeremy has tried calling several times. As far as we know it's still on the website. Hmmm... And remember the 7th grade math position at Miami that Jeremy applied for? Well, it sounds like he would have been the one who got it, but after the interview process they found out they don't have the money to hire him. Head scratcher. This is an existing job. The current teacher is leaving. They need someone to fill it, but they don't have the money for a new hire, I guess.

But in other job news, Jeremy had a visit with the deans at the college, and they worked it out for him to teach three business classes in the fall and a couple over the summer. And if we stick around he could go full time by fall 2015. That would be kind of cool, except for the allergies here... I just don't know. We still very much want to get back to Cedar City. I suppose we shall see. In the meantime, the blessings keep coming anyway.

Throwback Thursday

Uhhhh... Little problem today... Somehow my entire folder of pictures from 2012 has gone missing.  What the...?  Good thing I backed it up!

Here's a great picture for Throwback Thursday, though:

Lynnette emailed this to us last week.  Weren't we so beautiful?!  This is Jennifer, me, Kimberly, and Lynnette, and that was a very happy Christmas indeed! I don't know if I remember the whole story right, but here's what I do remember: Just before Christmas we had a Peterson family get-together with a white elephant.  I wanted the tutu, but I ended up with the toilet seat.  My parents were so pleased.  I cried.  We never let kids in on white elephants again.  But Aunt Elise (a dance instructor who had gifted the tutu in the first place) took pity on me, and we got these for Christmas.  I was so excited!  I assure you they were well-used and well-loved.  We all spent a lot of time dancing in our tutus and tiaras over the next few years.  I felt so beautiful!  That tutu was one of my most prized possessions for a long time. 

I remember there was one time that Lynnette wore her tutu to the big tree and ended up with ants stuck in it.  They were all biting her.  If I remember right Sister Brown came to her rescue, and if I further remember right, that's not the only time she saved us from ants there.

This has nothing to do with that picture, but Timmy keeps talking about a particular YouTube video about broccoli ice cream.  I showed it to him twice today and he laughed and laughed.  If you have little kiddos and haven't shown it to them yet, do it now! ;) This video is made by a group who has made quite a few kids' videos.  We found out about them because Timmy LOVES the song "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."  One night Jeremy was looking for a video of it on his iPad and found this version of it. It was pretty much love at first sight, even if the kid's pronunciation is a little funny.  Timmy loves the star and owl, and since he's been learning about happy and sad he says, "Happy star. Sad owl."  I guess the owl is sad because he doesn't smile like the owl. (?) We also like their version of Old McDonald and this cute little snowflake song. You're welcome. ;)

Picture Wednesday

Last Friday my parents and Robert stopped through town on their way to the valley. They wanted to go hiking at Round Mountain with us, so away we went. :) I took along my new camera that I sent away for warranty repair and needed to try out.  I'm still not very pleased with it.  It does zoom very well, and it took some pictures that I was very please with.  But even outside it makes lots of noise sometimes.  It's very frustrating to me!  Maybe Jeremy can fiddle with it and make it work good.  I've reached my fiddling limit with all my trying and failing, though on this little trip I left it on auto settings the whole time.  Anyway, like I say, I got some good ones, some ok ones, and some not ok ones.  Here are a few pictures from that hike.

 

Our cute kiddos at the top

 

Brom fell asleep in my arms as we hiked back to the car. Those sunglasses - Jeremy bought them for me for my birthday.  I would never have picked any that big.  I'm still not sure about them, but I'm thankful to have sunglasses! I use them pretty much every time I drive anywhere or spend any time outside. 

 

OK, I'm trying really hard to be happy and upbeat here and, obviously, I'm failing.  Timmy is sitting behind me (why the freak does he do that?!).  And he is screaming at to top of his lungs.  That's one of his favorite pastimes lately.  Oh, how I despise it!  That and my blood sugar has been constantly off for the last couple of weeks.  I can't keep it leveled out, even when I do get lunch.  It's frustrating!  And I get grouchy when my blood sugar is off.  Fun times!

 

Here are my cute parents! I'm glad they got us to go on this hike!  It was really fun. :) We need to hike more often!

 

OK, here's an oldie but goodie - little Jill on Easter in 2010.  I'm putting this here because I was looking through pictures to find the ones I wanted to put here, and I saw that one of Brom and realized, "My goodness!  He looks like Jill right there!"  I had never seen him look like Jill before, so I dug through some pictures. Yep, there is definitely a resemblance! Cute kiddos!

 

Cute fella!

 

 

Also, here is proof (Proof, I say!) that Hyrum's hair really was straight once. (This is also Easter 2010.)

Thoughts on Tuesday

I mentioned that I cooked ham on Sunday, right? Well, Benji is obsessed with it! He counts down time til the next meal so he can fry up some more. Silly boy! In reality, though, I worry for him sometimes. Sometimes it seems like he lives to eat. I need to help him find something else to be passionate about. I do like that he enjoys food so much. I know I do. But, ya know...

Another thing I worry about with Benji is his whining. He pouts a lot and whines about doing his job and school and then takes forever to do it. It is so sad to me. He was such a happy baby and toddler. I'm not sure what went wrong. I keep wondering if school had a hand in squelching his innate happiness. I am scratching my head and trying to figure out how to help him.

PS Maybe I'm just whining. Don't think for a minute that I don't think he is a great guy. I honestly am just worried. I want him to succeed.

I have been compiling a few things to further the cause of making sure the boys are up to par in case they go back to public school next year. I'm not sure what all to do. I think they'll be just fine with math. We've been working on it. I'm wondering about reading and writing for Michael mostly. I hate to think about following the state standards, but of they're going back to public school they have to be up to snuff. You'd think that was a good thing, but these days I am leaning way closer to the notion of following and helping shape their interests and teaching things when they're actually ready for them instead of forcing upon them whatever the state thinks is important (that they are going to forget anyway).

We stayed up and watched the lunar eclipse last night. Now we're all tired and a tad on the grouchy side. It was pretty spectacular, though. :) It worried Hyrum, though. He remembered the scripture about the moon and the Second Coming and went inside and cried. Poor guy. He really worries about the Second Coming. I reminded him that as long as we're trying to do what we should (and we are!) we're going to be just fine.

Benji and Michael switched beds yesterday because Buster kept getting on Michael's bed every morning. Benji wasn't happy to be switched to the bottom. I'm happy for Michael, though. No fun to be woken up by someone else's dog. And another nice thing was that from where Benji was laying he could see the blood moon. (That sounds so gross. I wish I hadn't given in to peer pressure and said it.)

Brom is actually napping! He's been asleep for like an hour and a half! It's funny. It makes me wonder if I'm just not hearing him or if he's sick or something. He's probably just tired from last night.

Monday Meme

First of all, I have to say - on Saturday my lovely new Nexus fell off the recliner, and the screen shattered.  Now it doesn't respond to touch.  So I guess that means it needs a new screen as well as a new digitizer.  Ugh.  I feel really bad.  It was a gift and I loved it.  Hopefully it'll be all fixed up soon.  In the meantime, I learned a new word today: bezel.  It's that silver band around the edge of the Nexus.  I'm sure the silver band around the edge of my phone is also a bezel.  Kind of a cool word.

Also, we've decided to cut back on our sugar intake.  I've been really worried about our family's health.  I'd like to cut it out altogether, but maybe we'll get to that point eventually.  For now we're trying to eat fewer treats and to bake with Truvia.  It's a sugar substitute made from the Stevia plant, so it's not bad for you like some other sugar substitutes.  The kind I got has some real sugar mixed in so it'll work for baking.  So far it works great, and it has 70% fewer calories than regular sugar.

In other news, this little fella turned 7 months old yesterday! Awwww! Those two little teeth! Could you just die?! I love him so much!

And now for the Monday Meme, continuing where I left off (and still leaving out the useless parts):

Favorites

51. Song: It really depends on my mood.  Today I'll say Josh Groban's February Song.  Look it up on YouTube. It's lovely

52. Movie: I have lots.  Two old favorites are Black Arrow and Meet Me in St. Louis.  I also really love Little Women, Forever Strong, and The Pursuit of Happyness. (If you haven't seen that last one, yes, it is misspelled on purpose.) I like good ol' love stories and inspirational biographies best I think, but I also love some action ones like the new Superman.  I like those best when I watch them with Jeremy.

53. Food: I don't know that I have one.  But I do like food. Yesterday I made Sunday dinner. The rolls ended up raising too long, but they still tasted good. We also had ham, mashed potatoes, frozen green beans (I cooked them of course, but the frozen ones almost taste like fresh from the garden), and peach cobbler.  It all came out so yummy.  It was such a pleasure to eat it.  It was definitely worth the effort. Oh, and I did use Truvia to sweeten the cobbler.  It was awesome!  Not too sweet, which is my common complaint about cobbler. I'm so pleased! And it was fun to have something that Jeremy's dad could eat with us.  He can't have sugar.  He was so excited when I told him it was peach cobbler and it was dad-friendly. :)

54. Drink: I really like orange juice a lot.  And I like cranberry grapefruit Sobe.  Yum!

55. Store: Amazon

56. Television show: The Biggest Loser and Hogan's Heroes

57. Holiday: Christmas.  Hands down.

58. Book: The Book of Mormon. :) I like biographies more than ever lately, especially ones about people who have beaten the odds.  I've read a few about the Holocaust lately, and right now I'm reading a Helen Keller biography that I found for free for Kindle.

59. Ice cream: I think it's made by Dreyer's.  It is a berry sherbet.  Oh, heavens!

60. Sweets: Cookies or cinnamon rolls

61. Crisps: You mean chips?  I like original Lay's and Fritos best.

62. Type of music: A little of everything.  I'm bad at genres, but I liked a lot of the pop music that came out of the 90s a whole lot.  I like classical.  I also like a little country (I'm picky about which country), a little rap (I used to say I hated all rap.  I was wrong.  I do like a very small number of rap songs), a little reggae, a little bluegrass... You name it and I would probably like some of it.  Except some cultural music.  Nose flute just doesn't do it for me. But 90s pop is probably my favorite. And while we're on the subject, did you know that Steve Martin plays the banjo?  Google that.  He's pretty great at it!

63. Artist: Hmmmm... what kind of artist? Music? Painting? Sculpture? I have decided that even though impressionism isn't clear and sharp I might like it anyway, but it's still not my favorite.  The musicians I like best tend to be the ones who are good people in real life.  It reflects in their music.  I like Hilary Weeks.  I like some Smashmouth.  I like They Might Be Giants.  Did you know that they made a bunch of educational kids songs?  Google that.  They are so fun!  I think my favorite of those are E Eats Everything.  And I like some Martina McBride.  I like a lot of musicians.  Beethoven, Aaron Copland, Holst, and Handel have also been some of my favorites for a long time.

64. Word: There's one particular word I like to use that I can't think of just now.  But plethora and superfluous come to mind.  I like those.  I also really like the word package.

65. Time of day: Good question.

66. Dressing: Turkey dressing?  Yes, please.  Salad dressing?  I like ranch best.

67. Alcoholic drink: Ha ha!

68. Colour(s): My favorite will probably always be yellow, but I also like dark green, brown, sky blue, and orange.

69. Piece of clothing: I love my boots! But for every day I just really love jeans and t-shirts.

70. Character: Game character?  The ones I made myself on World of Warcraft and Rift.  I also really like Link on The Legend of Zelda. Movie character?  I like Jo on Little Women a lot.  I don't know that she's my favorite, though.

71. Smell: Oh, so many to choose from!  I really love the smell of rain or eucalyptus. Those are probably my favorites.

72. Shampoo: I like the Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition stuff.  It sure helps to have good shampoo!

73. Soap: Irish Spring, unless you mean soap for my face.  I have sensitive skin on my face, so I like to use glycerin soap for it.

74. Smiley: You mean emoticon?  Probably this one: :D or this one: XD

75. Board game: Sorry or Pictionary

76. Sport: I love to watch hockey.  I liked playing it in middle school too.  We played it in the gym or on the field. I like watching wrestling and soccer too.

77. Number: 3 (my birthday)! And 7 and 4.

78. Quote: Oh, goodness.  I can't think of one off the top of my head.  One of my favorite scriptures, though is 2 Nephi 5:27: "And it came to pass that we lived after the manner of happiness."

79. Animal: I like giraffes and monkeys best, I think.

80. Actor: I don't really have one, but I do think Johnny Depp is an interesting person.  I like Meg Ryan too. Definitely not Russell Crowe. :P

82. Vegetable: Zucchini

83. Fruit: This changes from day to day I think.  My all-time favorite just might be grapes, though.  Purple.

84. Place to be: The Temple.  I cannot wait until my children are all there with me!

85. Thing in your room: Eat a chocolate and hide out while playing on my phone.

86. Gum: I don't like gum.  It makes me burp.

87. Shape: Square (Is this important?)

88. Country: USA!

89. Mall: I don't really have one.  They're each good for one thing or another.

90. Car: I love our van.  It's so roomy! I also love driving Jeremy's little car.  It's a stick-shift. Fun! :)

91. Boy's name: I have 7. I bet you can guess!

92. Girl's name: Christine and Jill! :D

93. Family member: I don't have one. That would be lame.

94. Restaurant: China Taste or Costa Vida

95. Movie place: home

96. Person to go to the movies with: Jeremy

97. Noise: My children laughing

98. Brand of shoe: The brand that is comfy, looks good, and doesn't cost too much.

99. Brand of clothing: Same as above.

100. Body part of a chicken: White meat. This is funny because a few weeks ago I was thinking this over.  I was rehashing in my mind that I don't like chicken legs nearly as much as chicken breast, and I suddenly realized that's because chicken legs are dark meat! (Just like turkey legs are dark meat. I don't like turkey legs so much either.) Duh! All these years I just couldn't figure out why chicken breast tasted better.

101. Swear word: Freakin', dang it, blast, stinkin'

102. Month: May or October

103. Possession: Well, stuff is stuff.  I like the people in my life better than any of it.  But I really love my camera and my phone, computer, Kindle, Nexus a lot.

104. Team: Oh, good golly. Time to start skipping some of these!

105. Season: Fall

110. Teacher: Risa Udall, Lynnette Burdick, Bonnie Briscoe, Dr. Lunt, Brother Reed, and, oh, that lady that taught English at EAC whose name I can't remember! That last one was one of the most challenging, but I am very grateful to her for that.

112. Subject: Music, religion, languages

113. Subject to talk about: my kiddos

A punkin pie a hurt a foot

On Thursday night or so I decided to make pot pie for dinner. It was another one of those times where I decided I'd better go ahead and confess that I need to learn to make pie crust. But the filling was amazing. (I also made lasagna from scratch this last week. Oh, my goodness! It's a lot of work, but so worth it!)

Anyway, after dinner we had two glass plates one on top of each other on the table with a pie plate on top. Somehow or other Timmy knocked them off and the pie plate shattered. (Funny that the other plates didn't, huh?) Hyrum grabbed Timmy to keep him out of the kitchen while I cleaned it up. Timmy sure raised a ruckus, but I got it all swept up. But when Hyrum let him go he suddenly discovered that Timmy had been bleeding! He had a horrible gash in his foot!

So after I held him I convinced him to take a bath with Epsom salts. By then it had stopped bleeding, but he needed cleaned up, and I knew he wouldn't hold still for that. And after his bath Jeremy and I both pretty much laid on him while Jeremy held the wound closed and glued it. Really, I'm certain he needed stitches. But how do you think that would go over? If it took both of us laying on him to get it glued, I can only imagine getting him stitches would be so much worse. And then he'd probably rip them out.

Well, this didn't work either. I guess we had cheapo glue because it didn't hold. And yesterday he discovered a little bit of scab sticking up, and he ripped the whole thing off before I knew what he was doing! He was bleeding again. After another bath I laid on him and put Neosporin and a bandaid on it, and then I put his fuzzies on immediately so he'd leave it alone. I've just been trying to keep his shoes and socks on. Hopefully it'll be all better soon!

But just so you understand that title, that is what he keeps telling me that. He's telling that the pie plate hurt his foot. And it can't just be pie, so he calls it pumpkin pie. He also says something about glass sometimes too.

Here I am again

I have been thinking lately. I'm still trying to figure out why we're still here when it is so poisonous to Jeremy this time of year. I am trying to just enjoy springtime, and in a large part I am succeeding. But sometimes I feel like a traitor for liking springtime. Jeremy detests it. I cannot blame him.

But anyway, even though there are still things in our life that are just crappy (no two ways about it) (and yes, I did just say a bad word), I've seen quite a few blessings rolling in lately. Here are some of them.

This one was way back in January, but it needs recorded. Jeremy's mom likes to get us garments for Christmas. (For the benefit of any who might not know what I'm talking about, after worthy adult members of our church attend the Temple we wear what we call garments. They are sacred undergarments. They remind us Os the covenants we made in the Temple. If you're curious to know more, you can look up this and many other things on Mormon.org.) I love that gift because we usually need some. Well, way back in 2012 Jeremy's dad picked up the garments for Christmas, but he got all the wrong sizes. I was too lazy to exchange them and then I was pregnant and didn't need that kind, so they sat in my dresser for a year. I got more new garments for Christmas. What I really needed were bottoms. So I took the 2012 garments and the 2013 garment tops and exchanged for 5 new garment bottoms. They fit and they are new. I know it's something small as they really don't cost much, but I was still reeling from out Christmas expenditures and, even though we could have afforded such a small purchase, I hate to spend money on myself. I felt like it was a little miracle, you know? I knew God was watching out for me.

More recently, Jeremy has applied for a job teaching math to the 7th graders next year at Miami Jr.-Sr. High School. It'll start in the fall. We haven't heard anything from that yet, though. We'll see. There's also an opportunity near St. Johns where my parents live that we might look into. And there is a job at SUU that Jeremy applied for. I think we're hoping most for that one, but we haven't heard anything. I guess we'll see. I feel like even just having the possibilities is a blessing, you know?

Allergies have been horrible as usual for this time of year. I am in no way exaggerating when I say I haven't been able to smell or taste consistently since about June. Jeremy's asthma is a lot worse than my wheezing or whatever it is, but it's annoying that we're both having that trouble. And summer is coming. We've got flies and cockroaches and various other bugs, but summer brings even more bugs. I'm absolutely dreading it. And we still have lights that don't work and carpet that needs replaced and a whole bathroom floor that also needs replaced.

Bit even with all that we are blessed with one of the best wards in the whole church. (I am certain!) And I am homeschooling, which means I get to have my children home with me, and that means that when I laugh I have more people to laugh with me. And it's Conference weekend. It is such a blessed time! I think the children have all enjoyed it so far, even if the younger ones mostly enjoyed the Play-Doh. (Conference tradition.) Hyrum sat by me during the first session, and it was cool to hear his comments and know he was listening and enjoying it. Joshua also made it known that he was listening by a few little comments. It was great. And this evening after Jeremy, Hyrum, ans Joshua returned from the General Priesthood Meeting Joshua sat down by me and told me he likes Conference. I asked him what he likes about it and he said he likes to wake up in the morning and sit and watch it and hear good things. :)

And speaking of Joshua, he shared something with me a few months ago that he'd been needing to say for a few months before that. And after he saw that he could tell me and everything was ok he wanted to go on talking all night. I would be ok with that if we never needed sleep. But we did sit up talking late. It was great. And he has told me a few more things lately that he might not have told me if he hadn't told me other things. Now, don't go worrying, y'all. He is fine. I am just so thankful that he knows he can tell me anything. I didn't set a whole lot of goals as a new mother, but I did set that one, and it is a great satisfaction to see it come to pass.

And last Sunday I had two of my boys passing the Sacrament! The night before, Hyrum sat down with Joshua at the computer and drew a diagram of the chapel and showed him where he should go. He did pretty good. It was awesome to me that Hyrum would take the initiative and do that. He remembered that it would be Joshua's first time, and he knew he needed help.

So anyway, this is super long and now it's way too late and I'm not sure how I'll wake up tomorrow and stay awake, but I'm glad it's written! Phew! This certainly isn't a complete list of our incoming blessings, but we are pretty blessed.