A Christmas Letter

... or something like it?

Have you ever had one of those years where you kind of wish everything would have gone away?

Before Christmas, I sat down and wrote out our Christmas Letter.   It was NOT good, well most of it.  But here it is... stick with me.

We were going to go on vacation in August, but then had to cancel because Curt couldn't get time off.  

I was going to have surgery, but at the last minute was inspired not to follow through.

Aaron was trying to be a good student?  Oh wait, that's true.  Didn't do too bad either.

Alyssa has inspired me to start to play the violin again?  That's true, too!  She's so awesome!

I had surgery twice... avoided one more (previously mentioned) and spent a lot of time recovering.

I have Hayden potty trained, but not all the way... poops haven't found their way to the bowl.

Curt has found a way to make a living at flying airplanes... not true.  But he sure practices a lot.

Our medical insurance deductible was paid by mid-February.  Scary, but true.

Dental insurance is a blessing.  Medical Insurance is a blessing.  Vision coverage is a blessing.   Having these things even when we feel healthy is a blessing.

I have decided that I have the best calling in the ward.   I get to sit behind the piano and watch children and watch teachers try to deal with children.   My favorite is the 4-5 yr old teacher's pained look anytime a certain child jumps onto his lap.  It's pretty funny.   I also can't stop laughing when this one little boy talks.   It's really bad.   I'm grateful for my chorister.   She's so easy going and is so funny to watch.   I'm glad she's there!

I'm grateful that I have talents:
I have recently begun to sew again and have found joy in this.   I made my sister a diaper bag, my son got a cape and I have gotten around to all those repairs that were in a pile.   Now, if I could just keep my machine out all the time!

I starting giving piano lessons... to one little wonderful boy.  He's awesome.

I  started singing with the ward choir and have fun with that.   I also took Curt to the EVMCO Concert and he said that he would support me if I wanted to audition.  We'll see.  I'm sick right now, maybe I'll get my voice back before then.

This has been a rough year, but I'm so grateful for my trials.   I feel that I have grown and finally know where I am headed.   I'm grateful for the strength that will come out of this year and help me in the next.  
I'm grateful for my friends that have been there and helped me even though they probably have no idea what an inspiration they are to me. 

It's been a year that the Lord has been highly involved in and we are grateful to Him for his guidance and His protective and watchful care.

Most of all:  I'm grateful that 2009 is over... on to 2010!!!!

~Happy New Year~

Merry Christmas

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WE WISH YOU A
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

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It is finished

Yay!  

I took this ordinary glass cabinet door...

Sanded the shiny out of it...

Painted it this most delicious color...

Sprayed the back of the glass with a matte black finish...

Distressed it a little...

Sanded it a little more...

Cleaned up my mess...

Added a few knobs and hanging gear...

C'est Fini...  (It is finished!)

Not to bad for a few years of french in high school

and some patience to watch paint dry!

What an odd day.

I had a pretty great morning, running around.   I went to Stardust where the guy at the front counter refers to me as  "Crafty Lady".    He told me that he sees women come and go all day long, but I'm the ony one who tells him what craft I'm making, he told me that I'm approachable (whatever that means).   He asked me if I would be willing to come back and bring this project and my calendar board in so that he could see them.    He's pretty funny and asked if I had anything in mind that he should set aside for when I come back in next week.   He asked one of his workers to show me what they had in the back.  While we were out there, the guy asked me if there was anything easy that he could make for his mom.  I showed him a simple project and he took it aside and wrote down everything I said.   He said he'll take a picture of it when it's done and show it to me.  He was so excited! 

Here's a hint of my next project.   The color is Ralph Lauren Red Delicious... it is truly delicious. 

Yesterday morning as I was taking Curt to work, I felt a weird feeling and I commented to him, "I feel like I'm going to see a car accident today."   All he said was, "Make sure you're not in one."

I was heading towards Bashas' on McClintock and was turning into the shopping center by Nello's pizza... and witnessed an accident.    I really don't think that I would have noticed if I hadn't been very cautious about my driving and those around me. (Because after all, the only idiot  on the road you can control is yourself.)

Anyway, I saw the entire thing and had the best view of it!  If I've learned anything from accidents, it's to ALWAYS stick around and give a statement.  If you can't, leave your name and number with the person that YOU think is not at fault.   ( In Curt's accident, the lady who did this was key in convincing the judge that Curt didn't run a red light.)   

I'm glad I did, because there were three people in the car that hit the first one and they came up with a totally false story and the lady that was hit was going to recieve a ticket.  NO!  It wasn't her fault and that was SO unfair of them to hit her and then say that it was because she was doing something she wasn't.

I'm supposed to be subpoenaed so that they can figure it all out.  Since I'm the only one that stopped and I'm a total stranger to these people, they trust me the most.  I'm grateful that I was aware because of a prompting that I had that morning.

So many projects.

Curt and I decided that this year, we would put a lot of effort into making gifts instead of just buying them.   So, I am making gifts.  (See how that works?  We BOTH decide one thing, yet I get to carry that out?  Yep, that's how our marriage works.  ☺ )

Anyway, I have started on a few things, but I won't post those until later because... um... Christmas hasn't happened yet.  Duh.

Anyway, I made a calendar for me.   I am thrilled how it turned out.   I went to a store by our home called Stardust.  They have all kinds of home-stuff.  It's all been ripped out of remodeled homes or it's extras from construction jobs.   

This is made out of glass doors from an office cabinet or something.  I don't know, I don't care; but I paid $5 for it.   I bought 3 of them.     I sketched the layout on the back and traced over it with a Sharpie.   It's worked so well, that Curt's even using it.   I LOVE IT.  It hangs behind our bedroom door and that way we see it every morning and know what's going on that day. 

This is our December and notes for January are off on the side.   Alyssa graced us with a smiley faceon the bottom to remind us to be happy.

Anyway, if you happen to stop by and hear the sewing machine going or it's super quiet... I'm in Crafty-land finishing everything up!!! 

"Thank you...

For letting me keep him."

December 14th is always and forever going to be a hard night for me.

 It was this night, 2 years ago that Curt in his car accident.  (<--- click to view the post)

I keep a copy of the voicemail that he sent me when he was in the ER.
He called me, but didn't remember that he called me.  It's about 45 seconds of nothing but beeping until I hear Curt say, "What happened?"  Followed by a nurse saying, "You were in an accident."

I keep it so that I can remember how I felt almost losing him.  I can't even fathom what my life would be like if he had forgotten to put his seatbelt on, if he'd been in a smaller car, if the airbags hadn't have worked, if... if...if...

The title and opening sentence is the prayer of thanks that I give to my Heavenly Father.

Don't stop believ'n.

Yes,  Aaron there is a Santa Claus.

I loved that Aaron walked right up,

sat on his lap,

and said...

"Hey, Brother Holden, got some candy?"

Hayden on the other hand,

Believes in Santa

and is afraid.

Don't you know that Santa just wants to chat with you?

My odd child.

Well, they are all a little odd.

The child that I'm talking about happens to be my littlest one.

Two Words:

Potty

Training

You would think that he'd be fine with it.

He threw a tantrum in the store when we were buying "Cars" underwear.  He kept throwing them out.  I was really concerned at first.  But after a while of the LOUD debate we were having, he finally relented.

I had read an article about how we really need to focus on him being ready and understanding the signs.

He passed the "signs" part of it with flying colors.

Is my child the only one who wets himself in the middle of the day, but stays absolutely dry the entire night and during naptime?

He hasn't had a accident outside of the home. He holds it, or he lets me know!  He's very good at the whole, "Mom, I gotta pee!" and "Mom, I gotta go to the bathroom, now!"    Yet, when he's at home, he marks his territory?  (This kid must have a lot of territory.)

This article mentioned going in the bathtub and focusing on the feeling rather than the aiming.  Yeah, that stops tomorrow.  I can't clean up the tub every 1/2 hour.   So much for that.  I'm gonna teach him to aim.

Aaron and Alyssa potty trained without much effort, why is this one SO different.   Gotta love the little blonde kid.  He's just a little weird.

Any ideas?

Laughter? Priceless.

We had the funniest thing happen to us tonight.

Our ward was doing a babysitting fundraiser and we ♥love♥ not searching for a babysitter, so we went out to dinner.

Appetizer was so yummy.  Salads came and were quickly eaten.  Then... sourdough bread. (We LOVE sourdough bread!).   Then we heard a crash by the kitchen.  I started laughing because I was so glad that I hadn't been involved in that mishap (because I had been in so many before).   We waited... and waited... and waited.   Curt and I started joking that the reason our waiter came by a few times to tell us that our food would be there shortly, was because it was our food that had been dropped.

Our waiter came by and I ordered more sourdough bread.  Then I kind-of joked to him that maybe our food had been dropped.  He looked so guilty and he nodded his head so little that we could hardly tell he'd actually nodded.   His face looked like that stupid kid in high school that always tells you to, "Punch me in the stomach... I can take it..."  

We laughed; and we laughed hard. The timing of this was just so funny.  

I had never seen a guy look so relieved.   Curt and I didn't stop laughing until around the time our food got there.

He bent over and with a relieved look in his face said, "Whew, I actually made it this time."  So, of course, Curt and I started laughing again.   

As we were walking out, I told him that his reaction was priceless.   He told me that as a waiter, he gets yelled at mostly for things that he has no control over.  He was so grateful to us for really making his night by laughing instead of yelling.   Curt and I both told him that we had been servers before, so we can understand his hesitancy in telling us that our food had been dropped.   

He told us that it wasn't his reaction of relief that was priceless to him; it was our reaction, our laughter.

THE Question!!!

Please!  Answer the poll at the left hand side of the screen.

Here's a little story.

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful couple who were married.

They lived in an apartment together and were so happy. They were both raised in very different families and therefore, each had their own idea of who needed to do which cleaning jobs in their home.

They agreed that if you needed to clean the bathroom, you also sweep and mop.

Also, agreed upon was that if you clean the front room, you really should do the dusting and the vaccuuming.

But then there came a point that a small disagreement ensued.

The Kitchen.

Now, one was raised that if you did the dishes, as long as all the dishes were clean and put away, you were done. The counters and cupboards belonged to the being that was assigned to do the floors.

Another was raised that having the dishes clean and put away was glorious, but the counters and cupboards were to be wiped free of goo too!

So, here's the question that I put before you, a jury of our very own peers.

Who's job is it to clean the counters? Is it an entirely separate job from the rest of the lineup?

Please let us know, it's time to settle this. It's been 15 years. 

The counters are getting really bad!

An unusual Christmas Song

When I was a little girl, I thought this was a Christmas song.

I have never seen it more beautifully performed than on Glee.

This is the only version I could find and it's "not-so-great" but it does the job.

Three

There's just something wonderful about spending all my time with a three year old.

He's the funniest kid I know.

Here's a few conversations:

Me: Hayden, are you ready for lunch?
Hayden: Yep, I want food. Gimme food.
M: Okay, do you want honey or jelly?
H: I don't want a sandwich.
M: Oh? What would you like.
H: Steak... with ice cream sauce. (Magic Shell Chocolate)
M: Well, I don't think we have steak.
H: Then just that ice cream sauce... please.


Me: Hey, Tate, Whatcha up to?
H: I'm trying to lick my elbow.
M: Why are you trying to do that?
H: Because Aaron said I can't. Mom, can you lick your elbow?
M: Nope.
H: *licks my elbow* I can. See, Aaron was wrong.

Me: Hey, Bud, are you ready to wash your hands?
H: Nope, I gotta see what they smell like first.
M: Why?
H: 'Cause sometimes they smell like chocolate.
M: Okay, but smell them and we'll go wash them.
H: Mom, you smell them.
M: Nope. That's your thing.
*smells fingers*
H: We gotta wash them now. They smell like poop.

*Going to sleep for naptime*
H: Mom, why do we have to take naps?
M: So we aren't grouchy when Daddy comes home.
H: Why doesn't Daddytake naps, he's always grouchy.

H: I want my binky.
M: Why do you want your binky?
H: Because I need it.
M: You lost them all. They are gone.
H: Dang, I sucked them to death.

Gosh, I love this kid.