NO-Post November

I guess that's what happened this month??!?

While all the guys (idk, maybe there were girls, too?) were doing "No-Shave November," I did my own version of "No."  

It was not purposeful.  It's never happened thus far since the inception of this blog in August 2008! 

What was I doing, you ask?!? 

It's called, "Mandatory Volunteering."  How's that for an oxymoron? 

Otherwise known as, "Volun-told." 

Katelyn was in a play, "Bye Bye Birdie," that was performed November 18-21.

So, towards the end, it got really intense.  (Like it always does with plays). 

It meant she had rehearsal EVERY day except Sunday the whole month.

Which meant that I had to drive her to and from all of those.

AND which meant that, as a parent, it was required that I put in so many hours (about 20) of volunteer time.  (They hold our $75.00 deposit over our head to ensure our compliance).

I'll be honest, during some of the rehearsals I was at, I thought: This is utter chaos!  How is a real show going to come out of this?!? 

But, it all came together (like it always does!) and was really quite GOOD and delightful! 

The play was the MAIN occupier of November, but here's the short version of the breakdown of my month:

1st weekend: Scrapbooking weekend

2nd weekend: Annual Park City Shopping weekend

3rd week: Bye Bye Birdie performances  x 5 (AND a Cub Scout Carnival that my group was in charge of putting on!)

4th week: Thanksgiving in St. George 

No wonder it ended up "NO-POST NOVEMBER!"  ;) 

Maybe I'll make it a "tradition!"  ;) 

Just Loungin' Around on the Couch Eating Bon-Bons ~ Take 2

I was talking with a friend today whose "baby" is the same age as my "baby."  As is the same for me, this school year marked the first time for her since becoming a mother that ALL children are in school for the WHOLE day.  That means we're home alone during the day now.  Unlike me, who [idiotically] changed my work hours at my jetBlue job to the daytime and, consequently, ruined all my "discretionary time," she is not currently employed for pay, so I guess others have taken that as the green light to stick their noses in her business and ask stupid questions.
She told me that multiple people have now started to ask her, "What do you do all day?"

What?!?

Like no one could possibly think of anything else one would do besides "punch a time card?"
(So irritating).

I'll tell you what she does:
She runs at least 5 miles a day.
She keeps her house immaculately clean!!  Like we're talkin' you could totally eat off her floors!  Seriously.  And you would NOT find dust/dirt in her window tracks, a ring around her toilet bowl, or crumbs on the kitchen counter!!!  She makes sure of it.  ;)
She shop vacs her garage regularly.  As well as her cars.
(She'll wash and wax the cars' exterior, too!)
She makes wreaths for her front door.
She volunteers in both of her elementary school-aged children's classroom once a week.
She goes on EVERY SINGLE field trip, as a chaperone, with her children's school class.
She makes dinner.  Even freezer meals for future use, when needed for unexpected company, a sick neighbor/friend, or a hectic, busy day for the family.
And she often brings my family plates of goodies......just because!
She serves in the Young Women organization of her church congregation.  (THAT takes a ton of time, I know from past experience!)
She spends a good amount of time on the phone with or at doctor offices due to her children's unique "ability" to break their legs!  ;)  And being an advocate for their care.
Did I mention she runs 5 miles a day?!?
She grows flowers.
She just did half the wedding (planning, shopping, decorating, baking, scheduling, paying for) her younger sister's wedding.
She has six people's laundry to do which includes a plethora a dance and soccer workout gear.  (And it doesn't get left undone like some people I know [me])
Her kids never look like rag-a-muffins (again like some people I know [me]) - with three girls' hair nicely coiffed and donning cute clothes.
Her car goes in and out of her driveway all day long running different errands in order to keep the pantry stocked and the household running.
She goes to the temple.

Man, I'm tired!

And these are just the things that I SEE or know about.....there's undoubtedly so much more she's doing behind the scenes that I don't see.
Oh!  And she runs 5+ miles a day - did I happen to mention that one, yet? 

I'm not doing all that - are you?  Now that I've "shed light on the situation," would people ask her that question still?!?
Probably.
They REALLY don't have any clue, do they?

Her experience reminded me of my own experience I had recently while I was getting a manicure.  (Oh, is that WHY I'm not doing everything she's doing because I spend my time at the Spa?  ;)  Actually, it is a rarity to find me there - I was finally using a gift certificate I got for my birthday, and had already had for over 6 months.)

So, back to the manicure.....the gal doing it was chatting it up with me and she found out I worked at jetBlue.  She asked me if I was full-time or part-time.  When I told her I worked 24 hrs. a week there, she then asked me, "So, what do you do with the rest of your time?"
I replied that I had a family; a husband and five children.
She kind of went, "Mmmm hmmm" and then pushed further with, "So, what do you do?", dismissing that my previous remark had anything to do with her question of how I fill my time.

Well, interestingly enough, after visiting with her throughout the rest of the manicure, I found out that she:

• Is not married.
• Has children who are from multiple different men.
• Is currently trying to get back with the father of her youngest child, but she doesn't want to move into his place because the last time she lived there, whenever they would fight (which was a lot), he'd get mad and kick them out, and then they'd have no place to live.
• Has her mom live with her, and she watches the kids while she's at work, cleans, does laundry, pays for half the home improvement costs, take the children to appointments, cooks dinner, etc.
• Bar-tends a few night a week and gets off at all hours of the morning. 
• Says she does not have good choice in men.

After that conversation, it became more obvious to me WHY she [ignorantly] asked me the question; it was rather telling that she did not know, hadn't figured it out yet, that there is a connection between TIME and Quality FAMILY life.  ;)

*********************
The first of my "Bon-Bons" posts is back HERE

Why My Husband is Awesome - Reason #419

Night before last I kind of had a little (read: major) Freak Out to Matt.
It had to do with how close it was getting to Christmas and how much work there was to do still.
It had to do with THE LIST.
It had to do with everyone's expectations.
(The Fam wants everything to be the same even though everything is NOT the same!)
It had to do with the demands on my TIME.  Namely, I don't have the same kind of TIME that I used to have to get things done - I now work my job during the school day hours, whereas before I "did Christmas" (and the homemaking/laundry/cooking) during those same hours.

So, after this "diarrhea of the mouth" (that took a good amount of time, with Matt "trapped" in our room) Matt's face had a look of bewilderment on it.
He doesn't want me to quit my job.
He doesn't want to quit having dinner.
He doesn't want me to quit showering.
He doesn't want to quit Christmas.
As a man, he feels he's suppose to come up with a solution - that's what men do, they "fix" things, but, at the moment, he didn't have a solution. 
That night, it got left like that - UNfixed.

The next afternoon, I got a text from Matt:
"I will be home from work around 5:00 to make dinner.  I will make whatever you have on the menu schedule if you leave me with the recipe.  Feel free to go and run any errands you may have."

Ahhhh!

That's what I needed!
He figured out a "solution" - sometimes in marriage, you need to re-divide the household responsibilities. 

Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup (from "The Girl Who Ate Everything") was on the menu schedule, so, admittedly, I was a little nervous for him because.......well......let's just say it wasn't SPAGHETTI!  ;)

He realized dinner takes a long time to make!!  Whew!
But, that was OK - I was busy doing other things, remember?

When we sat down to eat, and I took my first spoonful -- it tasted A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.
It's like the lemon enhances all the other seasonings/flavors!

And I exclaimed this multiple times - as he sat there, hardly smiling about my compliments, BECAUSE he was drained from making dinner - it is A LOT of work - especially with multiple children all around needing help with homework, zippers, & urgent dilemmas.  Them asking, "What's for dinner?" or "What is THAT?" and telling you they're hungry don't make things any easier, either.  Poor Guy! :)  I can relate.  I love you, Matt!

Well, I thought I'd share the fabulous recipe with y'all.
I still haven't decided if it was SO GOOD because it really is SO GOOD or because I didn't have to make it!
Either way, here it is:

Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup

Yield: about 6 servings

Ingredients

• 9 cups chicken stock
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 1/3 cups carrots, chopped
• 1 1/3 cups onions, chopped finely
• 1 cup celery, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 1/2 teaspoons lemon rind, grated
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 rotisserie-cooked chicken, shredded (about 3 cups)
• 8 ounces orzo pasta, uncooked (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, coarsely cracked (optional)
• 1/4 cup Romano cheese, grated (optional)

Instructions

1. Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or large pot.
2. Add the carrot, onion, celery, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, lemon rind and salt. Saute ingredients over medium heat until vegetables begin to soften.
3. Add the chicken stock and lemon juice. Bring to a boil.
4. Add the chicken and orzo. Simmer until orzo is cooked through. (see Note not serving soup right away)
5. Just before serving add parsley and remove bay leaf. Garnish with salt and black pepper if needed and Romano cheese if desired.

Notes

If you're serving right away you can add the orzo pasta and chicken at the same time until the orzo is cooked. If you plan on serving later it at a later time you may want to cook the orzo separately and add right before serving. The orzo pasta tends to soak up all the liquid and can become quite thick if you simmer the soup for a long time. You can always add more chicken stock if you want to thin it out a little.

Have YOUR husbands make it for your family, too!!  Enjoy!

A Sure Way to Have a Whole Month Fly By Without Even Realizing It

If time is ever moving too slow for you - just dragging on and you're wondering HOW you can make it go faster.......just GO ON A CRUISE.

Because it takes a WHOLE WEEK of pressing preparations before you can even leave:
Laundry
Writing up lists
Shopping
Making an instructions guide for our children's caretakers
Packing
Accomplishing THE LIST
ON TOP OF the extra hours at work that I had to pick up for others in trade to get the cruise week off, and Matt had to work to get all the things done that were needed for deadlines that would come up while we were gone or very shortly after we returned.
PLUS, add a daughter's birthday and party in there with my annual girls' shopping weekend in Park City on the side....

....and pretty much I was going non-stop for that first 8 days of the month.

THEN we made it on our [20th anniversary] cruise!  Aaaaaaaaaaah!!!

 The Allure of the Seas, Royal Caribbean

Relief.

No Responsibility.

Restful.

{Haha.  Matt took this "selfie" on the first evening.  

I was so worn out by the time our vacation actually started, I fell right to sleep waiting for the show to start!} 

 Recreational.

{Yes!  There is a operational Carousal on the ship.} 

Rejuvinating.

 Refreshing.

Royal Treatment.

from our awesome waiters, "Jeff" & "Lito"

 Romantic.

 Rewarding.

Sadly, that week went by way too fast.

Side Note:  My #1 tip for married couples:  Get Away Together (alone) often! (anything from a date night to an extended vacation)  There's really no substitute.....but that's a whole other blog post for another time.

And then we came back home.  Here's another adjective beginning with the letter "R" to describe that experience:  Rude Awakening. 

Not only was is COLD, but I had to now cook my own food, pick up my own towel, wipe my own nose......Oh no!!  

  
(It's been pretty much back to work non-stop again)

So, on MONDAY, I worked my shift all day and had to go to the grocery store for all the, "Mom! We're out of (fill in the blank with anything & everything)! items the kids bombarded me with upon my return.

On TUESDAY, I worked my shift all day and had to catch up on paying bills.  What in the heck was the current status of our bank account?!?

On WEDNESDAY, I worked my shift all day and did the miscellaneous "office" stuff...and finally decorated for Thanksgiving!  With a side of planning our ward's Christmas party.

On THURSDAY, I finally had a day off work, so I got around to unpacking all my luggage.  I also tackled cleaning the stove which appeared as if a 10 gallon pot of an assortment of foods & other stuff had exploded all over it in my absence.  I also slid on in to the Post Office in the nick of time - 4:56 p.m. - to send off this month's missionary care package (a blog post for another time) for Ryan Elder Brenchley.  (It's that time again, already?!?)

So, there's another week that's gone by in a FLASH.  It's November 20th already!?!?!  That means practically the whole month is gone!  And then Thanksgiving week always goes by fast and after that, November's over.  I really can't believe how quickly it went.  Here I am left reeling.

There you have it.
Prep week + Cruise week + Catch up week.....
How to lose a month in 20 days. (but what only seemed like a few)

May Madness

About a year ago, when I was talking to a friend, who has kids the same ages as my kids, she brought it to my attention that we would have children in the oldest grade of every school in 2014.
I realized THEN that we were going to have a VERY BUSY MAY!!!  And boy howdy, was our calendar ever cram packed!!

Haylee would graduate from Elementary School!

(Do you like how she "dresses up" for this Special Occasion?  She says it's WHO SHE IS, so I agreed to disagree.)

Kyle would graduate from Jr. High School!

And, I don't know how this is possible......

.....but somehow he donned this cap & gown......

....because it was time for my own son, Ryan, to graduate from High School!

Wasn't I just in that situation myself?!?

 

REALLY.  I can't be this old!!!

But, before we could even get to all these graduation ceremonies, our May was also filled to the brim with other things:

 Katelyn's final school choir concert

Brookelle's End-of-Kindergarten program

{Spot the yellow pants?}

Haylee (& the 6th grade) also had:

D.A.R.E. graduation

3 Field Trips

End of Level testing

Medieval Feast 

Greek Olympics

Swimming Pool party

6th Grade vs. Teachers Basketball game
Field Day

Kyle also had:

2 A.P. Exams (Human Geography & Environmental Science)

Field Trip to City Creek Center (to "study" urban life!)

9th Grade Honors Recognition Ceremony
9th Grade Dance

9th Grade Lagoon Day

Ryan had:
A.P. Exam (U.S. Government)

Baccalaureate Services

Seminary Graduation

Senior Picture

Senior Scholarship Awards Ceremony

Spring Fling

Graduation orientation/rehearsal

End-of-High-School stomp

 the "Looking Back" assembly which he M.C.'d
(these 4 students, Parker, Ryan, Sierra, & Amanda, M.C.'d together and had many, many rehearsals & filming sessions)

All Night graduation party 

(that Matt & I served at - then Matt went to work the next day and I threw a birthday party for Brookelle!  Can you say, "Bleary Eyed" or "Crazy"?)

{I was doing A LOT of praying for these kiddos this month - especially on test days!}

AND we get to do this again in THREE years when Kyle is a senior, Haylee a 9th grader, & Katelyn a 6th grader.

THEN we get to do it again in SIX years when Haylee is a senior, Katelyn is a 9th grader, & Brookelle is a 6th grader.

After that, we'll only have 2 or 1 graduations in the same year -- unless there's some college ones that happen to fall in 2023 or 2026.

THIS is an amazing time of our life.....but can I nap in June now?  ;)