Assorted

The following are a collection of assorted thoughts from out of my head:

 -I'm getting antsy about my garden. I keep feeling like we need to plant, or be getting ready to plant. But we can't do anything until we have the yard rough graded (which means make it level). The guys is supposed to come some time this week with his Bobcat to do it. After that I hope we can do a few raised beds out of cinder block. After the yard is graded, Aaron can start putting in the sprinkler system too. Then once the sprinklers are in, we can soft grade it and then put in the grass. Depending on how long it takes Aaron to get the sprinklers in, we may or may not have grass this year. But I'm okay with that, as long as we can get the garden in. (The garden is not dependent on the sprinklers being in, we can always water it by hand.)

-Finally got a square wood dowel for the sliding glass door. It's amazing how much safer I feel at night with that thing in.

-Finally went into Rod Works. Wow. I could spend a lot of money there. I found a few things I'd like to go back and get that would look really nice with my subway art on my front wall. I'm doing my house in yellow, red, green, and orange fall colors. I've always been an earth tones person.

 -Potty training is going...well, it's going. Ivan does really good in the mornings. He can go all morning, most every day without an accident. But after nap time it's like banging my head into a brick wall. And, of all weird things, the middle of the night....like 2am...is the only time he can (or will) tell me that he needs to go. At all normal hours of the day it's a complete guessing game. I have trained him to take care of his own accidents though, at least the wet ones. He knows to go upstairs, take off his wet stuff, put it in the laundry room, get in the tub, wash his legs off, and then find new underwear and pants for himself. I figure, I'm not the one having accidents, so as much as possible, I'd like very much not to be the one cleaning them up.

-Finished reading Stuart Little by E.B. White as a read-aloud with the kids. It wasn't my favorite. I liked Charlotte's Web much better. Next we're going to read The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet by Eleanor Cameron. I remember loving this one as a kid, and since my kids are really into space and astronauts, I think they'll like it too. After that I think we'll read the BFG by Roald Dahl.

-Isn't it great that each of us has our own different abilities and talents? I've been coming to this realization lately, and I think it's awesome. It's ok, if my strengths are not the strengths of others, and more importantly, it is ok if I have weaknesses where others have strengths. For example, I have quite a few friends and whenever anyone needs help, they are very quick to offer to take care of children. "Do you need help? I'll take your kids." Kind of a thing. And I've always felt bad because for me, watching kids is about that last thing I will usually volunteer to do. I'm more of a "Do you need help? I'll make you dinner." kind of a person. I struggle with the kid watching, especially if it's going to be more than a one-time thing. I have a friend who watches someone else's kids as a favor for several hours one night every week indefinitely, and in my mind that qualifies her for the Celestial Kingdom, because it's not something I could sign myself up for. And I've always felt like I'm lacking because of it. Then the other day I was talking to another friend, and she was telling me about how she feels very strongly that taking care of others' kids is one of her talents and abilities in life. And it was like a light bulb clicked on for me. I'd never thought about the ability to give that type of service as a talent before. But it totally is. And it's not one I have! Maybe there are people on this earth, who struggle as much with bringing a meal, or cleaning a house, or doing yard work, as I struggle with watching kids. And it's ok! All types of services need to be provided at one time or another. Heavenly Father gave us all different talents and asks us to use our talents to help people. That means I should use the talents I do have to help, rather than feel bad about the ones I don't have. And yes, I do watch kids sometimes, and there are some kids that are a lot easier to have than others, and I feel like I make those judgements as they come up. But it's not something I regularly volunteer to do, and now I'm learning that it's ok because I have different talents that allow me to serve in other ways. So, to make a long thought short, I'm glad to know that Heavenly Father didn't make us all exactly that same. I'm glad there is diversity so that all kinds of needs can be met. I don't know if this even makes sense, but there it is. 

-Found out that a coworker who Aaron is pretty good friends with, and his wife, are in the process of buying the house across the street from us. I hope it works out for them, that would be cool.

-Tried to freeze some roll dough a couple weeks ago. Took them out Sunday, thinking they'd work just as well as Rhodes' Rolls...I was sorely disappointed. They didn't raise much, and they tasted gross. I need to do some research and figure out how to freeze dough so that it will work. It would save a lot of space to be able to freeze dough rather than already cooked rolls, and it would save time to have frozen dough rather than having to mix dough all the time for fresh rolls. Any suggestions?

-I am determined that, after we get rid of all the people's stuff that's being stored at our house that's not ours, we will no longer be a storage unit. I'm having a hard enough time storing all the baby clothes we are not currently using. They take up so much space! I think it's the move, it's put me in a throw-everything-away kind of mood.

-I don't know about you, but I'm ready for warm weather.

-We recently bought the kids Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss. I didn't read it before we bought it. I had no idea it was a giant tongue twister waiting to happen. My kids love me to read it to them, I can't figure out way. I get so tripped up on the words, that I can't tell if they get anything out of it. It's funny. I'm starting to memorize parts of it because I've read it so many time to the kids, and I'm discovering that saying it from memory is WAY easier than trying to read it, my tongue doesn't get nearly as tangled. So I wonder if the tongue twister has something to do with the actual act of reading, rather than talking. Hmmmm....

-Lincoln's just a few pages away from finishing Explode the Code workbook 1. He's done really well with it, and he likes doing it. Lots of times I tell him to go play in the play room for quiet time, and then find him in the school room instead doing his workbook all by himself for fun. Whatever floats his boat, I guess. We just received workbook 2 in the mail, and he can't wait to get started on it.

- I keep thinking I need to make some kind of devotional chart/schedule to start out our homeschool day with. Nothing elaborate, but maybe just a prayer, a song (the one they're currently learning in Primary for that month), a scripture (again the one that goes along with the primary theme of the month), and maybe an article of faith. If I kept it simple, then it would be doable, and I think it would really help us focus and start the day off well.

-Speaking of primary...I miss my primary calling :( It's been so weird the last couple of weeks to have to sit for two straight hours.