Some Thoughts While Scrubbing

This morning I sat mindlessly scrolling back over some of my recent blog posts, happily lost in thoughts about how relatively peaceful things have been for our family lately. I then clicked over to read some other blogs which eventually lead me to my cousin Alisa’s most recent post. Alisa is deep in the throes of cancer treatments and I was so sad to read that she had had a terrible week after returning to the hospital for yet another dose of IV medication; this one meant to repair her bones that are being eaten by cancer. She had barely slept during the week due to pain that she described as the worst she’s ever felt, she’s had constant fever and other flu-like symptoms, and she and Josh have had to cancel a trip to Europe that they were so looking forward to. She’s discouraged, and to top it all off her children and husband are sick too!

As I blog about clean carpets, Valentine cookies, Star Wars, Whitney Houston, and hatching butterflies; Alisa is dealing with matters of life and death, pain and sickness, love and loss.

Life is not fair; never has been, never will be. I know that, but this morning that fact sat heavier than ever. I started thinking how the many things that I have given my energies to lately seemed so ridiculously frivolous in light of Alisa’s struggles (and not just hers but other's I know and love who are dealing with heavy things at the moment). Why does life have to be so hard? Why do bad things happen to some people and not to others, and on and on. You know…the never ending questions of life.

I tossed around thoughts like these and some accompanying feelings of guilt most of the morning as I set about furiously cleaning everything in sight (because that’s what I do when I feel uneasy).

It wasn’t all in vain though. As I cleaned and thought, thought and cleaned some more, I came to a few conclusions in my mind, which (along with my sparkling bathrooms and clean dishes) have helped me feel at least a little bit more settled in spirit.

Here are a few of my cleaning and thinking induced conclusions…

One…
It is when we are doing well, when things are relatively peaceful in our lives that it’s most important that we don’t let that peace and calm turn to apathy. It’s in times when our struggles are smaller and more manageable, that we should reach out and do more for those who are not experiencing the same. When we are stronger we can do more for others; and then hopefully, when we are down and out, that good Karma will come back around to us again in some way.

Two…
I thought back on my recent blog posts…the carpet cleaning, Valentine cookies, Star Wars movie, Whitney Houston songs, hatching butterflies, and I thought “are those things really frivolous?” Maybe? But in doing those things I was taking care of the home where my loved ones live, enjoying a sweet and thoughtful gift from a dear friend on Valentine’s Day, spending precious time with my son doing something he loves, reflecting on happy music and memories, observing the miracles of life. It occurred to me that these are not frivolous things per-say, but the small things that we should indeed enjoy while we can; because when the harder times come (as they always will) we won’t live with the regret of having taken those small and simple things, the good times, for granted.

Three…
Always remember Who is the true source of peace no matter what may come. He is the our source of strength in good times and bad.

I was asked to give a presentation for our annual Stake Women’s Conference that took place Saturday. It was a learning experience for me. I was blessed with an outpouring of the spirit in preparation, and I’ve been floating on the cloud of it ever since.

For part of my presentation I put some pictures of Christ to music, partly in an effort to share my testimony (sometimes words can convey even more when set to music). I used my favorite song of all time, “My Shepherd Will Supply My Need,” a beautiful American Folk hymn. The text is from Psalm 23 paraphrased by Issac Watts in the early 1700’s. The arrangement is Mack Wilberg’s and sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on this recording.

I can’t even express how much I love this song. If you have five minutes and need a spiritual boost, give this a watch.

(The pictures of Christ are from various artists…Del Parson, Simon Dewey etc. that I found on Google Images)

 

I Need Spring

Even though we’ve had an incredibly mild winter as far as snow is concerned, it’s been stinking cold out. My feet have been permanently constricted by wool socks and my toes are itching to be free! The boys have been begging for their bikes to come down from the hooks in the garage, and I REALLY need my kids and the hoards of visiting neighborhood children to be able to play outside instead of in my house. Winter is hard on houses and mother’s nerves, that’s for sure.

Something else that’s triggering us all to pine after warmer weather is our new pet butterflies. Jonathan asked for and received a butterfly habitat for Christmas. We sent for our baby caterpillars in the mail and we’ve all been observing the miracle of the cycle of life ever since they arrived.

Along with the habitat Jonathan received this book, and we’ve been studying while observing.

Did you know that once the caterpillar wraps itself tightly inside it’s chrysalis, it completely liquefies before it magically reorganizes into a beautiful butterfly?  I didn’t know that. Pretty amazing!

It’s quiet magical watching this transformation process.

The caterpillars (although a bit creepy-crawly for my taste) were fascinating to watch as they went from tiny and spindly, to fat and happy in no time. We got excited when they all started attaching themselves upside down to the top of their containers. I feel bad I didn’t take a picture of them hanging there.

When the butterflies are ready to hatch, their chrysalis’ turn from a light tan color to a dark brown. One Sunday morning just before church, the kids discovered these dark chrysalis’ and all of the sudden, butterflies starting to emerge…

We were late for church that morning, but it was worth it.

When a butterfly hatches, of course it’s wings are all scrunched up. The butterfly hangs from the chrysalis for a bit and then it starts to pumps its wings steadily and slowly all the while constricting it’s body to force yellowish insect blood called hemolymph, into the wing veins so they can expand and open to full size. If the butterfly doesn’t succeed in expanding it’s wings correctly within a small window of time, it’s wings will harden in a folded position and be permanently deformed. I felt myself getting nervous that our butterflies would end up deformed, but luckily they were all successful in their wing expanding endeavors. Phew!

We had one little straggler among our group of caterpillars. This little guy was the last one to get fat, the last one to hang upside down and form his chrysalis, and the last little bugger to hatch. The kids were at school when he finally broke out and I got to sit in silence and watch him wiggle his way to freedom. It was a moment, I must say.

Alas, like all pet owning endeavors that involve kids, it’s the parents that get stuck with maintenance once the novelty wears off. I’ve faithfully feed our butterflies their orange slices and sugar water and sadly disposed of the bodies once their short little lives on earth have ended (butterflies life spans are only about 3 weeks long).

It’s been sad to see our little Painted Lady butterflies go. Just this morning I laid one to rest on top of a banana peel in the kitchen trash can. (We still have two survivors left)

It’s been a educational and fascinating process to observe (a reminder of how wonderfully perfect God’s creation are), but now I’m ready to see butterflies in their natural habitat…for instance, in my flower garden, like this…

Painted Lady Butterfly

I need Spring! And because I need spring, my springtime blog header is going up today.

Whitney

I’m not usually one to get attached to celebrities, but Whitney Houston is different. I have so many memories surrounding her music and that amazing voice. Today was her funeral, and I feel so sad.

I thought I’d pay her a little tribute today…

I grew up with Whitney’s voice ringing in my ears.

I first learned to love Whitney when I was 11 years old and my mom taught all the 6th graders at Washington Elementary to sing “The Greatest Love of All” for our graduation. I remember standing on that little stage in our caf-a-gym-atorium belting out, “because the gre-a-test love of all is easy to achieve. Learning to love yourself; it is the gre-a-test love of all.” I remember that like it was yesterday. I remember the message of that song too, it sank in and made a difference in me.

Then in 7th grade I distinctly remember walking the few blocks from our house to the 5th South record store with my best friend and next door neighbor Melanie Allen. She had saved her allowance so she could buy Whitney’s album (the one pictured above). We thought we were so cool going to the record store by ourselves to actually buy music. We purchased Whitney, came straight home, peeled the plastic wrapper off, slipped that big, shiny, black vinyl disc from it’s jacket and played those 80’s classics over and over and over again on Melanie’s new stereo. We learned every word of every song on that album in no time.

Then there was this album.

I frequently babysat for a family in my ward, the Wistison’s. I remember Sister Wistison’s name was Jill and they had a darling little girl named Whitney. They also had the CD “Whitney.” I loved babysitting for the Wistison’s because every time I would go over there I would whip out this CD, turn it on loud (they had a great sound system) and dance around with the kids while sing my guts out (because little kids don’t care if you look ridiculous)…

“Somebody who... Somebody who... somebody who loves me...
Somebody who... Somebody who... to hold me in his arms...”

Then I would go home and try to figure out how I could get my hair that big.

Then there was this album…basically the soundtrack to my freshman year at collage.

Everybody had The Bodyguard soundtrack and everybody was trying their darnedest to sing along with Whitney…

“And I-ee-I will always love you-oooooo.”

We butchered the poor song every time, but it was still fun to try and sing along. I think that song represented pretty much everyone’s romances of 1992-93. I know Mike and I listened to the song together plenty of times.

Although I was as fond of “I Will Always Love You” as everybody else, my personal favorite on this soundtrack was “I’m Every Women.”  I cleaned houses to earn a little extra cash in collage. I used to bring my Walkman with me along with my Bodyguard CD. When it was time to clean the bathrooms (my least favorite chore of all time) I would just blast Whitney…

“I’m every women, it’s all in meeeeee. Anything you want done baby, I’ll do it naturally.”

Eventually those bathrooms would end up shining like the top of the Chrysler building. Whitney got me through.

It’s absolutely heartbreaking to me what happened to Whitney. She was a treasure and a gift.

A few months ago I stayed up late one night watching one after another of Whitney performances on Youtube. I stumbled across this one and was completely mesmerized. She is truly amazing…

Love Day

I like to make a big deal of Valentine’s Day. I see it as a opportunity to “shower the people I love with love, show them the way that I feel,” as Mr. James Taylor advises so melodically.

Here are some scenes from our Love Day…

We each wrote what we loved about one another on these hearts. We call this the ‘Fridge of Love.’

A pile of love from classmates…



…and a pile of love from my dear friend Kathy. Not only are these cookies gorgeous to look at, they are also gorgeous to eat, with the just the tiniest hint of cardamom, which happens to be my favorite spice. Thanks Kathy!



Jeffrey’s love goggles. We could all use a pair of these I think.



Hugs after Valentine’s Day dinner.



Getting ready to dig into our Valentine bags, the kid’s favorite Love Day tradition.

Here’s some of the love from inside my bag. What’s missing in this post is a picture of me with tears running down my cheeks as I read through my ‘52 random reasons why I love you’ cards made and delivered to me by my sweet husband. Those little colored cards are now my favorite gift ever received. You scored some major points Michael!



Mary Kate’s favorite Valentine was this picture of Captain Jack Sparrow given to her by Jonathan. He knows her well.



Jonathan’s favorite Valentine was this Mario Brothers card made for him by Mary Kate. She knows Jonathan well.

It was a wonderful Love Day.

Some Things Never Die…

…namely, little boy obsessions with all things Star Wars.

At our house Jeffrey is currently a die hard fan. As soon as I saw the billboard advertising the re-release of Star Wars Episode One in 3D I knew that I would most certainly be taking Jeffrey. I knew he would freak out over it, and I was right. He was in heaven today in his Darth Vader t-shirt, Lego Star Wars hat, and 3D glasses….

Don’t you love that t-shirt?

This kid sat through 136 minutes of movie with hardly a wiggle. I never thought I’d see the day.

Me on the other hand, I was reminded why I vowed to myself the first time I saw Phantom Menace that I would never see it again. The movie is terrible with that horrible little actor as Anakin Skywalker and the horrific dialogue, and Jar-Jar Binks…don’t even get me started! I would have been in total misery if it hadn’t been for Jeffrey’s pure delight (and that really cool light saber fight scene with Darth Maul and the Jedi at the end).

I got major points from Jeffrey today in the best-mom-ever category. We bonded in the galaxy far, far away.

Jeffrey told me that he was talking to his friend at school about going to see Star Wars. He told me that his friend said, “Hey Jeffrey, what if your mom wanted to go to the Star Wars movie? Wouldn’t that would be so weird!” (apparently there is the idea floating around that Star Wars is for boys only). Jeffrey just laughed and replied, “Hey, it’s just me and my mom going to the Star Wars movie!”

My favorite part of the whole outing was when we were walking out of the theater after the movie ended. Jeffrey was oblivious to the hoards of people all around us as he whipped out his best light saber moves and sounds effects. He’s a real Jedi, that kid.

p.s. If you’re wondering where Jonathan was, he opted to go swimming at the pool with Mike and Mary Kate instead of coming to the movie. He has declared that he likes Mario Bros. and swimming WAY more than Star Wars.

A Giddy Housewife

This may seem like a strange post, but yesterday my giddiness level was off the charts! When you stay home and invest most of your days in cooking, cleaning, laundry, toilets, and dishes, it doesn’t take much to cause excessive giddiness. A good carpet cleaning can be an absolute thrill!

That’s exactly what happened yesterday.

Remember the Larson’s? Yes? Well, Devron Larson just purchased a powerful truck mounted, steam carpet cleaning system and came to test out it’s magic on my filthy carpets.

What follows is a bit embarrassing because I’m admitting to all of you that my carpets were incredibly disgusting (you all know I have the twins living here so I know you’ll be understanding), but you should see my carpets now!

The white stripes on my area rug are now white again, the blue stripes blue, the tan, tan. All colors are back to their original brilliance.

Okay, now here come the most embarrassing, but most miraculous parts….

Here is a small, very high-traffic section of our family room carpet. You can totally see the before and after. And no, this photo has not been digitally enhanced.

See why I’m so giddy? Not yet? Then check out the living room…

This living room carpet was by far the dirtiest in the house. Winnie had even been so kind as to leave two choice pet stains in here (she puked the day before) but today my carpet looks like it was laid yesterday. This explains why I’m being a Nazi and demanding the kids take off their shoes as soon as they come in the house.

Now brace yourselves for this next picture….

This is the sludge that was in the machine’s filter. That stuff came out of my carpet, and I thought I was an obsessively clean person! This is the dirt you can’t see in your carpet.

My favorite part of all was the stairs. Each time I travel up or down my stairs I’m seized with an overpowering urge to angrily rip every inch of carpet from them and install hard wood. It’s so difficult to keep stairs looking nice, anyone can tell you that, but…

…look at this….

See why I can’t contain my giddiness? The white side looked liked that after only one pass with the stair attachment.  I just sat and stared while Devron and his brother-in-law Cody worked away. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the color changes happening before my eyes.

Here, you can see it for yourself.

Stairs being cleaned.

Does anyone else get a thrill out of this kind of stuff, or am I just crazy? (Don’t answer that)

I’ll have you know that even the green trickle stain from a leaky bottle of children’s Tylenol in the hands of a toddler that has been all over my basement carpet for over 2 years now (believe me we’ve tried everything to get it out and it still remained) is completely GONE! Now we can forgive little Conner and move on with our lives (just kidding ya Amy, we love Conner!)

Devron and Cody did an awesome job. They were fast, efficient, and very thorough. They aren’t the cheapest around (I’ve hired cheap carpet cleaning before and learned the hard way that you get what you pay for), but they are certainly the best. Next time they come I’m going to have them do my sectional and my air ducts. Yes, they do those too.

Oh, and did I mention they did my bathroom and laundry room tile? They do that too. Now my grout is clean. I never thought I’d see clean grout again.

Devron left me with some coupons to spread around. He said I could post one here on the blog. If any of you are in the area and need your carpets cleaned (or just need to have a day when you feel giddy with happiness) you can use this coupon (the coupon code is up in the right hand corner starting with JD). Hey, 25 bucks off can’t hurt.

Thanks Devron and Cody! Thanks for making a tired housewife’s day.

A Sigh of Relief and a Few Laughs

We just had Parent-Teacher Conferences this past week. I’m always so relieved to hear that my boys are happy, learning, and most importantly, behaving themselves in class. Back when they were crazy, wild, exhausting toddlers, I would lay awake at night and wonder how on earth my boys would ever be able to behave and function like normal children in in a classroom. You see, the only time they ever held still or were silent was when they were asleep. I couldn’t even conjure up an image of them sitting quietly and listening in a classroom.

Turns out that my fears were unfounded. Surprisingly (you have no idea how surprisingly), I always get good behavior reports from both of their teachers (although both their teachers say that the boys tend to be a bit louder than the other kids in the class. Can you imagine that?)

Anyway, all seems to be well at the Elementary school. Big sigh of relief.

Not only was I relieved with the reports, but I was also entertained a bit. The teachers had the boys do a few projects to put in their folders to show the parents when we came for conferences.

Jonathan drew a cartoon self portrait for the cover of a short autobiography he wrote about himself. I’m in love with his drawing. I’m keeping if forever and ever…

He also wrote in his autobiography that when he was born he was only 4 inches long. He was small, but maybe we should work with him on measurements a bit?

Then he drew a picture of what he will look like when he is 100 years old…

I guess he won’t have ears or much hair when he’s 100, but he will have some nice wrinkles and a fine pair of spectacles. He looks good for his age, don’t you think?

In Jeffrey’s folder was something too…

It’s a Mad-lib of sorts where the students chose a word from each list that they think best describes them.

It looks like Jeffrey has a pretty accurate view of himself. I couldn’t have said it better!

I don’t have his drawing, but he drew a picture of himself driving down a highway in our green van, and above him is lighting bolts and storm clouds that contain slices of cheese pizza.

Kids.