Writer's Workshop: The Random Things You Don't Know

I thoroughly enjoy participating in Mama Kat's weekly writer's workshops, there are always such intriguing things to write about and sometimes its just plain hard making a decision on what to write about. I often go back and use an idea later, so I get to use them all. If you ever find you're having writer's block or you just want to 'meet' new bloggers and share you're blog with others then head on over. Join in all the fun!

The Random Things You Don't Know About Me & My Family:

*I was told I'd never have kids, due to having stage 4 Endometriosis.
*While pregnant with Aislynn, I joked that I was ready to be done and a week later I went into preterm labor.
*Rhiannon is 23 months old and weighs 19lbs & Fallon is 10 months old and weighs 17lbs 15oz, Pixie fits her nickname perfectly!

*Joined the Army without my family's support, it wasn't until later that I got it.
*My Hubby & I were engaged 4 times before we actually got married, an original wedding date was Aug 10th, 2004.
*I lived in a real haunted house for 2 years and kind of liked it!
*I hope to write a book some day.
*Self taught quilter and when my Grandma passed away this last year, I inherited her very expensive, hardly been used Bernina sewing machine and serger.
*During my senior year of high school, my school was the first in Utah to perform 'Les Miserables.' I was supposed to be in it but following surgery I was only able to help with tech.
*I had major ankle surgery half way through my senior year and missed six weeks of school, and still graduated.
*I have a thing for cemeteries, I loved to take photos of them and love to wander around in them. We have to stop at at least one or two every trip.
*With the help of my Father-in-law I finally decided to incorporate my hobby of photography with my fascination of cemeteries and my love of history to study to be an archaeologist.
*I was Sterling Scholar for English & Literature when I was in High School.
*My Hubby works 60+ hours a week, so that I can stay home with our kids.
*Aidan told me the other day that 'Jesus built our TV and our house.' Which totally cracks me up, but makes things hard to explain that He did indirectly.

I had fun with this one, I think I'll do one of these every week. If I can feel well enough to do it, that is! I hope you enjoyed learning random things about me & my family!

Projects To Keep Me Sane

Well, its true. I pull out the beautiful sewing machine my Beloved Grandma left me and I get lost in the world of seams and figuring out how to do one thing or another. I love it, although I hate that I currently work on all my sewing projects on the floor between my bed and a set of bookcases. Its cramped and uncomfortable, but I still have made a few things for some clients, for friends really as I've gotten to know each of them through the process of working on each project, each gift for them. I've made two carseat covers, a set of matching burp cloths and a ruffled tote bag over the last month & a half. I've made upteen number of mistakes, unpicked a multitude of stitches, wondered more than a time or two 'Should I have done that different' and just had fun adventuring in the world of self-taught sewing. Here are some photos for you all to enjoy. I'm enjoying watching my hobby/business starting to come to life. Its a nice feeling!

The Trouble With Potty Training

Okay, fellow Mommies I am at wits end with Miss Aislynn the last two weeks and I am in desperate need of advice. We potty trained her starting about 18 months and it took some work, but we got there about 6 months later. She's had her little accidents here and there since, usually following a weekend not at home, but nothing we haven't been able to handle. But since last weekend we've had multiple accidents every day. We've tried everything I can think of, we've punished her by grounding her, sending her to time out, cold showers (not too cold with the temps we've been having) and we've tried positive reinforcement. We've offered treats, stickers, calm talks and the latest being a Princess Party after a month of no accidents. We still have had no luck and my patience & sanity are wearing thin! Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas on what to do & what it might be causing it?

Writer's Workshop: What Made Me Laugh

There is always something going on at my house that either makes you laugh hysterically or scream....hysterically! I have four kids under 5, so things can be chaotic and crazy, but boy do we have some fun things to laugh at. So my funny story for the week actually happened on Tuesday night. I was watching an episode of Lost (yes, I'm way behind the times!) and reading blogs on my laptop, when suddenly there was this weird revving buzz sound. It wasn't super loud, so I assumed it was something on my computer, I'd just opened a couple new tabs on my Internet browser, so I muted my computer and the noise stopped. I figured I'd fixed the problem and went back to what I was doing, but then I heard it again and thought, 'Man, is that a background noise on Lost?' I tried pausing the episode and still I could hear it. Then it clicked, I'd set my Hubby's ring tone on my new phone as a revving motorcycle and that was the noise I was hearing. My phone was by my feet for some reason and he'd been trying to call me. When I answered, I was laughing so hard, because I felt so dumb that I had totally forgotten his ring tone. Hurray for stupid things to laugh at to make your day!


This is courtesy of Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop! Love, love,  love this and enjoy participating when I can! Drop by her blog and join in all the fun!

Where 2013 Takes Me

I only had two goals for 2013 and really they encompass so much, that they could be headers for a multitude of mini goals. But for me its easier to just keep it at the two and see where they take me. Now mind you its two goals and  not two New Year's resolutions, because I can never seem to keep New Year's resolutions, so I felt if I made them goals maybe I'd have better results. Lol!

The first goal was to get healthy. Like I said really broad, but the plan is to get my health back on track. A big part of that is no surgeries in 2013! I'm already almost a month into the year and no plans for any surgeries (there isn't much left for them to take out! *Knock on wood!*) I have plans to lose weight and get back into shape. I've gotten kind of flabby over the last five years, you know four kids & 7 abdominal surgeries is all!

But those all kind of feel like they're on the back burner at the moment. I think my priority is to figure out what's going on with my body. I started having days with some pretty bad body aches, aches that are everywhere, but have focal points in my lower back, my hips, my knees, my neck. So bad I can't sleep and I toss & turn, crying out. My poor hubby has to endure it on the nights he's actually home, poor guy. I'm so exhausted from poor sleep, but a general drained out feeling. So I had some x-rays done of my one knee and I'll be doing some blood work this week. My Dr is checking for any autoimmune diseases and osteoarthritis. And if nothing pops up there, then it may mean I have Fibromyalgia. Something my Dad was diagnosed with some time ago. So everybody keep me in your prayers!

My other goal is to be a better me!  I know, I know. Another very broad goal, but its a valid one. I want to become a better mommy, wife, student, quilter, writer and just a better me! I want to feel more comfortable with who I am. All the time I've been sick and even now while I have more bad days then good, I have drawn into myself and become a recluse. I hate it! I used to have fun and want to be out doing fun things. I want to be the fun mom who takes my kids to do fun things. I want to be the wife who romances the socks off my hubby and doesn't have to be taken care of all the time. I just want to be a better me!

Anyway, those are my goals. We'll see where 2013 takes me!

I Still...

Alive! If barely. On top of the wonderful Holiday season, I have been plagued by post-op pains, strep, a nasty cold and migraines! I'm ready to be done and start my New Year! So, I proof I'm alive and here's to posting Christmas photos in the next day or so. Love to you all!

Dear Santa

Dear Santa,

       I can think of thousands of things I want to see under my Christmas tree this year. OK, so maybe a few hundred rather then thousands, sounds so much greedier, right? There are the things I want. Then there are the things I need. Then there are the things my Hubby wants and the things he needs. Then you have the things we want as a family and the things we need. And then last but not least, what my kids want and what my kids need. That's potentially a huge list. So, where should I scrape it down to? What should be included our wants or our needs?

Santa, you know that they cut my Hubby's hours down at work. They went from the awesome (if hard on the family) 5 12-hour shifts to 4 12-hour shifts. That still got us enough overtime regularly to keep us living pretty good, but then they decided that they didn't want to have so much planned overtime and although it was going to really cost them more in hiring new guys & forced overtime, they went to four on three off, three on four off. Now, we're scrapping by, barely. My Hubby's my hero, because he signs up for as much overtime as he can, but takes his name out of the books when his poor weak wife cries about not seeing him enough or the kids not seeing him enough. (I do that more often then I should, but it gets lonely without him.)

As if cutting down his hours and the overtime wasn't enough, my health and the subsequent medical bills are wringing us dry, Santa. I suppose you know that too, though, you have this uncanny way of knowing those kind of things. Just as soon as I think I'm on the road to recovery, I get slammed by something else. Just over a week ago I had my fourth surgery for the year, yes you read right my fourth. Just days before my surgery, I got a call from the hospital saying either you pay us what you owe from prior services rendered or you pay for your responsibility for this procedure or you'll have to reschedule. After crying my eyes out, I broke down and asked my Mom if I could have some of my inheritance money from my Grandma to cover my procedure. She and my Aunt deemed it a good thing to ask for my money for. So, I spent over half of my inheritance so I could have two hernias fixed. (Not how I wanted to spend that money) And when I have my surgery, I have complications (that probably cost an arm and a leg more) and have to have my remaining ovary removed. All of which was decided and done while I was sleeping.

We wrote down what we owe to every Dr, every hospital, every pathology report, etc yesterday. I wanted to cry. Most of it belongs to me. We owe over $8200 in medical bills that aren't on payment plans, which is probably another $2000 more. Our SUV has to be renewed this month, which will have to wait til January because we need a new set of tires that will cost at least $800 to do and we're working on paying off the brakes & roters we had to replace last week (grand total of $475 and we still owe $300 on). Not quite sure where it will come from, but it has to be done our car has to be registered in order to bring it on Base where we live.

Santa, as much as I'd love to see my medical bills disappear and be paid off. As much as I'd love to be able to pay cash for our tires and brakes. To know its not a stretch to renew our only vehicle. As much as I don't want to have to ask our Bishop every two weeks for assistance with putting food on our table. The thing I want to see most under my tree this year, is presents for my kids. They don't deserve to suffer, while we do. They deserve to stay blissfully ignorant of our money troubles. I want to be able to afford to buy ridicuously large amounts of toys & books for them. To buy the boring things they need like new shoes and clothes fit for Utah's unpredicitable winter weather.

I'd sacrifice everything to do that for my kids. As it is I know they will have a few gifts under the tree and that's ok. We won't let them suffer completely because we are financially strapped. It just won't be a Christmas of extravagence. That's ok. I want to teach my kids the true meaning of Christmas and about the birth of our Savior. But there's that small childlike aspect that makes me want to shower them with gifts.

Santa, if you could just make sure that we can provide each of my four kids with a gift or two. That we can delight in seeing their little faces in the morning when they see those small stacks and be excited. That's all this Mommy really wants.

Thank you, Santa for listening to this poor Mommy vent. Merry Christmas to you Santa.

Sincerely, Aidan, Aislynn, Rhiannon & Fallon's Mommy


Inspired by Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop. Check out her amazing blog, Mama's Losin' It and join the fun that occurs every week.