Friday Favorites

One of my new favorite websites is PaperBack Swap. You can find here:

www.paperbackswap.com

It's a great way to get used books at a great price. You post books on the website that you no longer want. You get an email when someone wants one of your books. You wrap it in paper and put it in the mail. You can take it to the post office and pay the exact postage or you can do what I do and put 6 stamps on the package and stick it in the mailbox. (I don't mind spending an extra few cents to save a trip.)After your book is received, the person goes online and marks it as received. Then you get a credit on your account that you can use to request a book that someone else has posted. Postage averages about $2.40, not a bad price for a book. I've had fun swapping out the books that I don't absolutely love. You can also post children's books. My kids have been posting their books as well. Thank you to my sister for the great tip on this website!

Thoughtful Thursday

I've been doing a bunch of computer stuff this week. Between learning some new programs at my new job and transferring computers at home I feel like I'm on technology overload. It's funny how much I've come to depend on my computer for everything from banking, communicating, photos, etc. I'll admit that I'm pretty lost without it. Do I spend too much time on the computer? I think that's hard to answer because there are so many necessary tasks that I do on the computer that use up time. But it can also become a time-killer as well if I'm not careful. As in everything, moderation is the key. I'm trying to teach my children to "unplug" every once in awhile and need to remind myself to do the same.


I remember reading a quote about technology. I need to find the reference so I can quote it exactly but the idea is that God has provided advances in technology so that we are able to use the extra time created by these advances to do more good. For example, we have a dishwasher to wash the dishes which saves us time as opposed to washing everything by hand. But the author pointed out that we don't always use the extra time that is created. Instead we fill this time with more tasks. I think about that a lot and wonder how I'm using all of that "extra" time. It reminds me of the last time that we bought a new computer. At the time we never thought it was possible to use a whole gigibyte of memory. But soon that wasn't enough and now I have a new one with several hundred gigibytes . I can't imagine filling that up but I know that eventually I will. Funny thing that technology seems to have us thinking that we always need more.


A friend sent me this poem that is a fun little reminder.


I asked the Lord to tell me
Why my house is such a mess
He asked if I'd been "computering"
And I had to answer, "Yes."


He told me to get off my fanny
And tidy up the house,
And so I started cleaning up....
The smudges off my mouse.


I wiped and shined the topside
That really did the trick...
I was just admiring my work
I didn't mean to 'click.'


But click, I did, and oops I found
A real absorbing site.
That I got SO way into it,
I was into it all night.


Nothing's changed except my mouse
It's very, very shiny,
I guess my house will stay a mess
While I sit here on my hiney!

Wednesday-- What's Up With Us?

What's up this Wednesday is computer issues! Ugh!!! I got a new laptop that I can use to do some work at Trevor's office so we're switching my old computer to the kids and sending the kids' old computer back to the office which means I'm in the middle of a ton of file transfers. Technology is really amazing but today it is not my best friend. We will be back on good terms as soon as this project is finished and everything is running again!

Tuesday's Terrific Tip

Here's our recipe for Family Home Evening cookies. They are great for FHE because they are made from ingredients that you usually have on hand, are super quick to make, and are loved by all. I guess if you always planned ahead and never needed a last-minute FHE treat recipe you can ignore this. But here it is for the rest of us:

Family Home Evening Cookies
1 chocolate cake mix
1/4 cup oil
2 eggs
4 tsp. milk
powdered sugar

Mix first 4 ingredients together. Roll dough into balls. Roll balls in powdered sugar. Flatten a little before baking. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.

Monday Memories-- February 1998

Happy Birthday this week to PC. Twelve years old. We love you!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Friday Favorites

If you liked him on American Idol last season, you'll LOVE his debut CD. It is my new favorite!

Thoughtful Thursday-- Counting Beds

As I was cleaning up from the day, I noticed these papers sitting next to each other on my kitchen counter. The one on the left is Mr. E's kindergarten homework, a monthly calendar that gives you one little task to complete each day. Things like "Count the number of beds in your house." or "Write your name on a piece of paper." or "Tell someone your telephone number." The papers on the right are PK's registration materials for his sophomore year of high school. We had gone through them that afternoon and finally had an idea of what classes he should take next year. That was stressful for me because he has only 3 more years until he graduates and we were trying to see how we could squeeze in all the required credits and still take seminary and still be eligible to attend a university if he wanted to and still take a couple of classes that would prepare him for his future career. Which meant that he felt like he had several major life decisions to make before he could fill out that piece of paper. Yes, really, really stressful for both of us. I felt like he had to grow up and make grown up decisions right then and there.

So, that evening as I came across those two homework assignments laying side by side on my counter I was stopped in my tracks. And I cried. There, staring me in the face was a reminder that my kids are growing up and have life ahead to face. A reminder that time has flown by with super-sonic speed. I remember when PK's homework consisted of writing his name. Not just a distant memory, either. I remember it like it was yesterday. It really feels like it was yesterday. And now we're planning the rest of his life. People tell you over and over while your children are young that time will go by so quickly. It really does. Sometimes I am so good with that. All of my children feed themselves, dress themselves, and are generally pretty independent. And that is a good feeling. But when I'm not needed in those areas, there are other areas when I'm not needed as well. They have their own interests, their own opinions and will create their own futures. While I would not have it any other way, it is a little sad sometimes. What I really wanted to do after discussing PK's high school career is just have him count the number of beds in the house and then climb into one and go to sleep without a care in the world.

I guess I'll just have to enjoy helping Mr. E count the beds and savor every super-sonic second of it.

Wednesday-- What's Up With Us?

A little behind, but here's what was up in November...

It looks like they're cleaning the garage but actually it's a dance recital. Miss A took a little dance class from teenager in the neighborhood. They danced to "It's a Hard Knock Life."

Mr. E's and Miss A's totally tubular outfits for 80's Day at the elementary school. (Those are actually vintage 80's painters pants, sewn by my mom for my sister.)

PC's month featured soccer games and a band concert.

PK decided that this was his new smile. He smiled like this for all of our holiday pictures this year. Yes, it's obnoxious, but you have to pick your battles!

Our annual Thanksgving Pancake Breakfast was better than ever. It seems to get bigger every year. We have such great neighbors!

We had Thanksgiving dinner with the W. Family. Thanks to the crazy warm weather this year the kids got to play on the blowup water slide in their backyard. Definitely not your average Thanksgiving Day activity, but still a fun memory!



We went out to the desert with the B. Family and the D. Family on Thanksgiving weekend. We had so much fun shooting the guns, exploring and cooking dinner over the fire.

Tuesday's Terrific Tip

Tip Disclaimer: Let me emphasize that by sharing tips I am in no way implying that I have all the answers. The best things that I have learned have come from other people's experiences so my hope is that the things that I have learned, mostly by trial and error, will help you in some small way. Posting these is also a way for me to remember and document my own stuff.



You've probably heard it said many times, "A place for everything and everything in its place." This is so true. As I've tried to keep my home in a condition that somewhat resembles order, this old saying has been my mantra. As we're picking things up with the goal of putting them away, it takes so much less mental energy to have a place for the item and know where it goes. I think you are 100% more likely to put it away if it has a "home." I'm always asking my kids as they are picking things up, "Where does it live?" Where is its home? If it doesn't have a home, we pick it up, look at it, think about where to put it and most likely, put it back down again or stash it somewhere else until we decide where it should go. Try to designate "homes" for the things that you find yourself picking up the most. It seems to make the endless job of picking up just a little bit easier.

Monday's Memory-- Valentine's Day

I love Valentine's Day. I think that it is my favorite holiday, besides Christmas of course! I love decorating and cooking and writing love notes and planning little family parties and giving little gifts and giving Valentines to my friends, but this year I did none of it. Zilch, zero, nada. And my family noticed. "Mom, where are the heart-shaped pink pancakes?" "Mom, arent' we having heart-shaped pizza for dinner?" I'm not exactly sure why I didn't get into the spirit of the holiday this year. Could be because we just got back from Disneyland last week and my focus was on getting ready to go out of town. Could be that I'm just feeling stress from other areas in my life and this got bumped to the bottom of the list. Who knows. But my husband did thank me for setting the expectations a little lower this year. Took the pressure off of him. You're welcome, honey. And maybe next year my family will appreciate my Valentine efforts even more because this year was such a bust. So in the meantime, I was thinking about years past. Here's a couple of my better Valentine years.