Nagging Aspirations

 

 I have been so busy trying to stay out of trouble!

 

Good news! It's been two, count 'em, two months since I decided to discontinue a couple of not-so-good, selfish habits. I didn't think I could do it. It's still not easy, but I've been successful so far. Yay for me.

 

Here are a few things I've been doing to keep my discretionary time more productive.

 

I'm making it an official goal to start a new journal. It's been a few years since I finished up the only measly one I have. That one covered 10 years.

I thought my blog could be a good substitute for an actual hand-written account of my little existence, but it just isn't. I have too dang many things rolling around in my brain that don't exactly belong on here, and I needn't keep them cooped up any longer. I could start a separate blog that only I can see, but I'd be too afraid of accidentally publishing one of my long, awkward discourses. ;)  So I will keep my history the old fashioned way. Then maybe I won't feel the need to share vague personal accomplishments here anymore. What will that be like?!?!?

 

Let's see... what's next?

 

I signed up to volunteer at Jane's school every Monday afternoon while Oliver is at preschool.  

 

I now have my first gym membership. I figured it was time to try something different. The sporadic at-home "workouts" haven't been too beneficial, if you consider idly riding the stationary bike while watching shows on Netflix a workout.

My across-the-street neighbor is always going to the gym, and she mentioned more than once that if I ever felt like signing up I could go with her. I thought about it for a while, then signed up for the free 7-day trial. By the second day, they had me make it official. Jerks. They didn't even let me have my free week! ;) Oh well, I guess I went into it with the intention of joining. But I like free samples!

I've attended four times with her (Chelsi) so far. She asked me last Monday if I wanted to do a class called BODYPUMP (yes, all caps) and I told her I'd go. I have a habit of agreeing to things without getting important details first, like how difficult something will be. This class kicked my trash. It was nearly an hour of weightlifting. Feats of skill I'd never tried before, a merciless shredding of muscles I didn't even know were there. For days afterward, my arms were practically dead to me. I thought maybe I'd ruined them forever, but I'm glad to report they've become functional again.

I think I'll like this change, especially if I get over feeling intimidated by all the super fit folks who live for the thrill of exercising. I'm hoping to enhance my chicken legs a bit, maybe firm up the ol' belly. Ya know, stuff like that.

I noticed yesterday that Chelsi went ahead and added me to a Facebook group called My Fit Friends, where people basically brag about how many Body Attack classes they took that day. I'm not sure I belong in such a group. Maybe I'll test the waters by posting something like this:

"Whew! I can hardly move after all my aerobic activities today. First I rode the stationary bike while simultaneously viewing an episode of Family Guy. All the chuckling instantly defined my budding six-pack! After that I skipped around my neighborhood twice (once forward, once backward). My goal is to never consume sugar again! Wish me luck, guys, I'll totes need your support to succeed. Later tonight I'm going to do the entire Sweatin' to the Oldies collection. I haven't even had time to change out of my purply unitard today. Workout or croak! That's my motto!"

 

Now put on your spiritual hat for my next nagging aspiration...

 

A few weeks ago, the ward family history consultant called me and asked if I was still interested in getting started with some research. I'd been challenged by the bishopric a while back to delve into the world of genealogy. I signed up on familysearch.org, and that was about it. The ball was collectively dropped until that phone call last month. Since then I've met with her a handful of times. Much needs to be done! We did find a marriage license application of my paternal grandparents on the site. That was pretty cool. The only info I have is a 4-generation pedigree chart, so it only goes back to my great-grandparents.

A few years before my dad's death, he had been anxiously gathering stories and names of ancestors. He was no longer involved in the church, but he was fascinated with family history. A couple of weeks ago I went through and read a bunch of his emails to me regarding the familial tidbits he'd discovered. He said he'd traced his family line back to the 1700s. Unfortunately, we didn't ever get that information from him. It's supposedly stored in his attic. In Arizona. His wife still lives there, but she won't speak to any of us kids (long story). That means we don't have any way of obtaining it. The family history lady who is helping me advised me to make it a matter of prayer. So I will do my best. If prayer and I can't get through to her, maybe my uncle (who lives in AZ near her) will have better luck.

I hope we can fill in the gaps in my family tree. As I read the words my dad sent to me a decade ago, I just had to cry. He wrote, "I feel like someone or something is pulling me into these investigations, and I have a strong sense that I don't have much time to do this, so I'm keeping after it."

I wish I would have shown more interest then and made sure all the info got sent to us. I'm sure it will all work out eventually, but just knowing how easy it would have been to get it then makes me want to kick myself now.





My last aspiration for this post...

I have a whole box of unpersonalized cards and letter-writing materials just waiting to be purposefully scribbled upon and sent to people. My goal for the next while is to pick a person a week to send a piece of snail mail to, anonymously or not. These cards aren't doing any good sitting in the cupboard! Unless there's an Indian in there who fancies collecting stationery. =)

I have a gob of other things I'd love to accomplish, too.
But I don't want to bite off more than I can chew.
I'll give an update on my progresses soon.



Halloween Fun

Okay, here's Halloween.

The Saturday before the actual holiday we attended a church dinner/trunk or treat. We were forced to dine outside since the gym had previously been reserved. That made for a chilly party, so it was lucky we had hot chili and baked taters to feed on as we eyeballed everyone's costumes. I always enjoy seeing people in disguise. And I also enjoy eating.

Cora decided to be a raccoon this year. Ryan so graciously agreed to apply her makeup. Here she is with one of her church friends...

The friend is supposed to be Katniss Everdeen (from Hunger Games)

I guess I didn't take any other pictures at the church party (shame on me!) so we'll now skip ahead to Halloween itself.

As usual, I had a tricky time deciding what to be. I thought about being something scary this year since I've never gone that route before. Of course I couldn't totally stray from my predictable self, so I settled on a get-up that was both creepy and cute. Although, based on the reactions I got, I think it was more on the creepy side.

As I was debating about my costume, I kept coming back to my prized red and white gingham dress. I wanted to make use of it somehow. I told Maria that I was considering just being a doll, and she suggested I take it a step further and be a Lalaloopsy doll. I liked that idea. The only problem was, they have buttons for eyes. And they don't have noses. I like to copy things as closely as possible when it comes to costumes, so I wasn't sure how I could make this idea work. But as Halloween got nearer and nearer, I decided just to go with it. I figured, They are popular enough that people will know what I am. Even if I have a needless nose and normal, human eyes.




I think Lalaloopsy dolls are so adorable. They are supposed to be rag dolls, which explains the buttons for eyes. They're available in all different color schemes, and each comes with cute, coordinating accoutrements.

Anyway, this was the best I could do...

 I tried to make my lips look neutral so the black smile would show up better. I thought about slicing them off (along with my nose) to make the costume more accurate, but I ran out of time.
This was the one time in my life when having invisible eyebrows has come in handy.
I didn't plan for my bangs to be quite so sideswept, but they kind of froze that way in the midst of leaning and having my hair coated in blue. I had hoped for a more vibrant hue. I was kind of bummed it didn't show up very well. 

I'm so annoyed that my shirt is sticking out of my dress. How maddening. I didn't want to wear a coat over my costume, so I wore a few layers underneath. I may as well have worn a turtleneck! ;)

 

 

Oliver was Batman, Jane was Draculaura (daughter of Dracula, a Monster High doll).
I tried to suggest some costume ideas for Ryan this year again, but he keeps insisting he's not fun. He's just not the costume-wearing type. I nearly never pass up the chance to dress up. What with all the wonderful dresses and fancy pants I own, I've gotta get my money's worth somehow. I wouldn't want all my thrift store purchases to go to waste.

We had some extra family join us for trick or treating in our neighborhood. Two of Ryan's sisters and their kids.

The cousinly bunch.

The white lines on her lip are supposed to be fangs. She wouldn't go for those uncomfy plastic vampire teeth, so we had to improvise. They looked better in person. =)

And here I am out on the streets... 

Happy Halloween, little children! I'll be waiting for you in your worst nightmares!

 

To my credit, one trick-or-treater girl asked me if I was a Lalaloopsy doll. I was so happy I could have hugged her, but thought her mom might have frowned upon that and/or called the police. =)

 

This was the first year I let Cora go begging for candy with her friends. The one stipulation was that they stay in our neighborhood. That was a real turning point for me. One of my kids is old enough to trick-or-treat without her mommy! =/  She seemed happy about it. I suggested it to her before she even had to ask.  That way I was able to avoid the heartbreak of her asking if she could go with her pals instead of me. ;)

My hair was so crispy, it didn't feel real. It was like wicker. This pic of my back is almost as creepy as the front view.

 

The day before Halloween I posted a Facebook plea for someone, anyone, to help fill my hair with sponge curlers. A gal from church agreed to it, bless her dear heart.

She finished putting them in at about 10pm on the night before, and I left them in until about 3pm Halloween. I was afraid the ringlets would become droopy if I took the curlers out too early.

 

 

This was just after coming in from the cold. That's why my nose is pink and my eyes are watery.
 

I went to all the work to dress up, so I had to make sure and take enough pictures... My great grandchildren will really appreciate all these gems.

As you can see, trick-or-treating was a success.

Jane is a great candy organizer.



I was sick of the clown cheeks and serrated smile, so I wiped those off and again grabbed the camera.

These pictures kind of weirded me out. But not nearly as much as the ones with the mouth makeup.

It's funny how hair (color, length, style) and makeup completely change the way a person looks.

I don't even look like me. Or do I? Is this what I look like?

Anyway, Halloween was a scream as usual. I sure hope yours was too. =D

Bummer!

 

 

I'm so swamped with stuff I want to type about! I feel like I haven't had enough chances lately to let my freak flag fly online. Darn! Oh well, it's probably better that way. I'm realizing more and more each time I share my thoughts here or on Facebook (and get crickets in reply) that most of my acquaintances are correct in their belief that I'm a tad bit off my rocker.

On that note, I have some dreadful news to report. You might want to sit down for this...

Due to internal difficulties (I forget the details) PBS will NOT be broadcasting this year's Hymns of Thanksgiving concert on TV as they have done the other nine times. That's right. Everyone has to put clothes on and come down to the local hockey rink if they want to experience this breathtaking evening of gratitude-themed ditties. I guess they decided Idaho doesn't need thousands of her slothful citizens watching this musical presentation on TV from the comfort of their own form-fitting sofas on Thanksgiving night. But it'll be fine. People will come if they know what's good for them. If the chorus sings and the orchestra plays, the masses will gather, maybe even hand in hand, and they will enjoy the wonderful show.

Let's face it, I'm not prepared to be a television star at this point in my life anyway. I don't have gobs of time to be out signing autographs and dodging paparazzi at the shopping mart. Maybe next year I'll be ready. And perhaps PBS will have its little snafu resolved by then. To be honest, it is a little bit of a relief that I will for sure not be caught on camera singing the wrong words. =)

I'm sad the choir is over in a few days. It's been awesome participating in such a large group. With all the familiar faces, the phenomenal directors and heavenly music, it's been a delight and a wholesome treat. I love all the songs we're singing. LOVE them. They really are inspiring and powerful. And I don't mean lame and boring. This has been the perfect thing for me to be involved in at this time in my life. The touching lyrics and beautiful 4 part (or more) harmonies have woven their way into my soul for a combined 26 hours over the last six weeks. This choir has made a huge difference for me. Singing with a choir lifts my spirits (dare I say) more than anything else can. I'm SO grateful I got to be a part of this. I'll miss it, but I hope to make this a yearly tradition. I'm super glad I finally remembered to apply before it was too late. I'm almost afraid for it to end because it's been so good for me. I promised myself I wouldn't cry, so I'M NOT GOING TO.  At least not right now.

 

Come to the concert. If you're thankful for anything, come. =)

 

My baby is 5

Ollie had a jolly birthday on Sunday, October 28th. He's growing up too darn fast for his mama. 

 

We have 9:00 church, so we waited until afterward to let him open presents. I was surprised how patient he was.

He picked the biggest gift first. Naturally.

 





Notice Jane's reaction. =)

 

A neato sea creatures set!

 

 

My apologies for the shadowy pictures. It was all happening so quickly I didn't have my wits about me to move him away from the bright light behind him. My mom would be so ashamed of me.


On to the next present...

A cool great white/ killer whale set. I think he liked it. =)

An Optimus Prime that's easy to transform.

Hooray for birthday presents!

Later that evening, we had lots of family over for a pizza dinner (Oliver's fave), cake and ice cream. It was good to have everyone come to our house and hang out. My brother in law, Eric (the super chef) was gracious enough to make a huge vat of pizza dough so we could all enjoy various homemade pizza pies.

Oliver & Fletcher, with Paislie in the background

Expensive Kid

During the past year, Oliver has:

1. Lost my wedding ring. It happened last November, and it's still missing. =/

2. Broken my camera. What makes it worse is I watched it happen. =/ That camera served me well for about 5 years.

3. Crippled my netbook. I came upstairs a couple of weeks ago and saw that it had *somehow* fallen on the floor when in the open position. Holding my breath and hoping for the best, I tenderly scooped it up to assess the damage. It still turns on and will go online, but the screen is all wonky. =(  I don't know if it's repairable. Ryan said I could bring our old monster-sized monitor out of the garage and plug it into that. While that's a nice thought, it would kind of defeat the purpose of possessing a perfectly compact little computer. The good news is, he was able to transfer all my photos to another computer.
I have another laptop I can use, but it's a lot bigger and heavier than what I prefer to have resting on my lap. And it's really noisy.
Yeah, I know. Cry me a river... But I miss my netbook...

You know those pie charts researchers make when calculating the average cost of raising a child? They should include a dollar estimate of all the possessions that could possibly be broken by that child.

Oh well . . . It's just stuff, right?

*sigh*