The Decision is Made

So, I got lots of helpful suggestions on what I should do about the jobs. And Sam and I decided that I'm going to take on Jet Blue. We are living comfortably on our income right now but there is a possibility that might be coming up that we might need some savings... So after a whole year of being unemployed, I start Thursday.

I haven't exactly kept it a secret that I've struggled since we've moved here in making friends. Don't get me wrong people are nice enough. They are friendly, we just don't get invited to do anything. I see other groups around the neighborhood getting together we're just not a part of it. It really bothered me at first, I took around cookies, we invited people over, offered to serve and we just never seemed to make any close friends or get invited to do things (we did for a few months then about October that ended and I can't figure out what I did). I decided about December that I just didn't have time to worry about it anymore. I had school, FD just moved in, Seth, Sam started school and every day life was overwhelming as it was and I figured I didn't need to spend my time on a project that wasn't making any progress, and I just started keeping to myself.

I've spent alot of time praying about why I had to move here. I loved my neighborhood in Salt Lake, but we needed to move. And it's always felt right to be here, just lonely, really really lonely. I figrued we had to move so we could get FD. But, I could have moved any where in Utah county and still gotten FD so why here? Well, it hit me this week... the Young Women in the ward. FD needs them. They are wonderful for her. They aren't just nice because they have to be. They sit by her at lunch, multiple girls call and invite her to Mutual, they walk with her, they write her notes at school, they aren't embarrassed to talk to her at school, they came to her dance recital, they cheer her on at track meets. The leaders and the YW have been amazing! (THANKS JULIE!) and we've seen some great progression in FD and I really think it's partially because of how wonderful the girls and leaders have been to her that has increased her self esteem so much! So Thank you to the Young Women and Leaders! She can't wait for Girls Camp.

Let's take a Vote

A year or so ago I applied to be an at home reservationist for Jet Blue airlines. Basically, I get to be at home my whole shift I just have to be able to answer the phone and use the Internet and take reservations. Depending on the shift depends on how busy you are. I thought it would be a way to earn some extra money and get to stay home.

Well a year went by, Jet Blue had a hiring freeze so I kindof forgot about it. But today they called and said that out of over 300 applicants there were like 5 of us chosen to begin orientation and start working. The pay is pretty good, the free flights would be nice, and the discounted hotels and stuff wouldn't be bad either. But do I have time for one more thing?

So here are the options that I've narrowed it down to...

Option 1: Take the job, try to take care of the house, FD and Seth, Sam (who's in school 2-3 nights a week) and try to keep going to school myself.

Option 2: Take the Job, try to take care of the house, FD and Seth, Sam and drop out of school for a while

Option 3: Which really isn't an option Take the Job, take care of the house, have FD placed somewhere else (see I said it wasn't really an option) take care of Seth, Sam and stay in school.

Option 4: Don't take the job, and just keep going the way we are.

Any suggestions?

Hopefully we have a green thumb!

When we moved into our house the yard was terrible! Goat head thorns everywhere, no grass just weeds. Orem city came after we had been here about 2 weeks and threatened to give us a ticket for a weed to grass ratio. So last year we set our yard on fire (yes on purpose) to burn up all the weeds and spent hours picking out thorn plants.


This year since we have grass coming in we would do more fun stuff with our yard. The hot tub got put in last fall, so that's nice we keep the temp down a bit so Seth can swim in it. (if anyone ever wants to come over just let me know)

This year we added patio furniture (just inexpensive stuff), and a fire pit.
But we worked really hard in the yard last week. Here's what we did:

• Cut down the thorny Hawthorn tree
• Planted 14 Raspberry and boysenberry bushes


• Planted 2 Blueberry Bushes


• Planted 4 Rose Bushes


• Planted 4 Grape Vines
  
• Planted 4 Trees (2 peach, 1 Cherry, 1 Nectarine)


• Weeded 2 very over grown flowerbeds
• Planted over 170 bulbs

Blooms of all the Trees

• Planted countless flower seeds. From Lavender, wildflowers, and Daisey's. So we'll see if any come up.

• Pruned and watered Our other 4 plum trees, 1 nectarine, 1 apricot, 1 apple, and lilac bushes.

Seth Helping Water

• Planted Carrots, Radishes, Peas, Garlic and Leeks in the garden

• FD's inside garden has taken over my kitchen counter which has in it Pumpkin, Zucchini, Watermelon, Yellow Squash, Cantaloupe, 4 types of tomatoes, 4 types of peppers, 2 types of basil, Cilantro, Savory, and some other herb. Hopefully we can plant all these outside soon. She also picked out Corn, Beans, Kohlrabi, and I don't know I lost count. But I think it will make the summer fun.

• I also dug out about 18 inches away from the front fence to put in a flower bed or something that won't look so crappy as the crabgrass growing under then fence. Sweet Sister Allen the lady next door saw me out there working and came out with a pitch fork and helped me. It was so much fun to talk with her and get to know her better. It kindof reminded me when I would work out in the yard with my Grandma. They are both sweet older women, who work way to hard serving others and loved their missions. So that was really fun.

Last week FD also had 2 track meets, and did great at both. She also had a dance recital. She was so excited and invited anyone and everyone she knew. She was soooo EXCITED that the YW and leaders from the ward came and cheered her on. A friend from her class came, her school teacher came, a few peer tutors, Uncle Matt and Aunt Erin came, Support Staff came, her state worker came. Afterwards she said, "I have lots of people who love me!" It was soo good for her self esteem.

Last week we also

• Dyed Easter eggs

• Put down a 14ft by 12 ft run in our front room over the hard wood because the dogs and kids keep scratching it.

• Seth Dressed himself
  
• Seth Dressed Lucy

• FD put together an Easter egg hunt for Sam's Sister's kids. My little brother was supposed to come to but canceled.
  
  Played outside Alot! Seth has 3 slides, a basketball hoop, a car, a 4 wheeler, a motorcycle, a trike, tons of balls, and the thing I'm most proud of is the fact that I either got them all free or for 2 of them I did pay but total paid $5.
  
• Rode a bunkin' Zebra
  
• And he was just as adorable as could be.

Happy Easter

Click to play video http://sonofmanproject.com/

My Sincerest Apology

Ok I stole this post from my SIL blog, I think it is so funny, and when almost the same situation happened this weekend with FD I'd thought I'd post it too.

My Sincerest Apology...
Dear Nurse at the After Hours Clinic in Orem:It must be hard working off-hours on a Sunday, dealing with people that can't wait to see their normal doctors on Monday. I'm sure I didn't make it any easier for you yesterday.After seven days of non-functioning, and not getting any better, I decided I needed to come see you. Wearing my little mask they gave me to protect others from sickness, I gave you all my info: lots meds and Ibuprofen for the fever...Oh wait, I did use my Albuterol inhaler on Wednesday night... No, I don't smoke...Started my period a couple days ago...On a scale of one to ten, my throat hurts an 8.5 or 9...Mother of a headache last night...still stuffed up...a little nausea...Dad and brother had cold last week...aches...fever...terrible cough...yes, green sputum.I sat up on the exam table like the perfect patient. You looked in my ears: all good. I breathed for you: lungs sound good. And then--I should have warned you, but I forgot. I was too relieved to be taking off the little mask (it gets hot in there!) that I didn't realize what was next. All of a sudden you stuck a stick in my mouth and another stick with a swab on it. I couldn't warn you about my overactive gag reflex. But you sure did find out about it, didn't you? And you also found out first-hand about the green sputum. Just be glad my nausea kept me from eating anything earlier in the day! As you wiped off your face and hands, I didn't even see one look of disgust! You, dear nurse, are a professional!

Test Results? Positive for Strep. I really do hope you have a good immune system, dear After Hours Nurse. So sorry.

Added for FD. I owe you even more of an apology, because you came in with that antibiotic shot to give it to FD in the hip, the crying, the convincing and bribery finally got her to lay down. You bent over to give the shot and she flinched elbowing you in the face that you just got done wiping her sputum off of.

So sorry, I hope you have a good immune system and plastic surgeon.

What the Heck! Why not...

This is how it works..... The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a hand made gift from me during this year. ( not that anyone wants what I make but we'll she what I can come up with) When and what will be a surprise. BUT, in order for you to leave a comment on my blog, you have to post this on your blog first. (That means that sometime during this year you will send a gift to 3 people as well.) Get it? So, the first 3 people to comment on this post will be the lucky ones! Take Luck! And don't be scared, it doesn't have to be the most spectacular thing you've ever done or anything.. it can just be something simple. It'll be fun!

One down, three to Go!

So, today I turned in my last assignment for my theater class. It's been a fun class but now it's done, I've taken the final all my assignments are in and I'm done with 3 weeks left of the semester. We went to see Twelfth night, All Shook Up, and Phantom for the class, it was fun to have to use school as a reason to finally have time for a date.

Now, I just have to finish Biology, Anthropology, and Oceanography. A week to finish each isn't bad. Right?

I turned in my big paper for this semester in Anthropology, I wrote it about blogging. I thought it was a disorganized paper and wasn't my best work, but it was all I could get together with everything else that has been going on (FD had strep, Sam has Bronchitis, and Seth is on antibiotics again to get rid of mucus and the infection from teething) But I got my graded paper back today 220 out of 200. Yep, 20 points extra credit for my "original take on the subject." I was so excited.

Catch up on photos

Photo Catch up for us. I finally unloaded my camera card. I had almost 1,000 pictures on it. But this is all get for now, because Blogger is being slooooow.

FD won the Girls Running Long Jump for this meet. She was soo excited! But it would let me load the picture.

FD's Track meet 100m Dash, her shoes flew off in the middle of the race but she finished no shoes and all.

If people from our current ward look close at the picture you might regconize two other girls and their cheering Mom.

Hair cutes, I mean cuts

He's helping with my Homework.

Who needs Clothes when you have Daddy's shoes, a dinosaur towel and a tie?

Taking a Bath with Maggie, he enjoys it more than Maggie does.

Washin' the dog

Giggles

Chuck E. Cheese

I have more pictures of FD, but she didn't want me to post them, so maybe she'll let me later.

Instructions for Fast

I went to Good Hearth Health Foods. There is a whole section of Full body cleanses. My Dr. Recommended "Nature's Secret Ultimate Fasting Cleanse Kit" It's a 5 day detox program. It comes with 2 Cd'S of information, diet etc for afterwards and other wellness information.

There are 5 parts to the program.

Step 1: colon clear (it helps rid your colon of all the built up junk, it's a powder that you mix into water, mix in lots of water and add a little lemon juice because it's pretty nasty.)

Step 2: Fiber Fortification

Step 3: Liver Clear Step

4: Appetite Control

Step 5: Super Nutrition (it's little green pills that have nutrients in them so your body doesn't go into starvation mode)

The instructions tell you to completely fast, water, clear unsweetened juices, no animal products (so no chicken broth), I didn't completely fast because I can't we just did raw, unpeeled fresh fruits and veggies for 5 days. And try to make sure that the fruits and veggies are mostly water based like iceberg lettuce, watermelon etc. avoid potato's, tomatoes, carrots etc. the starchy veggies and fruits.

I worked well for us, Headaches, being cold are the two biggest side effects we felt, and it was only the 2nd and 3rd day. By the 4th and 5th you actually feel pretty good.

And because you haven't eaten in a while don't binge on the 6th day it will make you sick. But our appetites decreased quite a bit afterwards. And since Tuesday when we ended it I've lost another 2 lbs. So we'll see if it keeps working.

The Fast is Over!

I went to see my kidney and diabetes specialists a few months back and they both recommended I do a full body cleanse to rid my body of some of the crap that's been building up since my kidneys don't filter everything out.
Sam being the wonderful supportive man he is decided that he would do it with me. We put it off through the holidays, our trip to Oregon but decided that now was as good as time as any to do the cleanse.
We did a program that gives you herbs to take that cleanse the colon, liver, and herbal supplements to replace nutrients while you fast for 5 days.

Yep! 5 Whole days!

You are allowed to drink water and clear natural juices. But that is supposed to be it. Well, with my diabetes total fasting is really hard, so we did a Raw fast, only fresh fruits and veggies, uncooked, and less starchy for 5 days (melons, lettuce, celery, cucumbers). No dip, no animal products, just fresh unpeeled, uncooked fruits and veggies.

We stocked up, chopped and put serving sizes in baggies and munched all week.

The results my kidney function is up! Sam lost 14.7 lbs. and I lost 9.2 lbs. And we both have significantly decreased appetites.

She doesn't know

I'm writing a paper for my Anthropology class that deals with the culture I live in. I got to thinking about all the women around me that are way to hard on themselves. There are so many amazing women who do amazing things and just don't think they do enough. Michael McLean has a song called She Doesn't Know. That I think sums it up. So I'll post the chorus.

She doesn’t know that she’s an angel in disguise
She doesn’t know that we see heaven in her eyes
She doesn’t know that she’s alright
She’s might have been blinded by the light
Of all the good that she does
Because she doesn’t know

She doesn’t focus on the good she does
All she sees is where she failed her part
Can’t she see that we think she’s a saint
Because she’s given all she has straight from the heart

She doesn’t know that she’s a miracle
She doesn’t know that her love is lyrical
She doesn’t know this song is for her to hear
She doesn’t know that I am so sincere
She doesn’t know she’s the best
She doesn’t she’s passed the test
She doesn’t know.

So to all the women that think they don't do enough, know that some one appreciates you and thinks you do way to much!