Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Saturday, January 3, 2009
The "Resolutions" Post
On New Year's Eve I heard part of an ad that was saying, "...breaking resolutions since 1980...." It cracked me up. I thought, That's the way to go! Usually I don't stress too much about resolutions because they overwhelm me, & make me feel guilty and discouraged at the little progress I've made thus far in life (See the first part of Stephanie's blog & think ditto for me). Plus, it's tempting to try to change everything at once, which usually lasts about a week.
But, despite my poo-pooing things like this, I really do want to try to be better. If I did make a goal in the past, it's usually one goal, usually the goal to be nicer to my husband. Or the 'go to bed earlier' resolution (And this year I have been successful a small handful of times, yay me! Especially when I made it to bed [as in, going to sleep, done w/ bedtime routine] for one entire week!*)
Anyway, here are my goals this year, except the first one is a goal I started several months ago and has been helping me immensely:
Goal #1, made about July/Aug 2008, will continue in 2009:
DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT beat myself up
for all the times I fail at goals or ambitions or even mundane tasks like laundry and meals (i.e. be a Realistic Idealist!). I started a "success" journal where I jotted down my successes (even if it was "got dressed today," "ran carpools," etc) instead of dwelling on my failures. I will be continuing the journal this year. It reduces guilt and the stress and helps my self-worth so I'm not so critical of myself.
Ok, now for the new goals:
1. Make meals consistently for my family. Plan a routine to decide on meals and decide when to prepare them since the 3-6 pm time is my least motivated time of day.
2. Flylady—GET off my franny! One load of dishes a day, one laundry a day, and 15 min. declutter a day
3. Scriptures & personal prayer daily (you'd think I'd all have this down by now, yet the days continue to get away from me and I didn't put the scripture reading/prayer first, even though it completely strengthens my day and my perspective when I do, and makes me a lot less mean and ornery to others, especially to my spouse and kids)
4. Early bedtime; Going to bed bed by 10 pm.
5. Humility. I've been so grouchy lately, which is when I tend to hold grudges and not feel very forgiving of others who are being just as imperfect as I am.
6. Saying NO to “me” time that is at the expense of my family.
7. Make school lunches the night before.
8. Exercise--twice a week walking, try to make a mile or two. *Maybe* try to walk to school w/ Rob and kids, which gets me up early and gets my exercise overwith. Exercise is another thing that helps me handle the day so much better, yet I often procrastinate doing it.
9. Say NO to me when I psychologically crave food/sweets, but am not hungry/full. And take in candy/chocolate in smaller amounts, a little after a meal, but not the entire peanut butter M&M bag.... Maybe just 2-3 handfulls. I'm being realistic here.
Wish me luck! (Really. Really wish me luck. I NEED it.)
*Well, ok, this really good week was only 5 days, but I'm extremely proud of my progress that week. From Sunday-Thursday night, I was in bed with eyes closed, at least attempting to sleep, by 10 pm. (We won't mention the part where Friday and Saturday night I ended up being up til midnight--I praise the successful days, and stopped beating myself up for my "bad" days. See goal #1. It rocks.)
But, despite my poo-pooing things like this, I really do want to try to be better. If I did make a goal in the past, it's usually one goal, usually the goal to be nicer to my husband. Or the 'go to bed earlier' resolution (And this year I have been successful a small handful of times, yay me! Especially when I made it to bed [as in, going to sleep, done w/ bedtime routine] for one entire week!*)
Anyway, here are my goals this year, except the first one is a goal I started several months ago and has been helping me immensely:
Goal #1, made about July/Aug 2008, will continue in 2009:
DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT beat myself up
for all the times I fail at goals or ambitions or even mundane tasks like laundry and meals (i.e. be a Realistic Idealist!). I started a "success" journal where I jotted down my successes (even if it was "got dressed today," "ran carpools," etc) instead of dwelling on my failures. I will be continuing the journal this year. It reduces guilt and the stress and helps my self-worth so I'm not so critical of myself.
Ok, now for the new goals:
1. Make meals consistently for my family. Plan a routine to decide on meals and decide when to prepare them since the 3-6 pm time is my least motivated time of day.
2. Flylady—GET off my franny! One load of dishes a day, one laundry a day, and 15 min. declutter a day
3. Scriptures & personal prayer daily (you'd think I'd all have this down by now, yet the days continue to get away from me and I didn't put the scripture reading/prayer first, even though it completely strengthens my day and my perspective when I do, and makes me a lot less mean and ornery to others, especially to my spouse and kids)
4. Early bedtime; Going to bed bed by 10 pm.
5. Humility. I've been so grouchy lately, which is when I tend to hold grudges and not feel very forgiving of others who are being just as imperfect as I am.
6. Saying NO to “me” time that is at the expense of my family.
7. Make school lunches the night before.
8. Exercise--twice a week walking, try to make a mile or two. *Maybe* try to walk to school w/ Rob and kids, which gets me up early and gets my exercise overwith. Exercise is another thing that helps me handle the day so much better, yet I often procrastinate doing it.
9. Say NO to me when I psychologically crave food/sweets, but am not hungry/full. And take in candy/chocolate in smaller amounts, a little after a meal, but not the entire peanut butter M&M bag.... Maybe just 2-3 handfulls. I'm being realistic here.
Wish me luck! (Really. Really wish me luck. I NEED it.)
*Well, ok, this really good week was only 5 days, but I'm extremely proud of my progress that week. From Sunday-Thursday night, I was in bed with eyes closed, at least attempting to sleep, by 10 pm. (We won't mention the part where Friday and Saturday night I ended up being up til midnight--I praise the successful days, and stopped beating myself up for my "bad" days. See goal #1. It rocks.)
Thursday, January 1, 2009
FINALLY- An Update!
We left CA on the 20th and drove to Utah to see LOTS of family. : ) This has been a very rich and fulfilling trip, renewing and refreshing us. It is also an extra-special treat for me to get to fly out to see both Katie & Shelly in Iowa & Illinois, and their new babies.
Saturday night--saw Stacy & Jake Yarrington, dear friends of ours.
Sunday--with the Wilsons, had a big family dinner at Sarah's house (Rob's sister) & picture with all siblings, spouses, and kids.
Monday--Ana, (Dave's wife, Dave is Rob's brother) had a darling baby girl, Gracie. We loved entertaining Ana's kids at mom Wilson's. In the next day or two, the cousins enjoyed a sleepover, lots of legos, chess, snowballs/men*, etc, and I went to see the adorable newborn & mom.
Thursday--Christmas! Shared a christmas dinner with the family, and talked to both Karolyn (my sister, in Russia on her mission) and Kyle (my brother, in Chile on his mission)on the phone, as well as spent time with the Coulams and Aarons (Rob's sisters & their families).
Saturday--went to an extended family Cropper get-together in Lehi, had a big family meal and re-enacted the nativity with all the cousins' kids. Also stopped at Aunt Lori's (my mom's younger sister) and loved talking with her so much that I braved driving later in more icy conditions to get to my mom's house.
Sunday--Cropper family dinner that we treated like our special Christmas Eve tradition, lumped in with Christmas morning, with all the immediate family that could make it. We had a candlelight ham dinner and opened gifts. We had Kristy (my sister) & Brian and their kids, Ken (my brother) & Shiann with Spencer & Boardin, mom & dad, Rob and me & our kids, and a sweet hispanic mom that is living in the basement apt., Ilda, & her two children.
Monday (Dec. 29th)--We left the kids with Nana & Grandpa Cropper, Rob flew home to return to work, and I flew out to Chicago.
Tuesday--A bus got me from Chicago to an Iowa city by 3 am, and I got to spend a day with Katie & Ben (my sister and her husband) and their new baby.
Wednesday--In the evening a rental car got me down to Shelly's house (my cousin) in an Illinois city, to see her new twins, her husband and kiddos, and got the bonus of having her parents and her brother Kevin visiting as well.
Friday--Tomorrow morning I will return by bus to the Chicago airport, then fly home to Utah. Saturday morning I get to attend Spencer's baptism (my nephew), and Saturday evening we will head home so that on Monday, January 5th, the kids can all start school again!
*Jeffrey loves the snow so much, he spent an average of 4-5 hours a day outside, playing and making things in the snow.
Ok, below is a MASSIVE picture log of our trip. If you didn't read the above, you won't know the locations of the pics below. (So, read the top part first) ; D
For those of you who want captions to explain the host of pics I posted, here they are:
1. Jeffrey reading almost upside down.
2. Wilson cousin sleepover.
3. Jeffrey and Nathan out in the snow.
4. Jeffrey lying in and eating snow.
5. Nathan posed (by me) in front of the Christmas tree.
6. Re-enacting the nativity scene with the Wilsons on Christmas Eve.
7. Bryce "leading" the music (unprompted) while we sang many wonderful Christmas carols on Christmas eve.
8. Christmas morning after the boys have opened their stockings from Santa.
9. Jeffrey and Bryce going sledding in Provo.
10. Extended Cropper family nativity re-enactment.
11. Rob and myself sitting on Santa's lap (my uncle Curtis)
12. Cropper cousin sleepover--UNDER the kitchen table!
13. Kristy (my sister) & Brian's air mattress next to Rob's & mine, next to Ken & Shiann's. THREE, countem, three double/queen air mattresses all fit into mom's little living room.
14. Ken (my brother) holding Nathan.
15. Shiann (Ken's wife, my SIL) holding their baby, Boardin. (Yes, as in, "snowboardin") : P
16. All the grandkids wearing homemade socks that someone in Kyle's mission (in Chile) knitted (or crocheted?) and sent to us.
17. The boys' third nativity re-enactment this year, completely organized and put on by Bryce (much like our Christmas tree getting put up)
18 & 19. Me, holding Abby (my sister Katie & Ben's new baby)
20. Abigail all by herself.
21. Sisters. : ) (Katie & me at Budget Rental Cars)
22. Shelly burping her twins, Brooklyn & Bradford.
23. Me, holding Brooklyn.
24. The twins, stacked. ; P
25. The digital cousins. (Shelly & me both on our laptops)
Saturday night--saw Stacy & Jake Yarrington, dear friends of ours.
Sunday--with the Wilsons, had a big family dinner at Sarah's house (Rob's sister) & picture with all siblings, spouses, and kids.
Monday--Ana, (Dave's wife, Dave is Rob's brother) had a darling baby girl, Gracie. We loved entertaining Ana's kids at mom Wilson's. In the next day or two, the cousins enjoyed a sleepover, lots of legos, chess, snowballs/men*, etc, and I went to see the adorable newborn & mom.
Thursday--Christmas! Shared a christmas dinner with the family, and talked to both Karolyn (my sister, in Russia on her mission) and Kyle (my brother, in Chile on his mission)on the phone, as well as spent time with the Coulams and Aarons (Rob's sisters & their families).
Saturday--went to an extended family Cropper get-together in Lehi, had a big family meal and re-enacted the nativity with all the cousins' kids. Also stopped at Aunt Lori's (my mom's younger sister) and loved talking with her so much that I braved driving later in more icy conditions to get to my mom's house.
Sunday--Cropper family dinner that we treated like our special Christmas Eve tradition, lumped in with Christmas morning, with all the immediate family that could make it. We had a candlelight ham dinner and opened gifts. We had Kristy (my sister) & Brian and their kids, Ken (my brother) & Shiann with Spencer & Boardin, mom & dad, Rob and me & our kids, and a sweet hispanic mom that is living in the basement apt., Ilda, & her two children.
Monday (Dec. 29th)--We left the kids with Nana & Grandpa Cropper, Rob flew home to return to work, and I flew out to Chicago.
Tuesday--A bus got me from Chicago to an Iowa city by 3 am, and I got to spend a day with Katie & Ben (my sister and her husband) and their new baby.
Wednesday--In the evening a rental car got me down to Shelly's house (my cousin) in an Illinois city, to see her new twins, her husband and kiddos, and got the bonus of having her parents and her brother Kevin visiting as well.
Friday--Tomorrow morning I will return by bus to the Chicago airport, then fly home to Utah. Saturday morning I get to attend Spencer's baptism (my nephew), and Saturday evening we will head home so that on Monday, January 5th, the kids can all start school again!
*Jeffrey loves the snow so much, he spent an average of 4-5 hours a day outside, playing and making things in the snow.
Ok, below is a MASSIVE picture log of our trip. If you didn't read the above, you won't know the locations of the pics below. (So, read the top part first) ; D
For those of you who want captions to explain the host of pics I posted, here they are:
1. Jeffrey reading almost upside down.
2. Wilson cousin sleepover.
3. Jeffrey and Nathan out in the snow.
4. Jeffrey lying in and eating snow.
5. Nathan posed (by me) in front of the Christmas tree.
6. Re-enacting the nativity scene with the Wilsons on Christmas Eve.
7. Bryce "leading" the music (unprompted) while we sang many wonderful Christmas carols on Christmas eve.
8. Christmas morning after the boys have opened their stockings from Santa.
9. Jeffrey and Bryce going sledding in Provo.
10. Extended Cropper family nativity re-enactment.
11. Rob and myself sitting on Santa's lap (my uncle Curtis)
12. Cropper cousin sleepover--UNDER the kitchen table!
13. Kristy (my sister) & Brian's air mattress next to Rob's & mine, next to Ken & Shiann's. THREE, countem, three double/queen air mattresses all fit into mom's little living room.
14. Ken (my brother) holding Nathan.
15. Shiann (Ken's wife, my SIL) holding their baby, Boardin. (Yes, as in, "snowboardin") : P
16. All the grandkids wearing homemade socks that someone in Kyle's mission (in Chile) knitted (or crocheted?) and sent to us.
17. The boys' third nativity re-enactment this year, completely organized and put on by Bryce (much like our Christmas tree getting put up)
18 & 19. Me, holding Abby (my sister Katie & Ben's new baby)
20. Abigail all by herself.
21. Sisters. : ) (Katie & me at Budget Rental Cars)
22. Shelly burping her twins, Brooklyn & Bradford.
23. Me, holding Brooklyn.
24. The twins, stacked. ; P
25. The digital cousins. (Shelly & me both on our laptops)
Saturday, December 20, 2008
What *not* to do when going out of town.
1. Lose your driver's license.
2. Then realize, after tearing up the house with no luck, that you can't find your social security card either.
3. Spend another half of the day (that was set aside for packing) looking for other non-photo ID and/or driver's license, while waiting on the phone in several different queues trying to speak to airport* & DMV personnel. I think the most I waited on hold was over 45 minutes, but had at least three half-hour waits before getting to speak to human beings.
5. Drive all the way down to the DMV with three rambunctious little boys, without cash, debit, or checkbook, intending to pay the $22 fee to get a replacement license. They don't take credit card, the only form of payment you bring.**
(HELLO, shouldn't everywhere take credit? I pay my card off every month. Why should I be penalized for people who don't pay their CC bills? )
Despite Murphy's law today keeping me from any real plans to pack and leave early, there were some perks:
1) I got a really cute (IMO) haircut yesterday, and it's my opinion that matters, so, yay!
2) I found an inexpensive plane ticket so I can fly from Utah to Chicago during my trip, and go visit Katie (my sister, hubby, and new baby Abigail) & Shelly (cousin, hubby, kids, and brand new twins) in Iowa and Illinois. My mommy will watch my kiddos so I can fly out and back without Rob having to take any extra days off of work.
3) I learned my nephew Spencer wants to get baptized, and we get to attend his baptism on Jan. 3rd. : )
4) *I learned that an airport will accept a temporary license (no photo) with another form of ID like my birth certificate. Phew! But note to self to get a copy of my social security card and keep it on file!
5) **At the DMV today, two complete strangers offered to pay my fee rather than seeing me drive all the way home w/ my little boys to get my checkbook. Talk about a heartwarming Christmas experience of selfless people serving others. Of course I insisted on getting a gal's address so I can reimburse her, but it still blows me away that she tried to just offer me the money to save me the hassle of trying to drive home and back before the DMV closed.
2. Then realize, after tearing up the house with no luck, that you can't find your social security card either.
3. Spend another half of the day (that was set aside for packing) looking for other non-photo ID and/or driver's license, while waiting on the phone in several different queues trying to speak to airport* & DMV personnel. I think the most I waited on hold was over 45 minutes, but had at least three half-hour waits before getting to speak to human beings.
5. Drive all the way down to the DMV with three rambunctious little boys, without cash, debit, or checkbook, intending to pay the $22 fee to get a replacement license. They don't take credit card, the only form of payment you bring.**
(HELLO, shouldn't everywhere take credit? I pay my card off every month. Why should I be penalized for people who don't pay their CC bills? )
Despite Murphy's law today keeping me from any real plans to pack and leave early, there were some perks:
1) I got a really cute (IMO) haircut yesterday, and it's my opinion that matters, so, yay!
2) I found an inexpensive plane ticket so I can fly from Utah to Chicago during my trip, and go visit Katie (my sister, hubby, and new baby Abigail) & Shelly (cousin, hubby, kids, and brand new twins) in Iowa and Illinois. My mommy will watch my kiddos so I can fly out and back without Rob having to take any extra days off of work.
3) I learned my nephew Spencer wants to get baptized, and we get to attend his baptism on Jan. 3rd. : )
4) *I learned that an airport will accept a temporary license (no photo) with another form of ID like my birth certificate. Phew! But note to self to get a copy of my social security card and keep it on file!
5) **At the DMV today, two complete strangers offered to pay my fee rather than seeing me drive all the way home w/ my little boys to get my checkbook. Talk about a heartwarming Christmas experience of selfless people serving others. Of course I insisted on getting a gal's address so I can reimburse her, but it still blows me away that she tried to just offer me the money to save me the hassle of trying to drive home and back before the DMV closed.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Hippopotamuses
For all of you sneaky people out there who have known about this song for ages and never told me about it, I just discovered it this week because it has played a few times on our favorite christmas radio station. I *love* it! Ha ha ha ha! Typed the song title into the youtube search engine, and voila.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
An Announcement
UPDATED 12/12/08: By the way, for any of you who don't know who's baby pics I'm posting on my blog (i.e. my friends who haven't met my family), Katie is my sister. Ben is her husband, and Abigail is their first baby, and Nana's (my mom) 2nd female grandchild. Very, very fun!
If you click on Abigail's full name further down in this post, it is a link to Katie & Ben's blog, and you can see a pic of my sister and her Mr. And more pics of Abigail.
UPDATED: New pics of beautiful Abigail. Isn't my new niece precious?
Abigail Elisabeth Knoll arrived last night in Iowa, to two very proud parents, Katie & Ben Knoll. Congratulations on your new alarm clock, you two!
If you click on Abigail's full name further down in this post, it is a link to Katie & Ben's blog, and you can see a pic of my sister and her Mr. And more pics of Abigail.
UPDATED: New pics of beautiful Abigail. Isn't my new niece precious?
Abigail Elisabeth Knoll arrived last night in Iowa, to two very proud parents, Katie & Ben Knoll. Congratulations on your new alarm clock, you two!
Monday, December 1, 2008
{Laissez-faire}* n. A term used...
...to describe a policy of allowing events to take their own course with minimal intervention.
Jeffrey and Bryce were undeterred by my procrastination to put up the tree.
If you could bottle the enthusiasm and energy of my boys as they gathered, assembled, & decorated our christmas tree tonight, we would not need prozac.
I did not bring in a single box from the garage. They found them, brought them all in, opened them all (oh the glee in their countenances!), and set to work attaching all the branches, checking the light strands, and so on. My only contribution was turning on a Burl Ives christmas CD, which only heightened their enjoyment of the process.
We stopped them for the scriptures, song, and prayer part of FHE, and then let them continue their project.
The tree looks awful (in my humble, artistic opinion), but oh, the memories they made tonight! I love it. How I love my boys!
And the creme de la creme was the allegory Bryce announced with "aha" eyes: "Oh, mom! The star is at the very top, looking down on the tree. The star is God. And all the ornaments are God's children. He's watching over us!" He also decided on his own an hour earlier that he is going to take his Book of Mormon for book share on Wednesday.
Ahhhh, the warm fuzzy moments.
*I have no idea how to pronounce this.
I wish Karolyn were here and could tell me; Shelly can. I don't think it's coincidence, though, that it looks like the english word "lazy." I was SO lazy tonight.
Jeffrey and Bryce were undeterred by my procrastination to put up the tree.
If you could bottle the enthusiasm and energy of my boys as they gathered, assembled, & decorated our christmas tree tonight, we would not need prozac.
I did not bring in a single box from the garage. They found them, brought them all in, opened them all (oh the glee in their countenances!), and set to work attaching all the branches, checking the light strands, and so on. My only contribution was turning on a Burl Ives christmas CD, which only heightened their enjoyment of the process.
We stopped them for the scriptures, song, and prayer part of FHE, and then let them continue their project.
The tree looks awful (in my humble, artistic opinion), but oh, the memories they made tonight! I love it. How I love my boys!
And the creme de la creme was the allegory Bryce announced with "aha" eyes: "Oh, mom! The star is at the very top, looking down on the tree. The star is God. And all the ornaments are God's children. He's watching over us!" He also decided on his own an hour earlier that he is going to take his Book of Mormon for book share on Wednesday.
Ahhhh, the warm fuzzy moments.
*I have no idea how to pronounce this.
I wish Karolyn were here and could tell me; Shelly can. I don't think it's coincidence, though, that it looks like the english word "lazy." I was SO lazy tonight.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
