Valentine Gifts

The children decided to get Mr. Simple and I Valentine gifts this year instead of just a Valentine card. It all started with Super (age 5) who decided that he needed to get me some gifts. He even told me what he was going to get me ahead of time, despite my protests to keep it a secret.

He said "I'm going to get you flowers, a car, and a sparkly ring. Oh, and a ticket to Disney World."

So on Valentine's Eve, Mr. Simple took Super out shopping, and I took the girls shopping.

The girls got Mr. Simple a travel pillow, and a blue Snuggie, and a stuffed Gorilla. They also got me a travel pillow and a stuffed Gorilla (I already have a pink Snuggie LOL)

And then it was time for the Super's presents - First were the flowers and the car, and then the sparkly ring.

All of my gifts

A close up of the ring

Mr. Simple tried to steer Super to a slightly "smaller" ring, but he would not be deterred. Once he saw that ring, he deemed it "the perfect ring" and that was that. He was SO proud when he gave me his gifts. I, of course, love them. (I love the girls' gifts too. )

I didn't want to seem ungrateful, so I waited until later to ask Super about the ticket to Disney World. He said "Well, Mommy, I was going to get you the ticket, but it was a million hundred dollars, and I couldn't afford it." I told him it was o.k., I was thrilled with my other gifts. And he gave me a hug. And reminded me to keep my ring clean so it would stay sparkly.

Will do, dude.

(Oh, if you too would like flowers, a car, and a sparkly ring - the flowers and car were purchased at our local Kroger grocery store, and the ring was purchased at Target.)

Another thing to help me get through February

is I start thinking about planting the garden. It helps me realize that it WILL be Spring one day. Even though, in Illinois, in the winter, it always feels like it will never be Spring.

Here are the vegetables that I like that can be planted in early Spring. I got the information on planting schedules at this website.

Zones 5-6 Planting Schedule

Broccoli: Mar 25 - Apr 5
Carrot: Mar 25 - Apr 10
Cauliflower: Apr 1 - 20
Kale: Mar 25 - Apr 5
Lettuce: Apr 1 - May 15
Peas: Mar 25 - Apr 10
Potato, Irish: Apr 1 - 15
Spinach: Apr 1 - 20

So 4-5 weeks and I should be putting plants in the ground. I planted broccoli and cauliflower last year. I'm probably going to broccoli again, but not cauliflower. I tried carrots at home last year, and wasn't overly successful. The peas never grew last year because it was so wet last spring. I am still trying to decide about peas, but I might do a row, but not a lot of peas. I probably won't do potatoes, but I probably will do spinach and lettuce. Maybe kale.

Time Management

I am the first one to admit that I don't always manage my time well. I am often "just a little late" or I think that I can squeeze just one more thing in when I really can't. I all too often take too many things on, and then do none of them well. Not one of my better qualities, that is certain. Especially since it ends up making me feel bad about myself and it isn't good for the people that asked me to do it either.

I also tend to have my children do too many activities, although I'm finally getting to the point that I'm o.k. with the fact that my children are into swimming. The girls are also in Girl Scouts and a girls group at church. That is all that we are going to take on for the next while. It keeps us busy, but one is a physical activity, one is an activity to do with girls in our neighborhood and that they enjoy, and one is with church. I think it is a good mix.

Anyway . . . back to my time management issues. I think that I've honestly made things too complicated. I've given myself too many choices in what I take on. I don't always need to check my schedule and see if I can fit it in. I don't need to go to every event just because all the people I know are going. I need to realize that it is O.K. to say no. And sometimes, it is better for everyone involved to say no. And most importantly, it is often better for my family if I say no. I need to think about them first, always, before I say yes.

Resource Management: Staying Out Of Debt

This quote comes out of the February Ensign by Joseph B. Wirthlin (I recently posted about an article I read of his where he talked about learning how to be happy. This person was a very wise man.) It is very good advice, not just for members of the church that I attend, but for everyone.

“May I suggest five key steps to financial freedom. …
“First, pay your tithing. … (or if you do not attend a church, contribute to a charitable organization)
“Second, spend less than you earn. …
“Third, learn to save. …
“Fourth, honor your financial obligations. …
“Fifth, teach your children to follow your example.”

Joseph B. Wirthlin (1917–2008)

Five easy steps. Well, easy if that is how you start out. Not as easy if you try and use these steps when you are already in debt, but they still work. I wish that I would have followed these steps from the beginning of my adulthood. It was so easy to rationalize things and then one day - it seemed so sudden, but it wasn't, it happened over many years - I was in debt. A lot of debt. It has taken years to get out, and I'm not quite there yet, but I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel. I hope to never get that far in the tunnel again.

February . . . I always need something to do so . . .

it doesn't get too depressing with all the grey skies and cold, and mostly melted snow.

So I'm starting a project. I've got lots of fabric scraps - big enough for a square or two, but not really big enough to make into anything else. So I'm going to make a crazy block quilt out of it. It is not going to match, or be particularly cute or artsy or anything. But it will be functional, and it will use up some of that fabric that is sitting in my closet. I will probably end up donating it to Project Linus - a project very near and dear to my heart. (Please visit the link and donate blankets if you can - they are always in need of blankets and donations, but especially now. Project Linus is sending LOTS of blankets to Haiti, and their supply will be lower than it has been in a long time, so your help in replenishing their supply would be MUCH appreciated.)

The other thing that I am doing is having a Whole Foods month. I am going to try and make my meals out of whole foods as much as possible, and I'll list what we had that week on Sundays. The Wikipedia definition of Whole Foods is "Whole foods are foods that are unprocessed and unrefined, or processed and refined as little as possible before being consumed. Whole foods typically do not contain added ingredients, such as sugar, salt, or fat.[1] Examples of whole foods include unpolished grains; fruits and vegetables; unprocessed meat, poultry, and fish; and non-homogenized milk." I won't be quite that strict - I'll still be using homogenized milk, and I'll be using some white flour, and some non-whole wheat pasta, and I'll be using sugar, salt or fat in my baking, and I WON'T be doing much of, if at all of the making my own pasta. But I will be making most things from scratch, and we will be eating things like oatmeal or eggs for breakfast. etc.

Are you doing anything to keep you busy during this dreary month?

Mitten Strings: Stretching

It's been awhile since I did a chapter on Mitten Strings. This chapter isn't about exercise. It is about trying things that maybe we haven't done before, or that we don't think that we can do.

She relates a story about how she was interested in music as a child, and in 2nd grade, a music teacher came in to find a new crop of students. She said "He went from desk to desk, asking each of us to stand up, in turn, and sing the scale. Those who could carry the tune of do-re-mi would be sent home with notes inviting them to begin violin lessons. He stood at my desk, head down, nodding slowly back and forth as I imagined myself as Julie Andrews, singing with a purity and sweetness that would surely prove me worthy of the violin. "No, no, no," he murmured sadly, moving on to the next desk and to Karen Talarico, who, it turned out could sing on key. And that was that.

How easily children are stopped in their tracks - by a teacher's criticism, another child's taunts, a parent's offhand remark, a friend's thoughtless comment. By the end of my own ninth year, i had been pegged as a bookworm who couldn't sing. So I read stacks of books, kept my mouth shut in public, and stopped moving my body."

But then, when she is a mother, she finds that she needs to stretch. She says "I suddenly found myself forced out of my well-worn identity and back onto the learning curve. My children needed lullabies and, and later, someone to play catch with. A few months ago, Henry decided he wanted to try Rollerblading and he wanted me to go with him. 'Mom,' he said firmly, 'you're almost forty years old! Of course you can do it! I'm trying it and I'm only nine!' He had a point."

I wasn't pigeon holed as a bookworm, although I was one, and I was musically inclined. However, I let the fact that I was VERY average in every extracurricular activity really wear me down. I desperately wanted to be very good, or even the BEST, in at least one thing. Dancing, softball, piano, swimming, volleyball, clarinet, running. Anything. But I never was. And so by high school, I gave it all up except running. I was still pretty average at running, but I loved running, and running was an escape for me during those years. I was also terrible at art. Not just bad. Really terrible. So as soon as I didn't have to do it, I didn't. For years, I didn't do any arts, or any crafts because I figured it was just something that I "couldn't" do.

The author says "Our kids are out there on the front lines all the time, confronting new challenges as they figure out how to make their way in the world. Meanwhile we parents tend to setting into our ruts, doing what we know best: work, commute, eat dinner, go to bed, then get up and do it all over again. We keep everyone feed and on schedule, but how inspiring is that? And is it really the way any of us want to live, stuck in the comfort zone? Watching my sons struggle to master new skills - from shoe tying to dribbling to writing in cursive - I am inspired to push my own boundaries out a bit, to risk a little in order to reap a lot."

My children are inspiring to me. They keep trying when, if I had been them, I would have given up. They take joy in learning new things instead of looking at it as just another opportunity to fail.

She closes the chapter with the following story. "So last night, I performed in my very first concert - for an appreciative audience of two, my husband and my six year old son. 'This is Mom's first time playing music for anyone,' Henry explained by way of introduction,' and she's a little nervous. But I know she'll do fine."

Our children have faith that we can do things, if we will only try. And they are so wise.

Not that it is exciting to most people . . . .

but I'm happy to be doing laundry again.

Well, technically, I was doing have been the last couple of months, but the dryer was mostly broken, and LOUD (did I mention LOUD??? It was, in case I didn't mention it.) So I would let the laundry back up because I didn't want to listen to it, and deal with clothes that weren't dry after 90 minutes, etc. The loudness probably could have been fixed by a repair person, as well as the other things, but it wasn't a great dryer to start with, and it was almost 8 years old.

So, we made a purchase. A new washer AND dryer.

It is the LG 2050. We have our laundry area in a hallway between two bedrooms, so we stacked them so that we could have an area on the side for folding and storing laundry baskets, etc. Plus, we weren't going to purchase the pedestals, so this way, only the washer is low.

It's been two days. So far, I'm a fan. It even plays a little song at the end of the cycle to tell you it is finished. MUCH better than an annoying buzz.