Wordless Wednesday: Multi-Tasking

My Good Word for this Wednesday is: Joyous Anniversary

Good Word Wednesday has been around for a whole year now. My idea grew from council received this time last year by a man I dearly love to find "joy in the journey" . This advice came at a time in my life where I was sure on a journey, but there was very little joy to be found at first glance. So I decided I better start finding it on my own.

Once I started looking for joy along the way, I always seemed to find it. I thought if my discovery of joy could be so cheerful to me, maybe we all could just jot down what kind of simple happiness we've uncovered in our lives once a week and keep multiplying the love. Through out this past year, this day of good words has been a highlight of my week.

Thank you for being such a huge part of the joy in my journey.

FJ1W: I feel pretty! Oh, so pretty!

You're staring into the guts of my "great and spacious" make-up box.

It's actually a tackle box that I just found a better use for.

 

So last week I gave myself the FJ1W challenge of getting fully ready for the day, whether I was going out or not. I decided that as long as my face was on, getting dressed in a pair of Olen's clean p.j.s was a-ok. See, this way I could still be comfortable, but answer the door in full confidence because of my perfectly applied mascara. I think I probably saved myself some time by getting dolled up in the morning because when I needed to go out at any other time of the day I was already 50% ready to go. The first couple of days Porter commented as I picked him up from school, "Where did you go today?"

"Nowhere. London and I rearranged her room today."

"Oh, then why do you have all that makeup on?"

Hum, I guess I was in need of this challenge more than I thought.

My FJ1W challenge for this week is stocking the freezer with frozen meals that the family can reheat and eat when Daisy comes. Stay tuned because I'll be sharing some of our family's favorite recipes. Think easy, super yummy, and easy.

A Funny Thing Happend On The Way To Friday: Just Taking Care of Business

Because feet have feelings, too.

Good Word Wednesday: A Spoonful of Sugar

You know on that one movie where the parents start acting a little odd(er) and then the winds change direction and blow all the extra nannies and anything in the street away, and the kids are looking out their bedroom window wondering what is going on down there, and then here comes the person they've all been waiting for; Mary Poppins, drifting down carring a parrot-handled umbrella. Well, that's what it's like. That's what it feels like right now.

The weather has changed directions, the winds have started blowing and there is a definite new feeling in the air. Any day (okay, any week actually) I expect Miss. Daisy should be drifting down.

How great would it be if she could drift from the sky on a parrot-handled umbrella. But if she can't drift from the sky, scrap the parrot-handled umbrella idea.

My Good Word for this Wednesday: Nesting

Just going ga-ga making these dolled-up onesies.

I was in the kitchen preparing dinner while Porter sat behind me at the table doing homework and London colored. Port would ask me for answers, that I wouldn't give, while I assembled the tortilla soup.

Olen came home and the kids shouted in unison, "Daddy's home!"

I turned from the stove top to give Olen the ceremonial welcome home kiss and heard Porter whisper to London:

"Whoa. Don't look back, LaLa. Mom and dad are kissing like a rated R movie."

Olen: "Yeah, alriigght!"

Me: "Uh, the soup is boiling over..."

FJ1W - Accomplished

Remember how I took Erin's challenge and promised to smile more For Just One Week?

Well, I did and it felt pretty darn happy. Sometimes I had to remind myself, "Smile. Right now." and an instant wave of happiness would slap me in the face and I would really confuse my kids and husband. Double the fun.

Monday: We are a fish kind of pet family. After serving a mission for our church in London, England Olen has "issues" with hairy pets in the house. Sidetrack: Over there they have really hairy dogs in each and every house (according to the stories I've been told). I picture that big fluffy sheep dog in the Warner Brother Looney Toons cartoon that is always keeping that Wile E. Coyote out of the sheep pen. Well, these really hairy dogs are everywhere in the house and so is their hair. After politely eating many a meal peppered with dog hair, Olen is absolute on not having a pet with hair in the house. Not even a hamster. I tried, and begged, but no budging on this one. So, we are a fish kind of pet family. We finally got some new fish for our new house and this made everyone smile.

Tuesday: A day of little consequence. I spent most of the morning and afternoon preparing boxes of my kids' old clothes to send to Mexico for humanitarian efforts. When Olen came home, he showed up with one of these just for yours truly and for no reason at all. When he walked in the door I said, "What a happy surprise! Oh, wait while I get the camera!" So he did.

Wednesday: I turned my kitchen into a peach production plant. Boiling, pealing, slicing and storing. Now our peaches are safely preserved and I have one less box in my house. London was my helper, mostly at eating the peaches, but I love that she wants to help. I smiled till the last dish was washed.

Thursday: I took a step closer to understanding our new ward. I went visiting teaching. We really loved our ward in Little Big Town and the adjustment to the different dynamics of our new ward hasn't been an easy one for me. However, I re-learned an important lesson; our Heavenly Father loves us all, no matter what stage of life we're in, and we all just need the chance to make a friend. It was a happy re-discovery.

Friday: We went again to visit Olen's daddy at the Tucson hospital where he's being tended to after major heart surgery. He took a turn for the worst last week and had us all worried, but is now slowly improving and his renovated heart is beating stronger everyday. We all smiled this day. And of course, I already told you about the pit stop along the way.

I liked this FJ1W. I think I'll keep it up.

Now for next week's FJ1W: Get fully ready for the day every morning (I'm talking the basics here; getting dressed, in something other than Olen's pajamas, and make-up - I've been slacking to say the least). When London says to me, "I wanna go! I wanna go!" just because I'm dressed and wearing lip stick, there's a problem.

How 'bout you? What are you doing For Just One Week?

Don't Blink Or You'll Miss It.

On the way to Tucson, at the base of Picacho Peak, there is a little shack off the side of the road and a couple hundred acres of land.

It's called Rooster Cogburn's Ostrich Ranch .

We stop by about once a year and pay to feed their animals because it is totally worth it.

We start slow and feed the deer. London only liked to feed the deer that looked like "deer mammas". Porter went after the ones with the largest antlers.

Then the ostriches. They are a little intense and London didn't want anything to do with them. Porter would give each dish a little food and watch them go crazy. Olen was daring and fed them with his bare hand. This turned out to be a mistake.
The donkeys are new this year. They were very mellow and a little slimy, but very friendly. We used most of our grain on the ostriches, so we didn't have much to feed the donkeys but they were sweet and let us pet them just the same.
The lorikeets are my favorite. Olen got bit right away from a hungry lorikeet and he was done with birds for the day, so I put him on camera duty while the kids and I fed these greedy birds their nectar. The only thing to remember is that the lorikeets have quick digestive systems and so you want to let them have their snack and then stand back.

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Friday.

I went through a clock collecting phase. I had to stop because I was running out of room on my walls and the tick-tick-tocking was driving me a little crazy. This is why none of these clocks have batteries installed plus I like the way they all tell a different time.

The cool thing about collecting something is that people catch on and want to help you grow your collection. This clock was a gift from my sister-in-law, it's from Russia and weighs about thirty pounds. Porter thought that Russians didn't know how to tell time very well because they only painted four numbers on the face.

I have clocks around my house that do get used for function as well as fashion.

And clocks that don't even have motors, that I just really really like.

I had the bulk of my collection displayed downstairs in the basement of our last house and once on the wall, I never really noticed them again. As I hung each piece in this new house I was remembering what boutique or Wal-mart I bought that clock at, or who it was that gave me this clock. Two of my clocks that I bought shortly after Porter was born, one from e-bay and one from a sandwich shop that was going out of business, became even more special to me as I noticed what was written across their faces.

See what I mean?
I'm turning my collection status back to active now because I see my set isn't complete. Have you ever seen a clock that says Porter on it? I'm back in the market.

Good Word Wednesday: It tastes like fall

Fall is in the air people. Take yesterday for example, our high was like only 100 degrees! Time to air out the jackets and sweaters, we're practically right around the corner from Christmas. Ok, maybe not, but let this Arizona girl have a moment to pretend.

My Utah peaches came in last week and the box don't lie; they really are "delicious and sweet". I've been waiting all summer for them to arrive. When peaches started showing up in the farmer's market I tried a few, but they just aren't the same as the Utah fruit I've been craving. I've been on a peach overdose around here and I think I'm ready to actually make something with them today instead of eating them by the juicy handful. Jam, pie filling, peach shakes and peach cobbler are a few of my ideas. We'll see how many I have left once I get started; these luscious gems of Mother Nature are too good to eat just one (whoa, don't get drool on your keyboard).

If my baby is born with blond fuzzy hair, we may have a nickname picked out for her...

Molly's Rule of Life #46

Practice doesn't always make perfect, and that's just fine. Keep practicing anyways.