Gospel Principles

I love, love, love this manual. The lessons are short, sweet and to the point. I am moved every time I read it! I hope you are all taking advantage of it. No matter how busy your life, the lessons are short enough for anyone to read before they attend their lesson. You will get so much more out of your meeting if you read it ahead of time. If you are in Primary or Young Women's, all the more reason to read it!!! Love you all!!!

Oxy Clean, Book of Mormon, and Hair Dresser, Greenhouse

Well, I have decided if you have a lot of girls try to get one of them to be a hair dresser. Send them to a great school and you will be happy for life. Megan and Greg came this weekend and my hair was long over due. She said, "I was thinking about a few layers", I got very excited, so was I. I have also learned to totally trust her. She has never since she has graduated steered me wrong. If it weren't for Megan, I wonder if I would be gray today! I about died the first time she begged me to add just a few strands red highlights in my hair. I was scared to death. After it was done, I loved it and I was hooked. I wanted more the next time. I had a friend who was so upset, she said, "you ruined your virgin hair!" (Nan Davis) I said "don't you like it," she says "yes, but I loved the color of your hair, now it will never be the same :-(. I tried hard not to laugh, she was so serious. I knew she loved the color of my hair becuase she had told me many times that she wished her hair was the color of mine. Anyway I look all beautified because of my Megan!! Thanks Megan!

Oxy Clean! There is nothing quite like it. I have stories I could tell... but one in particular my girls are sworn to secrecy about. We almost ruined a borrowed item and I saved it with oxy clean! I was a believer after that. We borrowwed an item and Amy left it in her trunk for a long time. One day she opened up her trunk and we all went into shock, it had mildewed. We all about died. I thought, well its ruined now, so why not take a chance. I took the item, soaked it in very hot water and oxy clean for 8 hours. I took it out and voila! it looked like new. One of my daughters figured out that if she soaked her girls laundry in oxy clean for several hours she didn't have to spot them. Sounded good to me, so I put my light colors in the washer with oxy clean let it sit over night w/o spotting them and voila! they come out clean and spotless! Now if you know our family, we can't eat w/o getting food on us, so this is very important! Well, about 6 months or so ago, I got my new front loader. I racked my brain how I was going to do this because it doesn't fill up with water and then start. I thought my oxy days were over, I was a very sad girl. Then I thought, my machine has a soak cycle, so I tried it with oxy, left it over night and voila! It worked. Then I just put my soap in like normal, added a second rinse and I have my heavenly spotless world back!!! :-) Don't you think oxy clean should pay me to do commercials!? :-)

Book of Mormon: Well our Stake Pres. challenged all of us to read the Book of Mormon (last Sept at Stake Conf.) by June like the Seminary kids. I had full intentions of doing it, procrastinated, forgot and then the other day thought, "if our Stake Pres. asked us to do this, then I will be blessed if I do it". So I sat down and did the math, 8 PAGES PER DAY!!!! Well, I was right, I have already been so blessed. I feel like I am truly feasting in the scriptures. I am always amazed how the Book of Mormon brings you closer to Christ than any other book of scripture. I love it!!! I am so grateful to our Stake Pres. for asking us to do this. I hadn't been reading it because I was focusing on reading our Sunday School scripture assignments and the Priesthood, RS lessons. I was reminded of why Pres. Romney (member of first pres. when I was a girl and first married) and Pres. Benson said we should read it every day. Try it you'll like it!

My Greenhouse. I know, I know, how many times can I write about my greenhouse. Well, today is greenhouse day and I had Steve come down to help me put in a new watering timer. After we get it all put together, we try it out to make sure it works. Water started going everywhere. Two of our faucets in the beds were spraying water everywhere. This winter it got colder for a few days than I can ever remember on the coast. Remember the icsicle post? Well, it cracked the pipes on two of my faucets, and two of my hoses. Poor Steve has to go and fix them for me tomorrow. He is such a good husband!!! He was going to work on his boat,but instead is going to fix my watering system! I had teeny tiny carrots coming up! :-)

Well, its late, love you all!!!

Letting Go, Ruby and Miles, Easter and other things

Over the last few weeks I have let go of so many things. It has been hard, but I think I am "rounding the bend" as they say. The first thing I gave up was gum. I know you are all laughing. But, I was chewing 3 pieces at a time about 5 or 6 times a day. I was starting to feel like my body was filling up with chemicals. I also was starting to get my head together in the weight dept. and I felt like the gum was just prolonging me facing why I need sugar after I eat a meal or whenever I am stressed. I realized how much I was chewing and how addicted I was when all I could think about was wanting gum for several weeks.

About a week later I decided it was time I gave up Greys Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, and the Office. I couldn't sleep one night and I was mad that I couldn't sleep. I had just finished an episode of Greys Anatomy, and was tossing and turning in bed. It was about 12:30 am. I decided to turn on the light and read a conference talk since I hadn't read my scriptures that day. As I read I started pondering on the direction my life had been going. I decided it was time to give up the things that were taking up so much of my time and thoughts. I realized, I hadn't done my visiting teaching, hadn't worked on my calling at all, and that I still had lots of things to unpack. On top of that as we all know those aren't the best shows on earth. I turned on the TV and deleted my DVR schedule for those shows, then the next day deleted off of the TV upstairs also. On one hand I felt relieved, on the other hand I could feel the withdrawals big time. It took me probably about 2 weeks to be really glad and not miss them. Today when we were turning on the TV to watch conference Greys was on the channel that the TV was on and I have to tell you it felt like someone had punched me in the stomach it was weird. I felt like I had to hurry and put something else in my mind quickly. I was glad it was conference time.

Then last but not least, I had been pondering seriously the fact that I reached my goal weight 5 and a half years ago, but have never been able to maintain it. I asked myself some serious questions about how I felt about it and really prayed about it. I realized that for me Heavenly Father really cares. I don't know why for sure, I just know I am supposed to be as healthy as I can and weigh 5 pounds below my goal weight and learn to maintain it. I think it is a combination of feeling good about myself emotionally, and being at an optimum healthy weight, and being able to speak from experience to my WW members. The other thing that has become very clear to me recently is that Heavenly Father really wants me to teach WW's. I realized that I am good at being a WW leader and that I help people regain their health back. At Conference today I was greatly impressed by how much Heavenly Father loves ALL of us, therefore if I can help people be healthy and be a light in a very dark place, it is very important.

After I came to this realization I also realized that I could only handle treats twice a week. So that was hard too.

When I got to the point that I was really serious, Lizzie called me up and asked me if I would like to check in with each other every night, I said ABSOLUTELY. It has been an answer to my prayers. I am amazed at how much of a difference it is to check in with Lizzie. We give each other encouragement, ideas and pep talks. We remind each other that we are doing good, and not to beat up on ourselves. I just can't say enough how good it has been for me. Then coincidentally, if you believe in coincidences the topic for this week that I was to use in WW's was on the importance of WW buddies. I was able to really tell them what a difference a buddy can make. It was great.

Well, onto the next subject, I had a meeting in Portland last weekend and Jake and Lyndsey are getting ready to move, so I took Ruby and Miles home with me for 3 nights. We had a good time. We cooked, sewed, and played games. We made pancakes of course, Ruby's favorite food, and bug cupcakes. I wanted to do Bunny cupcakes,but I lost the vote. Ruby's "fuzzy" a blanket that is fuzzy and silky, is getting so small, so I said lets make a new one. She sits on my lap and sews with me. I actually let her do a little on her own. I told her when she turns 6 I will let her sew all by her self, with me at her side of course. I will put the pedal on a box , put the machine on slow speed and let her truly learn to sew. If I know Ruby, when she turns 6 she will be calling me or telling her parents its time to go on a date. A date to Ruby means that she comes to our house or her other grandparents.

The Greenhouse. Every Thursday after WW's, I go to our old house on Idaho Street and work in my greenhouse. It has been a wonderful thing. It is a cell phone free zone. It is me and my music, or a book on tape, and my plants. I have beans coming up, lettuce coming upbefore and after, and garlic. Of course my herbs that are always growing. It really has been a wonderful escape. I am hoping this summer it works to only go out once a week, if not I will just go another day also. I will really miss going out right before dinner and picking fresh produce, but at least I can go once or twice a week.

The Elevator. Welllll.....the carpenters came and ripped up part of Steve's office and the broom closet and framed in a bathroom. The old bathroom is where our elevator is going to go. It will stop on 3 floors, the garage, downstairs, and the top floor. Poor Steve's office got smaller It will be great. They also framed in a spot for my extra fridge where the dumb waiter used to be in my pantry. As soon as the plans come in the carpenters will come back and make the elevator shaft. The plumbers were here for two days making a huge mess plumbing in the new bathroom. Right now we don't have a bathroom upstairs, but hopefully in a month or so we will have an elevator, and new bathroom, my fridge in the pantry and our two freezers in the garage! Yea! Right now my extra fridge and one freezer is in the shop. Remember where we live, it rains, not fun to go get food out in the dark rainy night. But I feel blessed to have them.

This weekend I decided to get flowers for Easter, I have loved them. I also decided to try some new recipes that Lizzie told me about. She found this cool site where a girl that has lost her weight on WW's has posted a ton of recipes with all the points values. I tried 3 of her recipes and they were a huge hit with everyone. Now keep in mind I had Amy and Mike, Megan and Greg, and my husband. These are not dieters, they loved all the food. She uses real food and Steve's reaction was "this is like the salads in restaurants!" Pretty cool! I also made a very tasty low cal potato salad, again with real food. It was so fun. We put the salad plates on top of the regular plates and served the salad and freshly made bread first, then took those plates away and served the rest of the meal. It was delicious and fun. I didn't take pics though, I am kind of sad about that. Oh well, next time.

Here is my wall of pics! The one pic you can't see is Lizzie's Family pic, eventually I will get that cool lens that Lizzie has and hopefully I won't have the flash problem!!Here are a few close upsI will post the visit of Ruby and Miles pics later, I am tired.
Love you all!!!!

Thoughts, New TV

I laid in bed last night and wrote the coolest blogs in my head, I couldn't sleep. Now I'm up and I don't remember them all.

First I decided the way to get people to read your blog is to put the word Secret in your title. I got more comments on that blog than any I have ever written. Pretty funny.

Big news we are now on the cutting edge of technology. We have a 55" HD LED LCD TV with Apps that can connect to our wireless Internet. It is very cool, we can download Netflix right on our TV w/o doing anything but clicking the buttons on our remote. I have to say it is the most amazing picture I have ever seen, and I have it hooked up as the least desirable way to hook it up.

Well, I had decided I couldn't keep watching 3 episodes of Grey's Anatomy every day, so I deleted Greys from my DVR Schedule. I was feeling really good about it. Yesterday I went to the greenhouse and worked there for a few hours so didn't miss them too much. Although they were in my head way too much. Today I was telling myself to be strong, because I was going to be home all day. I have sooooo much to do. I also had decided that I can't eat treats except on Friday night and Sunday, and it has to be measured and accounted for. Needless to say since I have been eating way more cadbury mini eggs than I will admit too, I was craving sugar and chocolate something fierce. It finally got to me and I sat down with some popcorn and fruit, (totally a good choice in my mind) and thought I would watch TV for the time it took me to eat my snack. It is the time that Greys is on, but I thought I have missed 4 episodes now so I told myself not to watch it. Well, I click on the guide and what do I see?!! I had dvr'd Greys upstairs and forgotten that I had done that. I always watched it downstairs. Between not eating chocolate and not having watched any Greys for almost 48 hours, Greys won. I watched 6 EPISODES, poor Steve had to make his own dinner. Instead of beating up on myself, I decided to tell myself I chose the lesser of two evils, for the treats would have caused me to gain weight, and I can't gain any more weight!!! I'm pitiful! Oh well, there are worse things.

Yesterday we started on our elevator remodel!!! It is turning out so much better than we thought it would. Plus they took out our dumbwaiter, put a floor in it and I can bring up my extra fridge from the shop and put it in my pantry!!! How cool is that! It will take about two months before it is all done, but it will be great when it is.

We have had great sunny weather, so I took a walk today, it was great!!! I discovered that this is a sand dollar beach down closer to the jetty. I am going to research when they are dead, because I could have picked up some pretty cool looking ones, but I was worried that they weren't dead yet. I found some cool shells also.

Well, I know there was cooler things I wanted to say, but alas, I can't remember them.

Love you all!!

Secrets and sick day without being sick

I have a habit of reading books my daughters like, movies they like, and TV shows they like. Some I have thought beneath me and so wouldn't begin to watch them. The first was Dirty Housewives as Steve calls it (desperate housewives) Amy watched it and liked it. I thought I would give it a try even though I swore I'd never watch it. I liked it, so much so I have watched all the episodes more than once. I was reminded, don't judge a book by its cover. A while back I was watching TV and flipping through channels. The Slutty Doctor show was on (Greys Anatomy) I thought, Danielle and Lizzie watch this, maybe I'll see what it's all about. I liked it, but still thought, this is beneath me. Time went on and I watched another episode (these were all old ones), I liked it. It happened again one day, finally I thought I would DVR them and watch them when I exercised or had nothing to do. Now I'm hooked, Steve will say, what are you watching, I'll say with a smile "the slutty doctor show", and he will smile. I now love it and can't wait till it comes on and I can watch it. It makes me feel warm and cozy, can that be bad? I decided I don't care!

Last night I had kind of a breakdown, and Steve said he would get all his own meals, answer the phone and do all the beach house business. It was like having a day in bed without being sick. It was great. All I did was get my own food, read a great book on Excuses, the scriptures, watch TV and sleep in until 10:00 am. It was great! I can't remember a day like this ever.

Love you all!

Surprises

One of the neat things about moving is surprises. About a week or so ago, I woke up to find daffodils and these purple flowers. Fun! Below is the whole bed, and then the cute purple ones.About 3 weeks ago I planted some garlic in my greenhouse. Some of them were already sprouting so I planted them about 1" be above the soil. I went back the next week (I only go to the greenhouse once a week after Weight Watchers) and this is what I found. Cool huh! Here are some close ups. These are my herbs at least what is left of them since I pruned them. I need to probably keep them smaller so I don't have to do such a severe pruning job. It's just when the summer comes, everything just goes crazy. Well, love you all!

Home again, home again, jiggity jig!

Well, I have been meaning to blog for so long now. I have been home since the 16th of February. I had a great time at Lizzie's even though I got almost no sleep and was running most of the time. I played more games than I can count of "Go Fish" and Chutes and Ladders. We only played candyland a few times. We baked, chased each other, read books, walked to the store, and I am sure things I forgot. Elle was a dream, I hope she still is good for Lizzie.

I know I couldn't have done any of those things if I hadn't been in good shape. I am grateful a gillion years ago in high school that I ran "Cross Country" and became a believer in exercise. I am also grateful to the woman in Wyoming that gave me my first Nutrition book, and that we were poor students when we got married, so that I made everything from scratch. By the time we could afford boxed food, I was converted to scratch cooking. I am grateful for the Public Library, one of the good things our government spends money on. I started going to the library when Rebecca was a baby. I would put her in the stroller and off we would go for about two miles and I started on my road to craving knowledge. I have learned more things from the library than I can count. It was in Wyoming that I got my first gardening book from the library. Boy did that start something way bigger than I would have imagined back then! Anyway, all those things have contributed to my health, I am soooo grateful!

I came home and crashed.

Amy and Mike came out the following Monday and we had the joy of having them out here for a week. Amy and I mostly vegged for the first few days, and then she couldn't stand looking at my DVD's and we organized those. I am sooo grateful for that. Then I asked her to help me decorate my living room. It was so funny, you know those shows where they go around the house and grab things from other rooms and not "spend any money" and make a cool new decor? Well, that is what we did and voilahere are some close ups, the glass hurricanes have some of my shells I have found on the beach as well as some I have purchased. It was great fun! Then we moved on to start painting my family picture frames red! They look so cool with the pics, way cuter than we even imagined. But they aren't all here (I still need to order some). So sad to say can't blog those yet. Then I have been collecting sand dollars for years, I have always wanted to find a way to display them. I had these frames I bought years ago, (the TV show thing again :-) ) and they were laying on the floor and Amy said why don't we mount the sand dollars in those. The cool thing also is that the cardboard thing that holds the pics in turned out to be a great background, so we didn''t have to do anything but Velcro them on, that's right we Velcroed them with sticky Velcro. Cool huh? Some close-ups.
They hang in the living room by a wall just to the right of the fireplace. By the time we were done with all that (two days worth of decorating) we were pretty done in and Amy and Mike had to leave. I couldn't have done it without Amy. I kept saying to Polly that I needed Amy and then I would start getting things on the walls. THANK YOU AMY!!!!!

Well, the day is getting on, I need to get some more things done. One last thing, any Lost watchers, I am digging it!!!

Love you all!