Favorite Friday... Springtime!

I love springtime!! I love everything about it. I love the chaotic weather. I love the trees in bloom and the flowers. I love not knowing whether to wear flip-flops and a skirt or jeans and a sweater. I love being able to make chicken soup and rolls one day and the next only wanting popsicles. I love flying kites and having picnics and leaving the doors and windows wide open. And the very next day making sure to pack an umbrella when I go to market because of the torrential downpour I will inevitably encounter. For a girl who doesn't love chaos, I am a little surprised at myself with how much I love the chaotic nature of spring. I think part of me loves the little bit of extra time I feel spring gives me before summer is on my back porch knocking.
During the summer I want to give myself over to the freedom of season. I want to swim and run and bike and play. I want to read more books in the park, drink slushies from the Sev (7-11) and only wear flip-flops. I want to swim until I am too tired to move my arms and then crash in glorious air-conditioning. I want to eat dinner on the patio and watch the sun go down behind the trees. The things I don't want to do are as follows: dishes, laundry, dusting, mopping, vacuuming, baking (I know crazy right?!) etc. Instead I want to take my kids to the beach and visit family and friends and roadtrip and go to the farmers' market and swim and eat fruit in-season and swim and get tan and swim. Let me just say it again.... I love spring!!

(Sis took this pic and the angle is a bit skewed, but I thought the colors were lovely and I am tired, so you get just what she took. :)
Springtime is in full swing here in Baltimore. Everything is in bloom! I knew Baltimore wouldn't disappoint me. It is more beautiful than I thought it would be. As we walked home from the market today I had to stopped and plunge my face into these lilacs. They were intoxicating! I just couldn't help myself, I swiped two little branches with blossoms just beginning to open and brought them home where I could indulge in their fragrance all week long.
The fountain on the parkway in front of our apartment was magically spouting today like it couldn't wait another minute to herald in springtime. It was one of the first things I fell in love with in Baltimore. This fountain was surrounded by flowers when we first moved here - as you can see in the next pic. 

The last few days have been gloriously warm after days of rain and supposedly tomorrow will be even nicer. Then beginning Sunday we are to get another three days of rain. It is all part of the season I love that we call spring.
And anyway I need the rain-days to catch up for the last few days of sunshine. The laundry is piling up and the vacuum is still waiting its turn. It won't hurt it to wait a few more days. I'll clean on Monday. Right now I am going out on the porch to read.

Chaotic Thoughts

It is raining again and I have been inside too long. My thoughts are so erratic. My son took the dog out for a potty break in the rain and now the house smells like wet dog. Yummy! I need to go grocery shopping today but I am still in my jammies and well... the rain. I find that when I am in the midst of organizing, it is utter chaos. That is when I want to give up and ultimately when I have to push through because the space always ends up better than how it started. (Can you tell I have not yet finished organizing the kids' room?) 

I want a house with perfect order. 

I know such a thing doesn't exist, but I still dream of it. I am not talking always tidy and spotlessly clean. What I am saying is... well, I don't quite know how to explain it. When I go to get a light bulb, I want all the light bulbs to be in the same place. When we have guests over, I want all the sheets, pillows and blankets all in one central location, not spread throughout the house in different closets and bins. I want all my winter items stored together so I know right where to get that one perfect hat out on an unusually cold day. These seem like simple no-brainer kinds of things to want and even more they should be easy to achieve. And I am achieving them, but slowly. Every time I organize, I refine my system to get rid of unnecessary items, and better store the ones I keep. It just seems like a never-ending process. Can you see the analogy I might draw from all of this? Not today. Today I am going to revel in the chaos of the situation. Living in an apartment limits what I have to work with, in that I don't want to spend money on something I can't take with me to the next place, so I have to be creative. I am good at being creative which is maybe part of why I enjoy organizing, also that I am a bit of a control freak might add to it. 

Oh and did I mention that I strongly dislike the paper factor of life? So much paper comes into our house every month. I have changed nearly every bill or statement to paperless and it still pours in. It comes in magazines, junk mail, church information, school work, etc. And we store it for years in boxes until the blessed day comes that enough time has passed to allow us to shred it. We keep papers from our childhoods and our children's childhoods. I see all of these things as valid, still in excess they are a nuisance to me. Receipts drive me crazy too! 

We just have too much stuff. I need to move to Italy and start over in a little villa somewhere.

Thing is, with everything we have I don't feel like we live an excessive life. There is just so much stuff that comes with life. If you live in a climate with different seasons you have two different wardrobes. If you have any kind of hobbies ie: camping, fishing, sewing, baking, gardening, quilting, woodworking, sports, cooking (just to name a few of ours) there is all the gear that goes with each one. Add kids to the mix and the stuff multiplies like crazy. Then if you read books, watch movies, play games, etc. there is a whole heap of new things. And finally if you are in a transitionary state, like we are, then you have things in storage for when you move to a more permanent life. It all takes up space and I am constantly trying to become mistress of my domain with exhausting results. 

I hope I am not alone on this. I know there are many of you out there who have achieved a higher state of perfection in your domains. I applaude you. It is a challenge for me, but one that enjoy trying to conquer. I figure the month that we are ready to pack-up and move, I will feel like everything is just perfect. Life is like that sometimes.

Life is Good

Today I am feeling mellow. Not to worry, it's not sadness, just contented contemplation coursing through my being. I have been thinking about gratitude lately. I have been thinking that I don't express my gratitude enough. I lead a very blessed, a very full and most importantly a very happy life. I want all of you, my friends and family out there, to know how grateful I am for you. Somewhere in the last 33 years each of you have touched my life. You've contributed to that happy life. Many of you touch my life everyday. You inspire me to see goodness, no - make that greatness, in the world around me. You help me to keep my perspective and be able to laugh at myself when all I want to do is scream, or cry, or both. You boost me up when I am feeling low, you lift me higher when I am already feeling on top. And you keep me humble when my head is in the clouds and I need to come back to earth. I miss so many of you and think of you often. Sometimes my arms ache for hugs from you and my cheeks need your kisses. I have so many "small world" moments these days. These are tender mercies from my Maker. He gives so much and then heaps more blessings on top of my overflowing cup. He has given me everything, all of you and I feel so blessed, so grateful for that gift. May you feel God's love this day. He is real. He is all around us. He loves us, every single one of us. And I love all of you. Thank you for being you. Thank you for everything. Go out and make today great!

Frosted Flakes vs. Fiber One

vs.
This morning I got a real boost as a mom; the feeling that something good I am doing is rubbing off - finally! 

We were sitting down to breakfast and I pulled out the Frosted Flakes to pour Sis a bowl. She had other ideas. I wanted to sit down, eat, read our scriptures and just get our day going, so I wasn't terribly interested in letting her read all the box labels. She insisted, I recognized she wanted to read something and gave her a minute to decide. After considering her choices, she picked Fiber One!  As if that wasn't enough to put a smile on my face, she asked for bananas sliced on top as well. Maybe this is the norm for all of you, but not my Sis. I wanted to do cartwheels in the kitchen and had I not been wearing a nightgown, I might have done it too.

Taking the Challenge?

For those of you brave enough, or maybe I should say crazy enough, to take the 100/200 challenge (see sidebar) I hope it is going well. Jon and I are doing the pushups together and I am doing the situps on my own. I have to say - its tough! I want to do the 20 pullups challenge too(which I didn't post) but I think I will wait until my arms no longer feel like licorice ropes. That might take a week or two for them to be strong enough to start and it may take me all summer to work up to 20 pullups, but I am going to give it a go. Let me know how things are going for you, that is... if you can hold your arms up long enough to type.

Happy Tuesday!

Favorite Friday... My Bed, Rainy Days and Blossoms in the Spring

Today I woke to the sound of raindrops on my window and I couldn't bring myself to get out of bed. I laid there for an hour letting my mind wander with the steady rhythm of the rain keeping time. I mulled over my dreams trying to make some sense of them - to no avail. I realized how much I love my bed, the 400-count sheets I splurged on so long ago, the down comforter and pillows, the memory foam from my mama. It makes it so difficult to get out of bed some mornings. :) When you factor in the rain this morning, I didn't have a prayer of getting out of bed before eight. 

Hours have passed this morning and the rain has not let up. The sky has graduated from a ominous dark purplish gray to a faded oatmeal color, but the rain has not stopped for a minute. The sky seems to open up every few minutes and burst forth in torrents of rain, the sound of which can be wonderfully deafening. After exercising this morning, I went and stood on our deck outside and just immersed myself in it - not literally, although I considered it. I imagined what this beautiful rain could do to pots and baskets overflowing with plants in my little space. I listened to the sound of the passing cars swooshing by on the soaked streets and breathed in the scent of spring rain. Tender mercies my friends, tender mercies. They are all around us, all the time, there for the having.

I got a heaping portion of them earlier this week. We have been watching for the peak bloom time of the cherry blossoms in DC and decided Wednesday was our best bet. Although chilly and gray, it was perfect. The cherry trees were stunning, breathtaking and intoxicating. Their fragrance filled the air and even tinted it a slight shade of pink. The Tidal Basin was encircled about in blooms. There was live music at the Jefferson Memorial and I couldn't help but dance.

We saw scores of Elders, took a paddle boat out in the Basin and flew kites at the W. Monument. And as beautiful as the cherry blossoms were, I think the magnolias could give them a run. They were amazing! All said, a perfectly spent day.

We haven't been to the Jefferson Memorial since moving here. The last time was almost exactly seven years ago. The words of Thomas Jefferson were so inspiring and the monument itself demands reverence. I just wish there hadn't been so many people. No matter. 

We let Et manage the camera for most of the day and he kept taking random pics of me. 

First round of kite-flying at the Washington.

Stonewall the DC Police horse and Officer "What's his name again?"He had the kindest face.

A Familiar Feeling

I spent last week in Ohio with my sister and her family. It was a wonderful visit and could only have been made better by being able to blog every day and record every blessed moment. I did want to share one experience in particular that was much needed. I think we all have moments like these, whether they be in a garden or not, and they are such a blessing. Its a bit of a story, but I'll try to keep it as brief as possible.

My sister and I decided to tackle a project in her yard while I was there. First of all, she has a great space. Her garden is on two levels and they are connected via a stone staircase, maybe 12-14 steps. The staircase has seen better days and it was needing major repairs. (At this point, they don't know how long they are going to be in Cincy, so they don't want to invest a load of money just to leave it in two years.) We started the project on Friday and moved along nicely until the weather decided it was through being nice and we got rain. With only two stairs left to go, we thought it would be easy enough to finish on Saturday. Now Saturday night was "girls night" (friends and Twilight @ 8:30)and church was at 9am Sunday, which meant we needed to wrap things up by 7:30 - 8pm at the latest. Late afternoon Saturday, we finally got around to mixing the mortar and it was slow going. The bottom of the concrete bag was full of lumps and solid cement chunks, but we managed to mix one load easily enough. The kids were needing dinner and bathes. The house needed straightening and we both needed showers but I was not going home without that staircase being complete. With one more batch to mix Lou went in to get things in order and I was left alone. For those of you who really know me and know how I lived in my garden, you know this was a gift. I was so tired physically. The mortar was too wet and I was discouraged. The inner me was determined to finish but my body was spent and I just wanted to call it quits for the night. But I didn't, I couldn't. As I stopped to listen to the sounds around me and take in the fading light I was filled. I suddenly recognized this scenario from countless other nights in my life. The light pouring through the windows making shapes on the grass; looking at my hands and not being able to see what I was doing but not yet wanting to go in; my arms and legs being so worn-out and cold but not minding a bit; knowing my kids were inside, happy and warm; listening to the nightlife awaken and begin their symphony; and clinging to whatever light I had, to just do one... more... thing... This was played out before me in my mind and I felt so grateful to have been blessed with that moment. It filled me up and made me feel more whole than I have felt in months. (As silly as it may be, I have tears spilling down my cheeks as I write. That is how much it moved me.)

I don't know exactly why I share this with you except that I know there are times in our lives when we have so much going on around us and so much to take care of, that we get lost. Not to say that we don't know what is important, or that we are not doing the "right" things, but that little pieces of us get lost along the way. Sometimes it happens slowly, over years maybe and other times it can be a matter or weeks or months. Well, that had happened to me. And although I knew it was happening, I didn't stop it. I just didn't think it would have such an effect on me, closing off that part of me, even for a time. But it did. This isn't the first time I have felt I was missing some part of me and honestly it probably won't be the last, but it made me more aware. It made me want to take better care of myself and the gifts and talents God has given me. I want to feel as whole every day as I did sitting in the perfect dusk of my sisters' garden.

100 Pushups - 200 Situps

Last night Jon and I started a new challenge. Have you heard of the 100 pushups training program?  I discovered it awhile back but never really considered doing it until I realized that we are right around the corner to summer and now it suddenly seems like a great idea. I was so excited that Jon agreed to do it with me - a first I might add. Basically, its a 6-week program designed to increase your strength through push-ups. By the end of the six weeks, the goal is to be able to crank out 100 consecutive push-ups, not the girly variety, but the tough ones. I think the thing that hooked Jon, besides me batting my eyes at him and kissing him a lot, was that its not a huge time commitment daily, weekly or long-term. Its ten minutes a day, three days a week for 6 weeks. Easy breezy! We did the initial test to see what level to train at and I was impressed with Jon's strength. He blew me away. So we are beginning tonight and will finish mid-May. I will keep you posted as we progress. 

As to the sit-ups portion of this workout, I will be going that alone. I have not given up hope that Jon will join me, but for now, I am flying solo on this one. Same idea, same time commitment, same type of goal to reach. I did better on these than the push-ups. What can I say? I have weak upper-body strength. There is a link to the situps site on the pushups site if you are interested. Also, if you have an iPhone there is an app to help track your progress or you can print out a complete program - PocketMod style. And if that isn't enough, there is a free tracker on the website to record your progress. So give it a shot. Summer is just around the corner and I think we could all use a little work on our swimsuit bods. And who doesn't have ten minutes?

Its raining here in Cincy. We're reading funny emails from a friend of my sissy's. Here's a little something to brighten your day.

How can you not love Sammy?!

Make it a great day!

Roadtrip!

Did you know?... There is no straight shot from Baltimore to Cincinnati. Tis true. There are however many little connections and switch-o's and change-o's. We were on I-70, 71, 68, 470 and others I can't even remember. I don't mind the on again- off again thing so much but none of them have the same speed limit. Plus, I felt like I could not get a single stretch of road where there wasn't construction, or construction, or construction or an accident or just general congestion. I know it sounds like I am complaining, but I'm really not. We made it safe and sound. My kids are amazing and they didn't seem to mind the delays one little bit. Plus we found a new favorite song (which I'll post sometime) that had us singing at the top of our lungs. All around a nice open stretch of highway with my shorties and a great destination at the end.

Conference Boxes

Awhile back, my parents started a tradition for their grandkids. For General Conference they wanted to help the kids to stay focused and quiet, so they came up with the idea of these fabulous boxes filled with activities, supplies and goodies specific to each child and their interests. The first year they contained a nice storage box and were overflowing with a plethora of other things. Since then each Conference season, the kids receive a "refill" package to load up their boxes. We store the boxes away each year between sessions giving the kids something special to look forward to. It has been about two years since then and now that we are living in MD they ship them out to us. We wait with great anticipation for that fabulous box.

Our package arrived today and the kids were so excited.  The rule in our house is they can see their bundle, but they can't open it until the first session on Saturday morning.  The Reese's were shared with the Elders at FHE tonight, but otherwise hands off!

My kids are already counting down the days to Conference. I love it!!

We love this tradition have found to be so helpful. Thanks mom and dad!!

A New Adventure

I started a new blog, something I have wanted to do for awhile now.  Take a gander and let me know what you need or want to know. I'll do my best to oblige. Just click on the link.

Favorite Friday... Running in the Rain and Sleeping Sis

I went running 3x this week. It felt good to be out again pounding the pavement. On Thursday it was a very gray day with a rainy mist in the air which has to be one of my favorite times to run. For safety I have to run with my phone, but I have never tried to take a pic whilst running. Check it out.
Just about this point it really started raining. Not cold, just wet. 
Obviously not running :)
Looks like I'm running fast huh? Isn't the pattern cool - the way the blurring occured I mean.
I just liked how this pic focused on the pavement in the center and blurred the rest. I thought it looked cool.

My other favorite has no pics, just an image in my mind. The boys were off camping last night which meant Sis and I had a girls' night. She had a long playtime in the tub and then together we painted fingernails, had breakfast for dinner, made cookies and watched a movie. Finally, I tucked her into my bed with three of her favorite stuffed animals and Claudio at her feet. Needless to say, she went to bed smiling. When I came in later she was snoozing peacefully. I climbed into bed and watched her sleep, something I don't take the time to do often enough. I whispered things into her little ears, telling her how much I love her and how special she is and more. I pray that some of things I said get tucked away in her mind for when she is older and may struggle with her own sense of self, but also that they may give her peace in a crazy world. I want so much to remember that moment, to have it locked away in my own mind. I imagine as she gets older there will be fewer of those perfect moments, I hope not. But I want to not forget the gifts I receive every day. Those tender mercies are what compel me to be a better person, a better mother, a better friend, just a better version of myself.

Arlington

*This post doesn't even begin to explain how it feels to walk through Arlington. It is sacred ground. I hope reading this post makes you want to learn more about this amazing place. I felt so much gratitude as I walked through and took some time to read the names on the headstones. It was a very moving experience. My pics don't do it justice.

Today we were able to go to Arlington National Cemetery for the afternoon. This was a first for all of us, but it will certainly not be the last time. I cannot tell you the feelings I felt as we walked past countless graves, many with the inscription Unknown on the stone. It was such a sobering experience.

What a view of DC!

The thing we wanted to see most was the Tomb of the Unknowns. (On a side note, I learned it has never officially been named but that is one way to refer to it.) We were so fortunate as to see the last Guard change of the day. If you have never seen this, it alone is reason enough to visit Washington. I have spent a lot of time learning more about it this week but rather than fill this post with pages of facts, I would encourage you to do the same. (I wish I had done that before we went as I didn't understand all the symbolism or the relevance of what I was witnessing.) It was so interesting to read about the ceremony and the Sentinels. Next time I will be better prepared.

An interesting fact... The Tomb has been guarded 24/7 since 1937. 
Another fact... There are very strict requirements to become a member of the Honor Guard, even height restrictions. 80% of soldiers who try out do not make it.
Fact 3... Only 3 women have ever been members of the Honor Guard.

The Sentinel's Creed

My dedication to this sacred duty

is total and whole-hearted.

In the responsibility bestowed on me

never will I falter.

And with dignity and perseverance

my standard will remain perfection.

Through the years of diligence and praise

and the discomfort of the elements,

I will walk my tour in humble reverence

to the best of my ability.

It is he who commands the respect I protect,

his bravery that made us so proud.

Surrounded by well meaning crowds by day,

alone in the thoughtful peace of night,

this soldier will in honored glory rest

under my eternal vigilance.

Simon 1971