Online

Online shopping and more specifically, online shopping for Christmas, is the absolute best. I'm practically done with everything and I haven't had to leave my house. I've only had to pay minimal shipping because most items I've purchased have qualified for free shipping. Bonus! Packages have already started to arrive too! I'm telling you, this was totally made for crazy, impatient, easily irritated by crowds me.

I put up our tree on Saturday. I let the kids decorate it while I sat back and bit my tongue. Do you know how hard it is for a control freak to let an 8, 6 & 3 year old (10 year old had no interest in it) decorate a Christmas tree? Holy moly! I was a basket case by the time they were done. I tried my very best to not interfere while it was happening, but did make some minor adjustments after. There were huge areas where there were no ornaments and other 1 foot square ones that had 25 jammed into them. A little shifting and filling in of the gaps had to take place. Now it's time to put out the rest of the knick-knacks and I'll call it good.

Gratitude

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.-- Melody Beattie

I have so much to be grateful for. So very much. Not the least of which is my family. They are the source of so much joy. I love them. They're my life.

• I'm grateful for my church and my membership in it.
• I'm grateful for my testimony.
• I'm grateful for good books.
• I'm grateful for big furnaces.
• I'm grateful for warm blankets.
• I'm grateful for warm coats, gloves & scarves.
• I'm grateful for grandparents who don't mind letting my kids hang out with them.
• I'm grateful for good friends.
• I'm grateful for Dr. Pepper.
• I'm grateful for big mixers.
• I'm grateful for good food.
• I'm grateful for my treadmill.
• I'm grateful for the scriptures.
• I'm grateful for learning opportunities.
• I'm grateful for music.
• I'm grateful for laughter.
• I'm grateful for love and am very grateful I have it in my life.

Beautiful

Shhh....don't tell Ryan, but I'm trying to hypnotize him so he'll buy me one these little lovelies. It's so stunning, it takes my breath away.

Presently, I have the 4.5 quart Kitchen Aid stand mixer. Ryan & I received it as a wedding gift from his parents and grandparents. It's a perfectly lovely mixer and has served me very well these past 12 years. Unfortunately, it does have a few deficiencies. Some minor inadequacies.

You see, just about 2 years ago, I decided that I was going to make all of our bread. And I do. I do it at least twice a week. And I curse the mess my small mixer makes each time. The 4.5 quart bowl simply isn't big enough for the recipe I like to use. I spend more time cleaning up the flour that explodes out of the bowl and the bread dough that creeps up the hook and beyond, then I do actually making the bread. It's frustrating.

This, however, would take away all of my cares and frustrations. When making bread, that is. It's so amazingly beautiful, it brings tears to my eyes. No fooling. It's so sleek, so pretty, so big, so...not mess making. I wish I had one. I think my life would be complete if I did.

Reading

My son, Tyler, is a voracious reader and has been for years. (And, for the record, my son Cameron is a big time reader too. ☺) He'll read just about anything, but loves fantasy books the most. One of his favorite series of books is Fablehaven.

I was looking for something to read last month and so I went to his room which has so many books, it's almost like a library. I decided on the Fablehaven series because he's always raved about it. I must say, I've really been enjoying the books too. I'm currently halfway through the third book. Once I finish typing this, I'm going to go jump back into it. I don't care if they are children's books. They're fun and entertaining and reading them gives me something to talk about with Tyler. So there! I do have to say though, that the Seth character is so over the top naughty at times. As a mother, I want to just reach into the book and paddle his butt to knock some sense into him. Other then that, they're really great fun & very entertaining. That's what I want in a book!

To simply say he "loves" this would be an understatement

Peyton has watched this movie approximately 50,000,008 times since we bought it on November 2nd. He's totally enthralled with it and would watch it over and over and over and over with no breaks in between, if I would let him. It's so darn cute watching him watch it, I almost let him. When he wants to watch it, he has a routine he likes to go through. He has to gather up all of his Toy Story toys (and he has most of the characters, so that's a lot of toys), his pillow and his blanket, get situated on the couch, order me to turn it on, sit back, relax and watch. He's good to go indefinitely.

A couple of days ago, he picked up Woody & Buzz as the movie was starting and said, "Oh, HEY! This movie is about you guys!" He then turned them to the screen so they could watch with him. Can you say cute?

He loves to sing "You've Got a Friend in Me". His version is slightly different then the original. It goes something like this, "you've got a frenemy! You've got a frenemy!" Repeat that over and over. He doesn't really know the rest of the lyrics. I've never bothered to correct him, because haven't we all had a frenemy at one time in our lives? ☺

I know he's going to love the movie just as much on his 100,000,008th viewing as he does today and I really just think that's wonderful.

Fall

I don't have fall decorations for my house. It's already, like, halfway through November (well close to it), I have the desire to decorate the house and nothing to do it with. Bummer. How is this possible? I thought I had been making and collecting them for years, but was just too lazy to put them out. I've discovered that yes, I did make some. I just gave all of them away. I hope you're enjoying them. Whoever I gave them to.

I'm thinking about actually decorating for Christmas before the second week of December. Perhaps, just before Thanksgiving to make up for the fact that I didn't fill my house with pumpkins and leaves. Most of my Christmas decorations are sitting in my dining/storage room because I left them there when I boxed them up last year. You know, to make it easier to decorate this year. Last year, I had to trudge back and forth from my garage to my house through 8 inches of snow in order to bring the decorations in. I decided to save myself that aggravation and have left them in the house, in plain sight since last December. No carrying through the snow this year.

Today

"How fragile life, how certain death.
We do not know when we will be required
to leave this mortal existence.
And so I ask, 'What are we doing with today?'
If we live only for tomorrow,
we'll eventually have a lot of empty yesterdays."

-President Thomas S. Monson

I try very hard to live in the moment. Sometimes, it's to my detriment. Like, when my kids are being extremely naughty, I get overwhelmed and think that they're always going to be naughty. Like, for the rest of their life and forever. It's never going to get better and I might as well give up. I eventually come to my senses, look past my own nose and realize that a tantrum can't possibly last forever and I try get over it. It's stuff like that that's hard for me to see past. But....I do try. And try. And try. And try to live for right now.

I'm not a person who likes to do "countdowns". Like, "only 47 more days until....". I just don't do that. When we go on vacation, for example, I don't start packing a week in advance. I do it the night before, or sometimes, even the day of. Starting too soon just feels like a waste of time to me. Don't get me wrong, I plan for and take care of the necessary things. Especially if the kids aren't coming along. I have to make sure all arrangements are taken care of for them. I've just found that if I get overly consumed with the future, I get overwhelmed and anxious and forget what I have to do in the present. The present gets neglected and things fall apart.

Seasons change, people come and go, children throw fits, children grow up, weight is gained and lost, we all age, wrinkles happen. Complaining about it isn't going to do me a darn bit of good because all I'll have in the end is a lot of empty yesterdays because I was too busy focusing on tomorrow. So, I'm thankful for right now. Today.