Bored

What does a 3 year old do when they get bored while their mom is in the shower? Well, if it's a 3 year old named Peyton, he goes to the kitchen cupboard to rifle around. He spots the can of hot cocoa mix. He takes it out and dumps about 2 cups worth of it onto the kitchen floor, living room floor, fireplace mantle and living room couch. (2 cups worth of hot cocoa mix goes a long way.) He then proudly points out what he's done once his mom gets out of the shower and tells her she needs to vacuum it up. He then watches her vacuum and points at the mess saying, "I did that!" He gets scolded, but doesn't act remorseful. In the slightest little bit.

He then gets bored again while his mom is blow drying her hair and decides the same couch he earlier dumped hot cocoa mix on, needs a little something "more". So, he takes a black, ballpoint pen and "colors" on 2 of the cushions. When his mom finishes with her hair, he comes running and says, "I did it again! Come see! Come see!" He then proudly points out the new decoration and says, "yep! I did that!" He gets scolded, but doesn't act remorseful. In the slightest bit.

Kindness

Today, I'm very grateful for the kindness shown to me by a few strangers. I did a little shopping at Costco and came out to find a I had a flat tire. Of course, I had forgotten my phone at home and I knew that I had because the fact had occurred to me while on the way there. I had hesitated while driving, thought about going back, but decided I probably wouldn't need it. Guess I was wrong. ☺

I was a little worried about what I was going to do, but then a kind man came along and allowed me to use his phone so I could call Ryan. Of course, he (Ryan) was nowhere near me and wouldn't be able to get there for quite some time. He suggested that I try the tire center there. I thought that was a good idea and felt a little silly for not thinking of it myself since I was looking right at it when I called him. I thanked the man for the use of the phone and he offered to help me change the tire. I told him I would be fine, I was going to try the tire center.

The tire was too flat to drive on and so I walked back inside. I told the kind man inside the store my situation and he offered to come out and change the tire for me. While I was waiting for him at my car, two other men who were passing by offered to help. I thanked them for stopping, but was so happy to be able to tell them the situation was under control.

What would have taken me an hour on my own, took the tire center guy less than 10 minutes. Once changed, he had me drive over to the tire center bays and he checked my air pressure in all the tires. They were all quite low and so he filled them.

I'm so glad that I came across all of these very nice men and that they made what could have been a very stressful situation, barely a hiccup in my day.

Boundaries

I've decided that I need to set boundaries for myself when it comes to the Internet. (First off, let me say, no, this has nothing to do with me or my blog.) I do this because I've come to the conclusion that there are a lot of mean-spirited and downright cruel people lurking out there. Let me tell you why I think this.

You know how you can "like" pages on facebook? Well, I "liked" a few (I won't say which) and then would, of course, see their posts. I normally wouldn't ever read any of the comments left, or post one of my own because it just took too much time. Well, a few months ago, something kind of interested me. Something that I wanted to comment about. (Okay, I will say that this was for a clothing retailer and they were posting a picture of a shirt and the fact that it was on sale.) I clicked to do it and scrolled through the comments already left. Holy cow! I was totally shocked at how mean they were. I was totally unprepared for what I was reading. Some were directed at the page . They said things like they wouldn't even pay the sale price for the shirt. They said the shirt was hideous, etc. After comments like that, they started being directed at other commenter's. There was mocking and jeering and poking fun at others who had spelled something wrong. There was name calling and other petty bickering. It was just plain mean and it hurt my heart. I couldn't believe people could be so cruel to each other. And over something as silly as a shirt. I decided I shouldn't ever read comments again, but found myself morbidly interested in doing it. I wanted to know if every post was like that. So, I started reading comments on a regular basis. And guess what? The vast majority of posts had comments left like the first. It made me so very sad.

Last week, I was watching a YouTube video. I really enjoyed it and wanted to know what other people thought. Big mistake. The comments left were some of the most vicious and hateful things I've ever read. They were unreasonable and ridiculous. Mean and uncalled for. I was sad all over again.

I personally think the cloak of anonymity the Internet provides has killed civility. It's killed kindness. It's made it very easy for people to be jerks. And those who are, seem to love it. They seem to think that since they are most likely to never cross paths in real life with whomever they're interacting with, they're free to say whatever they like. There's no need to be civil to someone you'll never meet, right? I'd like to know why? When did people become so uncaring and decide that hurting the feelings of a stranger was fun? Whatever happened to: "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all"? There's absolutely no need to stir up contention among strangers because all it does is make you look like a terrible person. I know my approach to this probably sounds a little naive, but I can't think of any other way to say this.

So, I've decided that since I can't stop the mean comments, I have to just distance myself from them. I've "unliked" the facebook pages so I won't see their posts and I've resolved to not read comments left in other forums. I know that some might say sticking my head in the sand and ignoring something doesn't make it go away. But I don't think that's what I'm doing. I know that not every comment is cruel and there's plenty of good out there, but I'm tired of continually coming across the cruel. I know what my limits are. I know what I can and can't handle. I don't like feeling bad after reading that kind of crap. There's no need to do that to myself. So, I'm not going to do it anymore. I'm just going to do my best to be kind in my own little corner of the world. It's really all I can, or should do.

Blessed

Today, I just feel blessed. Yesterday was truly a wonderful birthday. It was calm, laid back and peaceful. It was everything I wanted and needed it to be. My kids made me adorable cards and Ryan gave me one of the best he's ever picked out. I am blessed.

• Blessed with a wonderful family, both immediate and extended.
• Blessed with wonderful friends.
• Blessed with good health.
• Blessed with love.

What more could a 35 year old girl ask for?

35

I love odd numbers. Love, love, love them. To me, they're balanced and the most beautiful of numbers. You can't divide them equally, but you can have a beginning, middle and an end. Like the word numBers. There's 3 letters in the beginning, 1 in the middle, 3 letters at the end. Kind of a stupid way of explaining it, oh well. I'll just say that odd numbers make me happy and leave it at that.

I say this because today is my birthday (shamelessly drawing attention to myself) and I'm so very happy to be an odd number age again. I am now going to attempt to come up with 35 useless trivia facts about myself.

1. I love taking very hot baths and love to soak in a tub.
2. On the reverse side of number 1, I don't like terribly hot showers and don't take very long ones. I find them irritating and annoying. Weird and I don't know why it is.
3. When I go through the drive-up of my bank, I feel compelled each and every time to push the "call" button after I've sent the tube. I want, need, HAVE to press it. I almost never have an actual reason to push it. Sometimes I can resist, but most often can't. I push it and then the teller asks me if I need help and I have to say, "no. I didn't really mean to push the button."
4. We've lived in our house for 5 years.
5. We've lived in our house for 5 years and I still turn my key the wrong way in the doorknob each.and.every.time.I.unlock.the.door. I turn it to the right even though I know it has to go left to unlock it.
6. I have 4 children and the fact that I have an even number does kind of agitate me. I'm not willing, however, to have another in order to soothe my agitation. My uterus is retired.
7. My husband and I have been married for 12 years, 2 months, 2 weeks and 5 days.
8. I really dislike the word treasure.
9. I also really dislike the word...oh, I don't know if I should say it....okay, I will: hubby. There. I said it. I don't know what it is about it, but I die a little inside when I hear/read it. I've never referred to Ryan using that word and the day I do is the day he can start calling me "wifey", or something like that. Please don't hate me for this.
10. I'm the oldest of 3 children.
11. I'm the only girl.
12. My parents have been married for almost 35 years and 11 months.
13. I love having my nails done and have been wearing acrylic nails on and off since I was 15.
14. I listen to classical music when I need to calm down.
15. I took piano lessons for 11 years and can't read music.
16. I probably have over 100 Santa figures, but only put out about 10 this year.
17. Large crowds freak me out.
18. I still have my favorite blanket that I've had for about 25 years. I keep it in a closet because Ryan hates it. He likes to tease me and say he's thrown it out. I like to irritate him by taking it out of the closet and spreading it out on our bed.
19. I like to do word searches. Very elementary school of me.
20. I was called to serve as the 1st counselor in the Young Women Presidency in our ward back in September. Ironic, considering I don't like teenagers. (Hi, any teenagers in the ward who may be reading this!) It's been a great and humbling learning experience. I'm actually learning to be less of a brat and to like teenagers more.
21. I'm currently obsessed with hot cocoa. I've never been a major, major fan of it. I've always thought it was good, but could really just take it or leave it. Most often, I've left it. On average, I've had about 3 glasses of it throughout a year. Since this last Friday, I've had 2 a day.
22. I like to paint with watercolors.
23. I haven't painted anything for 11 years. I constantly resolve to pull out my stuff and get back to it. I never do.
24. I don't like the sound of a ringing phone. It's too harsh.
25. My feet were a size 7 1/2 from the time I was about 13 and up until I was around 30. They're now a size 8. Apparently, pregnancy can make your feet grow.
26. It took until I was in my 30's for me to learn to like Cream of Wheat.
27. I read the book Charlotte's Web about 50 times when I was in the second grade. I loved it. In fact, it's where my daughter's name came from. Avery is the name of Fern's brother.
28. I've never had a cavity in my permanent teeth.
29. When I get a bad, bad headache, I take 2 Excedrin, 2 Tylenol and 4 Ibuprofen all at the same time. That drug cocktail will sometimes, sort of take the edge off the headache. Most often, I end up taking something else later. Usually 2 more Tylenol and 4 more Ibuprofen. I'm sure I'm destroying the lining of my stomach.
30. I love to iron. It's my quiet, relaxing time.
31. When I was in the 6th grade, my friend & I wrote fake notes from our parents saying that we had doctor appointments. We then walked from our school (the old Granger Elementary) to Valley Fair Mall behind the school and saw the movie Dirty Dancing.
32. I love wearing slippers, but hate when they're no longer as squishy as they were when brand new.
33. I go to my laundry room when I want to get away from things for a few minutes. I find it to be very relaxing and calming in there, for some reason.
34. I've had a wart on my right ring finger for about 5 years. I've had it burned off by a doctor a couple of times and done it myself more then a few times. It just keeps coming back. Thankfully, it's not that big and isn't horribly noticeable. At least, that's what I tell myself.
35. When I feel overly anxious and need to be comforted, I wear one of Ryan's shirts. It feels like a hug from him.

There you have it. Thirty five useless trivia facts about me you never wanted to know.

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.