Blast from the past

Tonight, as I was working on the computer, I put on Pandora and set it to The Sundays station. In that mix there was some of The Smiths, The Cure, and Radiohead. Then a friend commented and reminded me to include Depeche Mode in there. Then this morning as I began my commute, some Tripping Daisy was on the radio. It's just been a multitude of music from my high school years that have come flooding back in all in one day. It's reminded me of some great times....and great music.

Then earlier this week, Todd was asking if I ever had the opportunity, would I ever want to go back to my younger years. He began with high school, then junior high, and back to elementary. I pretty much said no to it all.

I really like where I am in life right now. Granted, I have made A TON of mistakes in life and would love to go back and redo every single one of those moments, but if I did, would it still have led me to where I am now? How would it have changed my future, if at all? I wouldn't want to change it because everything has led me to where I am now with my loving husband, wonderful children, my home, my calling, my testimony and faith, my job, my friends. It's just something I got to thinking about and made me appreciate it all - after a hard week at work. Although I may think I have it rough, I really have a wonderfully fulfilling life and have been so blessed, and continually blessed. I am loving where I am in life right now and wouldn't go back to any other year in my life because I'm living for the moment and the life I have now. It seems to be working, so why break a good thing, right?

I can't explain why....

I love this picture so much. I'll let you speculate why. If you're on to something, let me know b/c I certainly can't explain why.

Cleaning house, literally.

Purging never felt so good. Granted, I have tons more that needs to be done, but even just a little bit helps. Last week I went through the study. Today I continued the purging moving on to the pantry, laundry room, 2 bookshelves (both which will eventually be given away when I get a buffet for the dining room), 1 kitchen cabinet, and 1 shelving area under the stairs. I don't know when I'll do it again, but I still need to tackle the toy room (I think I'm putting this off because it will be a nightmare), the media chest, our bedroom (ugh, that will be horrible, too!), and the bathrooms. I will let Todd do the garage b/c it's all his junk in there.

At least this is a start, and that's all I can ask for. I at least feel a little bit better than I did yesterday just knowing that I unjunked (I know it's not a word, but decluttered doesn't seem to describe it well enough for me) the house a bit.

Here's to many more productive unjunking/organizing/cleaning days!

Really??

How do I say "no" to this?????

I need some answers.

Please, tell me. How does one go from this.....
















..............................to this?????


He's killin' me!

Back on the blogging bandwagon

.....for now.

I've been reprimanded by I don't know how many people about how I haven't updated my blog. Well to all those people - this blogs for you! ;)

Since it has been so long I don't think I can summarize my life in the past several months, so I'm not. Let me just talk about the here and now because honestly, that's probably all I can process right now. I find that I get duller with age. It's really sad when my 4 year old can run circles around me - intellectually. Hmm, I probably shouldn't be admitting this in a public forum, right? See, questionable intellect.

Life right now consists of Primary (I'm President! What was the Lord thinking?!.....I really don't mean that to be sacrilegious. I really want to know, "Lord, what were you thinking?"), last semester of school (good gracious!.....HALLELUJAH!), work (talk about busy, busy), and the fam (maintains my sanity......and at times breaks it).

I do have to say that I feel very overwhelmed a lot of the time, but somehow I make it through. I know that I get the all of it because of Todd's support and help but also know that the Lord is watching over me and gives me the strength and energy I need to do all I need to. It may not be perfect, but it's as perfect as I am going to get. I hope that's good enough because that's all I can do for now.

Maybe when life settles down (insert hysterical laugh of disbelief here) then I can refocus on everything else that needs the attention. Until then, I'll just scrape by as best as possible.

On a side note - I have been trying to find curtains for the living room, kitchen, and study. Do you know how hard this is???? I have looked at Pottery Barn, Target, Walmart, Homegoods, Ross, TJMaxx, Restoration Hardware, Crate and Barrel, Ballard Design, Bed Bath and Beyond, JCPenney, Macy's, Dillards, Overstock, Amazon. You know what I've found? A big, fat, honkin' squat. I have come to the conclusion that I am going to have to make them. Unless you have a better idea....if so, PLEASE TELL ME!!!! I would love you forever if I didn't have to make them.

Our first trip

Todd and I just returned from our first trip together - just us and no kids. This is the first trip we have taken alone together since before we had Kayden.

It was weird but nice. It was nice to just get away and enjoy each other's company and not have to worry about naps, diapers, chicken fingers for lunch, last minute potty runs. It was us time - a chance for us to do what we wanted and to reconnect.

We decided to visit North Carolina. It was my first visit there and it was beautiful - hot but beautiful.

We started our trip with a baseball game to the Greensboro Grasshoppers to watch Curtis Petersen pitch. It was so great! We miss watching him so this was a lot of fun.We spent all day Friday in Greensboro, watched another Grasshoppers game which was great because they beat the Virginia Power 8-3 (or something great like that).

Saturday was spent in going here for NC style BBQ and then running over to Chapel Hill to tour here. It was so amazingly beautiful. I would move to Chapel Hill in a heartbeat! Saturday night included a dinner including the best steak I've ever had and then finishing the night off at the Durham Performing Arts Center to watch a contemporary dance show. It was interesting.

Sunday was breakfast with Curtis, catching a movie and then heading out to Austin for the best BBQ ever. We loved it so much we're going back...but also just to hang in Austin because it's one of my favorite cities.

After being gone so long, it was great to return to these faces....although, they weren't really phased by the fact that we were gone.